A Study of Prospects and Problems of Timber as External Material in Building Production in Hot Climate Region
CHAPTER ONE
AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Aim:
The main aim of this study is to assess the problems and prospects of timber as an external material in building production in hot climate.
Objectives:
The following are the objectives of the study:
- To determine the various problems and prospects of timber in building the external parts of the building.
- To determine the functions of timber in building production.
- To evaluate the quality of wood used by the contractors as external material building production.
- To determine the factors militating against effective use of timber as external material in building production.
- To suggest the best ways of minimizing the problems associated with the use of timber in building production.
- To regain the need and value of timber as a building material.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Timber is the oldest construction material. Timber taken from well managed forests is the most sustainable construction material. It gives the minimum or no effects to environment when disposed as construction waste. The most attractive feature in structural timber is the high strength to weight ratio of timber which can be used to transfer tension, compression and shear. Architects and most of the contractors love to work with timber, as it has unique characteristics such as natural grain patterns colors and color variations fine finishes and the various features of the species.
Timber has been used by Sir Lankan builders extensively during the ancient days. The main reasons were the availability in large quantities in our forests, convenience in shaping and connecting with mills or timber wedges and the skills in the trade given by our fore fathers. Their inventions were not limited to kitchen utensils, agricultural tools, transport facilities or recreational facilities. Ancient carpenters added beauty to their building construction by introducing fine details to timbers and connections.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH DESIGN/METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter describes the design of the study, the instrument used for data collection, validation of the instrument, distribution and retrieval of the instrument and method of data analysis.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
This chapter presents the analysis of the responses gotten from the respondents in the questionnaire, in order to reflect their views and opinions.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
SUMMARY
There is need for effective monitoring and quality control in the use of wood to facilitate building construction. The absence of the wood preservation has cause a lot of deterioration, especially wood wall finishing and roof deflection.
There is need for the review of all government laws and to investigate strength properties of timber standards. There is need to explore modeling and non destructive evaluation techniques as a means of ascertaining predictive structures strength sizes in Nigeria.
It is necessary for seasoned wood, which has greater strength, increased stability in use, and better resistance to decay.
There is need for the review of all government laws in National Burean of standards and National Forestry Authority.
CONCLUSIONS
It has been noted that it is the poor seasoned untreated and unpreserved timber supplied to builders on site which give room to most defects which affects timber in building. People who are in the building industries and some timber dealers are not aware that timbers are supposed to be treated before use.
The natural movement of timber often poses problem in timber jointing particularly in joinery, shrinkage is major cause of this movement which may be brought about by timber that is not fully seasoned. Excessive shrinkage often results in the failure of joint.
It is only when people in the construction industries know the behaviors of timber that they will appreciate its usefulness and value, and that is one of the reasons for this research work. Some of these problems can be overcome if appropriate knowledge of timber is exhibited.
Conclusively, timber structures have been with us for time memorial, it is still with us and the option our present generation has to research more into how the material can be used, for effect, to bring down the high cost of building material in Nigeria.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The extensive use of timber in the developed countries clearly shoes that it is suitable for constructional purpose. This is ascertained by wood data manual No 1 issued by the Canadian wood development council and I quote “Nine out of ten homes in this country are of wood frame construction, many of them are covered with wood sidings, and others may be covered with wood shingles, composition shingles or sending brick veneer or stucco. Regardless of exterior covering the houses are in general classification of wood frame construction. A well-built wood frame home is one of the most durable types of structure. Some of the oldest existing buildings in Canada are of this type. Moreover, the flexibility of wood as external building material has assured its continued popularity for the most modern continent, its use has been limited to joinery and furniture. This is due to insufficient knowledge about the constructional effectiveness of the material. Therefore, an enlightenment campaign program should be encouraged by government agencies to enlighten and educate the masses on the constructional aspect and the economic benefit of timber.
Tourism promoters should use components in tourist centers in order for tourists to appreciate timber buildings.
Low cost buildings should be constructed with timber.
The study reveals that timber roofs lasts longer in the riverine areas therefore people living around such areas should use timber components in roof construction to obviate the need to change zinc roofing sheets frequently, this will save money and human resources.
Timber technology should be introduced as a technical course right in the post primary level and in the higher institutions; people studying Building Technology and environment design in general should be taught timber technology from their year one to the final year.
People should embark on timber as a building material because it is readily available, it has low cost as compared with other building materials, attractive as in aesthetics, high strength to weight ratio, resistance to corrosion, good insulating properties, comparatively durable but most of all its simplicity to be worked on with hand or machine.
REFERENCES
- Smith, L.W and L.W wood (1964); History of yard lumber size standards.
- Roy, Robert, (2004); Timber framing for the rest of us.
- Barry R. (1979)l The construction of building volume 1-third edition metric
- Ivor H. Seeley (1978) Building Technology
- Chudley and R. Greeno, Building construction textbooks (Fourth edition).
- J.N. Green; wood work of school certificate
- Kings and Evereth (BS, 3589); 1963;
- King Harold and Evrreth Alvan (1972) component and finishes Mitchell Building construction.
- Mackenzie et al 2005 the wood technology society of the institute of materials minerals and mining 2009
- Markenzie, the journal of the institute of wood science vol; (2007)
