A DANGEROUS LIAISON
Online traps for the inexperienced DIY’er
By Tony Neilson – former publishing editor of timber+DESIGN magazine
Email: tony@neilsonpromotions.com
“Specifier naivety” is identified as a major reason why professional building designers have bad experiences with timber. So spare a thought for the suburban DIY novice.
Singapore-based developer Kevin Hill is a confirmed ‘timber man’, with projects all around South-East Asia and Australia. But when last we met, he was anxious that too many designers lacked a good understanding of wood and its limitations.
“There are still many misconceptions about wood that I regularly uncover in discussions with designers. They frequently think of it as this ubiquitous material whose properties are all the same – much like steel or other alloys. And that is dangerously naïve.”
So if a professional architect or engineer still doesn’t ‘get’ wood after all those years of study, what hope does the novice home handyman have of avoiding the pitfalls – particularly if the supplier is unscrupulous?
Ordering timber online does not always have a happy ending like this.
The recent extension of the front porch of my son’s home in Sydney’s south would ordinarily not warrant comment, but his experience during the procurement process was at best appalling and at worst extremely dangerous.
The extension required a few treated pine piles, bearers and good quality pine decking, finishing fairly close to the ground. A trip to the local timber yard produced an eye-wateringly high quote and a take-it-or-leave-it-mate reaction to his request for a breakdown.
Other merchants in the area were slightly more helpful, but none was able to meet the spec’s, and all showed scant sympathy for my son’s lack of experience in the art of timber specification. (What other line of business, I wondered, would treat a potential customer with such indifference?)
Then came the lad’s fateful decision: “Well order everything online!” He soon found the website of a local landscaping supplier offering ‘premium’ grade decking pine at almost half the price of anywhere else – including delivery.
The ‘premium’ grade pine decking timber as shown on the supplier’s website
Sadly, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. The so-called ‘premium’ grade decking these cowboys delivered was so full of knots as to be seriously dangerous – and almost certainly not properly treated. To call it box grade would be an insult to the biggest pile of s--t you have ever seen.
The “perfectly acceptable” decking timber when it arrived on site.
The wood was clearly not suitable for decking, or any other weight-bearing purpose (see images). I would even venture to say it was supplied with callous disregard for the consequences of its inadequacy – in the expectation that the customer wouldn’t know the difference.
The company (I will be giving their name to the appropriate industry authority) later said the timber was perfectly acceptable premium grade decking, as advertised. But they agreed to take it away – keeping nearly 40% of the cost as delivery and collection charges!
The Australian Institute of Architects claimed in 2014 that up to 12,000 decks and balconies could be at risk of potentially deadly collapse. And with companies such as this example out there, the true number could be a great deal higher.
This is also an object lesson for younger timber consumers used to buying most everything online. Unless you are very experienced and know the supplier well, wood is one of those products you really do need to eyeball. Website images are generic and will rarely be an accurate representation of the stuff that turns up in your yard.
If you have concerns about the activities of timber suppliers, I suggest you start by carefully recording the facts and contact TABMA Australia at http://www.tabma.com.au/. They have branches in every state and territory.