Sustainably Managed Timber Can Help Make Your New Home Construction Carbon Neutral

Timber is a natural resource and when sourced in an environmentally friendly way from regulated and well-managed forests it can assist in the challenge of making buildings carbon neutral.

Renewable Timber Resources

Modern forest management is based on the scientific principle of managing forests for sustainable wood production.

This is particularly true in Australia with renewable timber plantations across the country.

Softwoods such as pine are commonly fast-growing species. Pine is quicker to produce and replace once the timber has been harvested.

This fact tends to make pine more sustainable than slow-growing hardwood sourced timber.

Timber In Modern Construction

Many of the products we see today in modern home construction, as in the past, are sourced from timber whether it be floor, wall or roofing.

Timber is a renewable building material. During it's growth the tree it takes in carbon from the atmosphere and stores that as carbon.

As the tree is sustainably harvested to produce timber for home building it continues to store the carbon for the life of the building and beyond, if the timber is recycled.

The enemies of timber in Australia are termites and rot and mould from condensation as modern homes are sealed to improve their insulation.

Hardwood timbers are commonly more resistant to the above, although, once treated, softwood timbers are also a great choice.

Construction Cost

Timber framed homes are termed "Lightweight framed construction"

This is a common and relatively simple building system throughout Australia.

The skills and skilled tradespeople essential to construct timber framed dwellings are common throughout the country.

Timber-framed homes also offer enhanced flexibility of design.

The impact on the environment during the construction process is also minimised when building with timber.