Why Choose Wood?
- Wood is naturally beautiful and adds character and warmth. It usually adds value too
- Wood offers exceptional value for money, especially compared with other high quality materials
- Wood is tough. And, because it's a solid product, it will take hard knocks in its stride. As it ages, it develops a patina which is part of its character
- Wood is easy to keep clean and free of dustmites and bacteria
- Wood acts as a natural humidity regulator, absorbing humidity in damp conditions and releasing moisture in dry conditions
- Wood is durable. A good quality wood product should, with a little care and maintenance, last a lifetime. Many Victorian houses still have their original wood windows and floors
- Wood is a material that's simple to use, to maintain and to repair
- Wood is the only naturally renewable mainstream building material. Over 90% of the wood we use comes from Europe's forests,1 which are growing by 661,000 hectares every year2 - that's an area the size of three football pitches every hour of the day and night. For added reassurance, look for certified timber. FSC, PEFC, SFI or CSA are the schemes recognized by the government's Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET) as evidence of sustainability and legality. CPET also recognizes MTCC (Malaysian Timber Certification Council) as evidence of legality
- Using wood from sustainably managed forests actually reduces carbon dioxide emissions, as the carbon dioxide stored by the forest and in the timber product outweighs any carbon dioxide created during the production of the product. Each tonne of timber used instead of other building materials (like steel, or brick and concrete block) saves around a tonne of carbon dioxide.3
1 IIED and ECCM, Using Wood to Mitigate Climate Change, 2004
2 UN/FAO, State of the World's Forests, 2007
3 IIED
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