Glossary - F

Nailing at right angles to the surface.

A vertical board nailed to the lower ends of rafters.

Any irregularity or imperfection in a tree, log, board, or other wood product. Feature may result from knots and other growth conditions and abnormalities, insect or fungus attack, or during timber processing.

Small diameter, thick walled cells in hardwoods. Fibres dominate the structural behaviour of hardwoods.

The point in the seasoning or wetting of timber at which the cell cavities are free from water but cell walls are still saturated with bound water. It is taken as approximately 25-30% moisture content.

A generic term including sheet materials of widely varying densities manufactured from refined or partially refined wood or vegetable fibres. Bonding agents and other materials may be added to increase strength or to improve other properties.

Figure in timber or veneer produced by small, regular undulations in the grain

The pattern produced on the cut surface of wood by annual growth rings, rays, knots, deviations from regular grain such as interlocked and wavy grain, and irregular coloration.

An end joint in which wedge shaped projections in one piece of timber fit matching recesses on the other piece and are bonded together by an adhesive.

A strip of impervious material fitted to provide a barrier to moisture movement into the interior of a building

The resistance at failure of a beam subjected to bending

A large piece of log, sawn on at least two surfaces, intended for further cutting.

Boards dressed to standard thickness and generally finished with a tongue and groove, fixed to floor joists or a substrate to provide a floor.

The covering of internal floors in a building. Timber flooring includes tongue and groove strip flooring, parquetry, panel flooring, particleboard and plywood.

The configuration of flat sheets, such as plywood, into a folded form to produce a beam of considerably higher strength and stiffness than is possible with the flat sheet alone.

All forests growing on public or private lands

Forest practices means the processes involved in establishing forests, or growing or harvesting timber, and includes a) the construction of roads; and b) the development and operation of quarries; and c) other works connected with establishing forests, or growing or harvesting timber  

FSC is a global, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of responsible forest management worldwide

1. The main timbers of a structure fitted and joined together. 2. A three dimensional self-contained structural system of interconnecting members which functions with or without the aid of horizontal diaphragms or floor bracing systems.  

Timber used to form the basic structure of a building, such as studs and joists.

Moisture which is present in the cell cavities of wood.

Fire resistance level - grading periods in minutes of the fire resistance of building elements for structural adequacy/integrity/and insulation

A plant that feeds on wood fibre. Fungi primarily consist of microscopic threads (hyphae) that traverse wood in all directions, dissolving materials out of the cell walls.