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The most commonly held misconceptions among consumers and some facets of the construction trade are that timber construction has questionable strength and longevity, can easily catch fire, burns quickly and is susceptible to rot.
On the contrary, says Werner Slabbert Snr of timber construction company, Rustic Homes,“ People often ask me how long a timber home will last and how it might perform under fire conditions. Built to standard, in line with the National Building Regulations( NBR) and South African National Standards( SANS) 10082 for Timber Frame Buildings, and properly maintained, a timber structure’ s longevity can be indefinite. It performs well – and predictably – under fire conditions and built correctly, a timber structure offers the same safety standards as any other type of structure and will not rot.”
BEACH HOUSE VERSUS WENDY HOUSE
Interestingly, dichotomous perceptions around timber’ s affordability as a construction material are emerging; that is that it is either very costly and reserved only for the rich or that it is a cheap and unreliable alternative to traditional brick and mortar construction.
Stephan Jooste, WoodEX for Africa organiser and owner of EasyClip, alludes to the possible reasons for this split view of timber frame building,“ Some people believe timber as a building material is expensive and others believe it is cheap; the classic comparison of the lavish beach house versus the Wendy house applies,” he says, noting,“ Timber is a very versatile product that can find a home in more and less cost-effective structures; how the structure is built is the underpinning factor and the extent to which consumers will understand and accept the methodology will dictate its uptake. In the US, timber frame homes are very common, because they can be built more affordably, and the market fully embraces timber construction as a perfectly sound building method.”
Jacques Cronje of Jacques Cronje Timber Design, says consumer perception in South Africa regards timber construction as an affordable building material, while he believes otherwise.“ I think the misconception of timber’ s affordability may stem from a time in the 1960s and 1970s when cheap timber holiday homes were built along the coast. Many of these had very thin cladding, with no insulation and bear no resemblance to the high quality, wellinsulated timber homes we build today, especially since the introduction of the SANS 10400 section XA governing energy usage in buildings and which calls for minimum insulation standards.
“ Where a timber home can be more affordable than‘ traditional’ building materials is when, for example, it is built on a suspended timber floor structure on a steep site, owing to the fact that foundations for conventional brick buildings become much more expensive on steep sites. Similarly, timber homes can also be less costly than brick and mortar on other inaccessible sites; almost the entire home’ s worth of materials can be delivered on one truck load, compared to the many deliveries the heavier materials required for a brick home would necessitate,” he adds.
BARRIERS TO MARKET ENTRY
George Dowse, Processing and Product Development researcher at Hans Merensky, speaks of possible barriers to market entry for timber construction, pin-pointing historical legacy, general culture, and educational deficits as contributing factors.
“ Historically, South African construction is based on the old English and Dutch styles of brick and mortar, which subsequent mainstream status in South Africa today supports current attitudes towards these materials as the most prominent – if not the only – materials with which to build. South Africans simply do not yet have the‘ timber culture’ for everyday consumers to understand and appreciate not only the primary benefits of this material for home building, but the broader environmental and economic benefits that a society actively engaged in using timber products can enjoy.“ In addition, engineers in South Africa are not extensively taught how to engineer with wood; timber structures and properties make
// JUNE / JULY 2018 49