The Environmental Benefits of Using Timber for Your Home's Trusses

4 March 2016
 Categories: , Blog


It is important to make informed decisions when choosing the materials you will use for the construction of your house. Today, environmental sustainability is one of the primary considerations that you have to make when choosing the material that will be used to build your house. The roof provides a perfect opportunity for you to do that, as it gives the option of choosing a wide range of materials that will be used to make the truss. If you are looking for a preferable material with respect to the needs of the environment, here are a few reasons timber is suitable for you:

Timber Is from a Renewable Source

Environmental depletion and over-exploitation occur because people are unable to replace what they take out of the environment. This is not the case when it comes to timber. Even though forests can be depleted at a high rate, they can be replaced by planting more trees through agricultural programmes such as afforestation (planting new forests) and re-afforestation (replacing trees where old ones have been cut down. In fact, genetic engineering had encouraged the growth of trees that mature faster, which helps to provide an adequate supply of roofing material for many people who are building houses.

By using timber trusses, you are contributing to the use of renewable material when building your house. This is not the case when you opt for irreplaceable materials such as metals extracted from the earth, which cannot be regenerated into the earth after mining.

Non-toxic When It Is In Use

Some construction materials contribute to the depletion of the environment through the emission of toxic substances over the period that they are in use. This is not the case when it comes to timber. It is naturally sustainable unless it is treated with a toxic material that will be emitted after a certain number of years. 

Low Rates of Waste

If the timber roof truss is pre-manufactured in a factory, there are low rates of waste due to precision cutting. On the other hand, locally made roof trusses produce a lot of saw dust, especially when the saws are not powered electrically. Thankfully, the waste produced is bio-degradable and harmless to the environment. It can be left to rot without emitting harmful gases or killing small organisms.

Timber Has Low Embodied Carbon

Most carbon emission such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gases are harmful to the environment. Naturally, timber has low levels of embodied carbon and the roof truss will only emit these gases in case of a fire breakout. The scale of the impact is therefore reduced when you use timber. For more information, talk to a professional like Wadsworth Joinery.


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