Specification & Handling

Specification is the process of communicating the designer’ intentions to the supplier of the material.

 

There must be a clear and unambiguous specification for all structural timber (including framing) required in their design.

 

Architects must be able to communicate to suppliers the appearance properties required for linings, for joinery and for floors and stairs.

 

Specifying timber can be likened to ordering a pizza! On the phone you detail the size, the toppings and perhaps the base, you negotiate the price and then await its delivery. The sizes are standard sizes for each pizza shop, and often the standard sizes use names that are different from shop to shop. Likewise, the toppings you choose must be from a list of standard toppings that are carried by that shop. Your phone order constitutes a specification of a product that is well known to the producer, but varies a little each time it is made. You have an expectation of its performance (flavour) but you specify this in terms of attributes (toppings and size).

 

Specifying timber is similar in principle. We determine the performance we require of different types of timber elements, which in turn determines the properties required. We then specify the properties and products we require for the timber that will be used in the job, in a way that the marketplace will understand and respond to.

 

Timber can take up to 100 years to grow, weeks to fell, stockpile and saw, then months to season and prepare for dispatch. As a result, it is no more feasible to plant trees once an order comes in than it is to plant wheat, tomatoes and onions once an order for a pizza comes in. The industry produces a standard line of products and they are graded according to their properties prior to dispatch for marketing. The specification will make use of designated grades to enable builders to order appropriate materials.