We are obsessed with the application of technological solutions to solve problems when the answer simply rests with logical manufacturing principles and applying best practice. By ensuring that wooden joinery is fabricated with a built-in set of simple preventative measures, the life and performance of joinery can be significantly improved.
Measures such as:
adequate water shedding details
end-grain sealing of joints prior to assembly
rounding arrises to enable the coating to form a uniform film on profiled corners
and
are all examples of manufacturing practices which can extend the lifespan of joinery significantly.
Equally fundamentally, joinery performance can be improved by proper site handling and management practices at the construction stage. In this regard ensuring that adequate (covered) storage provision for joinery is provided and that components are stored out of ground contact on bearers in their wrapped state (either finished or unfinished) with the load distributed down accurately placed vertical lines of stickers. The number of associated joinery failures resulting from poor storage and handling practices as seen on site by TRADA consultants is staggering and underscores the often negligent way timber is treated within the construction industry.
The advantages of factory pre-finishing of joinery in providing a higher quality and more durable coating should be considered, particularly if circumstances are unfavourable for on-site painting. Joinery installation should be carried out as late as possible to ensure that wet trades have dried out. The use of formers as templates for window openings ensure that windows and doorsets fit properly without the usual level of “persuasion” normally encountered on site.
These are merely a few examples of how low-cost, low-tech procedures can offer solutions to recurrent performance problems which continue to plague our wood joinery industry and which undermine the undoubted commercial viability which wood offers when used properly. All materials have their respective tolerances and limits. In the timber and construction sectors, the problem is one of education and proper understanding of those limits. In the UK, we have become complacent in believing that wood is a material forgiving of malpractice, and our building procedures reflect this.
Whilst it is true that wood is a forgiving material, like most natural commodities it shares parallels with other natural systems in its complexity, fragility and tolerance to certain levels of abuse. However, like all materials, when pushed to its limits it will fail. This need not happen. The timber and construction industries should take note of the lesson that “Wood is valuable - treat it with care”.
