 The Benefits of Timber Cladding
The use of timber as a building material has many environmental benefits, the chief of these being that it is a naturally renewable resource:
- Growing trees get their energy from the sun, thus helping to reduce global warming by requiring a fraction of the non-renewable fossil fuels burned in the production of materials such as aluminum, steel and PVC whilst at the same time absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and giving out oxygen.
- The use of timber cladding can reduce building costs due to the low weight and high insulation properties of the material. If used with similar lightweight roof coverings such as shingles (wooden tiles) the need for bulk masonry walls is eliminated, thus reducing the level of foundations required and delivering 20-40% savings in below ground building costs.
- The thermal conductivity of timber is 12 times lower than concrete and 400 times lower than steel giving real energy cost savings and benefiting the planet at the same time.
- Timber also has a high strength to weight ratio, a stable performance in fire and offers good sound absorption.
|
