timber-care treating wood

To ensure the very best quality, we only use slow-grown White Spruce Timber. This spruce is harvested in cold climates to ensure solid, dense log rings. This gives the wood superior strength and longevity, and also a much more consistent colour than the likes of Pine.

Despite the care we take in selecting the very best Timber available, it’s not like predictable brick or cold steel. Timber is a natural material has characteristics and quirks unique to every log.

Because our timber logs once fed water and nutrients back and forth from its roots to its leaves, its very nature is to be porous and swell up when it gets wet. Any wooden product will do this throughout its life, but there are a few things you can do to help limit this movement.

These include:

1. A great design!

  • Don’t worry, we’ve got this one covered. We’re experts when it comes to all things timber, so we have designed our products from the ground up with its natural properties in mind.

2. Water Repellent Treatment.

  • How you customise and decorate your product is up to you, however we would recommend that you use an appropriate water repellent treatment. This really helps minimise the amount of moisture that the timber can absorb. Therefore minimising the risk of any major movement.
  • (Please note: water repellent treatment is not the same as pressure treatment, which protects against rot and insect infestation, and which we guarantee for 10 Years!)
  • On pressure-treated timbers, you may notice some subtle striation marks. These marks sometimes appear during the drying process of timbers. Fear not! In time, the marks will begin to fade as the sun starts to lighten the wood.

Timber with Striation marks

3. Ventilation.

  • Keeping your timber building ventilated is no less important than keeping your house well ventilated. This is especially true if you plan to cover up your floorboards with something (double check with an expert, that the material is suitable to do so), as moisture can become trapped between layers of non-breathable materials and build-up, leading to floors becoming rotten.

4. Regular Seasonal Maintenance.

  • Whether you opt to build your product yourself, don’t be afraid to tighten the odd bolt here and there. Your product is a life improving investment, so it’s only right to give it some love and care from time to time. Make sure that it’s properly treated before the rainy months, and you make adjustments to doors and window frames, when needed.

Natural Timber Properties

After building your timber product, this natural construction will begin to ‘settle’. This means that you will likely see some natural timber imperfections appear. These types of natural imperfections can include:

Cracks

Cracked climbing frame timbers

Splits

Split Timbers

Shakes

Timber Shakes

Warping / Twisting

warped timber

Expansion and Contraction

expanding and contracting timber

Please be aware that, as these are natural timber properties they are not considered as defects under our Terms & Conditions (for more information, check out our Terms and Conditions. However, in most cases, these imperfections will not impact the integrity or function of your timber product, and/or can easily be rectified. For advice on how to rectify these and for more support, please get in touch with our Customer Services Team on [email protected].

 

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