Preserving wood in the building industry

NAME: OSEMENAHON MARVELLOUS

MATRIC NO.: 23PCA02585

COURSE CODE: ARC 814

COURSE NAME: ADVANCED BUILDING COMPONENTS

AND METHODS I

LECTURERS: DR BABALOLA & DR DIMUNA

JANUARY 23, 2024

Introduction

Ever since man discovered how to use wood for numerous things such as making fire,

crafting weapons and tools, then as structural members to their ancient huts. The use of wood

has been crucial in the development of man as a species. According to the Oxford dictionary,

the hard-fibrous material that forms the main substance of the trunk or branches of a tree or

shrub, used for fuel or timber. And finishes according to the second definition by Oxford

dictionary is the complete the manufacture or decoration of (a material, object, or place) by

giving it an attractive surface appearance. Merging that, wood finishes or rather wooden

finishes are the use of hard fibrous materials that forms the main substance of the trunk or

branches of a tree or shrub that undergoes complete manufacture and decoration to give it an

attractive surface appearance. Wood finishes are gotten from the processing of wood.

Wood processing involves peeling, slicing, sawing, and chemically altering hardwoods and

softwoods to form finished products such as boards or veneer; particles or chips for making

paper, particle, or fiber products; and fuel. A high percentage of the weight of freshly cut or

green wood is water. Green wood contains free water in the cell cavities and bound water in

the cell walls. When all the free water has been extracted and before any of the bound water

has been removed, the wood is said to be at the fiber saturation point. As the moisture content

falls below the fiber saturation point, the bound water leaves the cell walls and the wood

shrinks. During the drying process, differential shrinkage can cause internal stresses in the

wood. If not controlled, this can result in defects such as cracks, splits, and warp. Below the

fiber saturation point, wood takes on and gives off water molecules depending on the relative

humidity of the air around it and swells and shrinks accordingly.

Wood is machined to bring it to a specific size and shape for fastening, gluing, or finishing.
With the exception of lasers, which have a limited application at this time, all machining is
based on a sharpened wedge that is used to sever wood fibers. Tools for sawing, boring holes,
planing, and shaping, as well as the particles in sandpaper, use some version of the sharpened
wedge. Wood is ground to fibers for hardboard, medium density fiberboard, and paper
products. It is sliced and flaked for particle-board products, including wafer boards and
oriented strand boards. Whether made from waste products (sawdust, planer shavings, slabs,
edgings) or roundwood, the individual particles generally exhibit the anisotropy and
hygroscopicity of larger pieces of wood. The negative effects of these properties are
minimized to the degree that the three wood directions (longitudinal, tangential, and radial)
are distributed more or less randomly. (Ohagwua, Ugwuishiwub, 2017).

Wood finishes can be used as both interior and exterior features of a building and a certain

level of durability is required based on the location of use. External building finishes are

important because they increase the endurance of the external structure, protect it from

environmental dangers, and add aesthetic value. In Nigeria, the pace of deterioration of

external finishes is worrying. This growth necessitates an inquiry due to the fact that the

majority of the finishes could no longer serve the purpose for which they were designed had

been pre-programmed. (Okonkwo, Madubueze, 2017).

The rate of deterioration in this tropical climate is so frightening that it has always sparked

public debate. Stakeholders in the construction industry. This is necessary given the rising

cost of living. Exterior building maintenance costs by a small number of people and complete

desertion by the bulk the building's proprietors the preservation of the external finish of the

building is seen as an essential component of sustainable building arrangement because of its

aesthetic purpose thereby epitomizing the image of the building and providing protective

functions to the underlying layers of the building (Boussabaine and Kirkham, 2004).
Types of Timber

Each nation and district of this world has its particular dispersion of trees and vegetation from

which wood is handled for the various parts of building development; in Nigeria, this isn't

unique. The fundamental trees for building development in Nigeria follow geological

examples as possible in different Nations. Nigeria, a nation found somewhat over the central

hub inside the jungles is presented to impossible to miss environment of stormy, dry and

harmattan seasons with changing powers across different districts in the nation; in light of its

area, there is an immense conveyance of trees and vegetation (Fuwape ,2000; Keay, 1989).

While the normal trees vegetation in Nigeria probably would exclude the particular South

Africa's baobab, Algeria and North Africa's pines and cedars nor Kenya's euphorbia and

acacia, dispersion of trees for building development in Nigeria contrast between the typically

dry north and the generally stormy south with the centre belt where Level State is found

filling in as the progress zone (Local area Entry of Nigeria, 2011).

The tree dispersions in Southern piece of Nigeria as per Okafor (1982), are for the most part

those normal of a jungle district of West Africa and trees like mahogany, iroko afara, agba,

obeche and mansonia, abura, sapele and opepe characterize this locale. Some organic product

plants like orange, mango and financial trees like elastic and palm trees (the most bountiful)

are not forgotten about while the mangrove swamp lines the rivulets and the southern edge to

the Atlantic. The vegetation weakens towards the north as it steadily makes a progress from

tropical jungle to Sahel savannah and to the edges of Sahara Desert, the tree circulation in the

northern Nigeria is as opposed to that of the South (Keay, 1989). The principal trees in the

north contain respectably measured neem, cottonwool (Rimi), baobab, atile, doka, maje,

dorowa, date palms, bushes and plants in the super north. It subsequently follows that the

further one goes towards the north, the sparser the vegetation thusly, the tallest and greatest
trees for building development are found in Southern Nigeria while the north backings bushes

and respectably measured trees which are utilized for a similar reason.

The Deterioration of Wood

Wood is defenceless to fast disintegration by assortment of life forms if the predominant

conditions around the wood are great for them. The wood in living trees and furthermore in

utilized items would begin to rot and decay with the assault of creatures which is named as

the biodegradation of wood (Hodgson, Facial hair and Deer, 2009). Organisms and bugs

(termites) are the significant reasons for biodegradation which ultimately prompts wood

weakening. As indicated by Goodell, Nicholas and Schultz (2003), wood corrupting

parasites, bugs, microbes what's more, marine drills cause damage(deterioration) bringing

about billions of dollars being spent on fix and substitution of wooden designs consistently.

What might be compared to one-10th of the wood’s items created consistently all over the

planet is assessed to be obliterated by these biodegrading specialists. Wong and Cheok (2001)

distinguished biodegradation of wood by termites as being ongoing in numerous calm and

tropical locales of the world with intense ramifications for the nations including Nigeria.

Termites and Termites Infestations of Wood

Termites and Pervasions of Wood Termites have a place with the bug request Isoptera which

means equivalent winged and alludes to the comparable size and state of the forewings and

rear wings (Hodgson, Facial hair and Deer, 2009). Termites are most firmly connected with

wood eating cockroaches and are probably the most established bugs in presence. Hodgson,

Facial hair and Deer (2009) set that there is proof that termites have been in presence for
around 100 million years. Termites are the main social bugs with straightforward

transformation that incorporates egg, sprites and grown-up. Any remaining social bugs go

through complete transformation that incorporates egg, hatchling, pupa; and grown-up.

Creatures, including bugs, can't ordinarily process the cellulose in wood, paper, and material.

Termites have advanced to exploit this generally accessible food asset. They have protozoa

(miniature life forms) in their digestion tracts which give proteins to process cellulose. In

spite of the fact that termites are delicate bodied bugs, their hard, saw-toothed jaws work like

shears and can gnaw off minuscule pieces of wood until the entire defenseless wood is

obliterated because of their pervasions (Kamble, 1991). Arang and Green (2006) noticed that

a portion of the obvious signs of underground termite pervasions will be the presence of safe

house tubes made of soil and coming from an underground area close to the structure or

wooden designs, displays, loss of structure and leave openings. The sanctuary tubes

safeguard the termites from parching as they travel between the dirt and their objectives of

assault. Termites frequently invade inside of structures and cause harm to Timber, wood

boards, flooring, sheetrock, backdrop, plastics, paper items and texture made of plant

filaments. They additionally assault covering, fine art, books, dress and furniture; the most

serious harm includes the deficiency of primary strength of wood. The termites that have

been distinguished in the obliteration of Inside wood are the underground and clammy wood

termites (Wong and Cheok, 2001).

Underground termites can go after any unprotected wood or wood item. They live in and get

dampness from the dirt. Albeit underground termites favour the dirt climate, they will

construct mud tubes over uncovered surfaces from the dirt to wood as wellspring of food

(Jones, Kick-Raack and Pound, 2007). The Clammy wood termites then again live in the

wood on which they feed and depend on the wood as a wellspring of water. Subsequently,
these termites assault just wood with a high dampness content yet once settled, they can

expand their exercises into sound dry wood (Thomasson, 1998). The degree of harm of

termites' assault can be outwardly examined and evaluated by the American Wood Preservers

Affiliation (AWPA) norms E1-97(1999), American Culture of Testing and Materials

(ASTM) principles D1758-06 and the NORDIC nations guidelines EN 252(2006). In the

rating system as per Lee, Wu and Smith (2003) three or five raters might be locked in by the

analyst to rate the wood tests after the pervasion period utilizing markers, for example, the

presence of safe house tubes, displays, loss of structure and shape, leave openings, dull sound

of wood when tapped and void of wood when jabbed with sharp instrument. The mean record

of the evaluations is utilized to decide the degree of termite invasions.

As a result of the effects of termites, most times the complete breakdown of wood is one of

the major long-term effects of wood; an effect to which many chemicals and processes have

been developed to stop. But the application of said chemicals and preservatives give rise to an

entirely new set of long-term effects, which affect the Interior environmental quality (IEQ) of

buildings where wood is used for interior finishing. Most wood preservatives are Volatile

Organic Compounds (VOC) (Tuomas Alapieti, 2020).

Wood Preservation

Wood preservatives are arranged into three general classes which are the Oil-based type,

Organic-solvent type and Water-based type. Oil borne preservatives, for example, Creosote,

Coal-Tar, Solignum and oil arrangements of pentachlorophenol; Water borne preservatives

like Chromated Copper Arsenate, Ammoniacal Copper Zinc Arsenate and boron; and the

Organic-solvent preservatives like Chlorinated phenols and Sodium Pentachlorophenol

(Watchman and Rose, 2007; Lebow, 2006).

The normal techniques for applying the wood preservatives are brushing and showering,

plunging and splashing, hot and cold tank; and strain treatment. As per Thomasson, Capizzi,

Dost, Morell and Mill operator (1998), preservatives are applied based on how and where the

items will be utilized, the normal circumstances of openness to wood obliterating specialists

in the ground, over the ground and in marine climate. The period of time over which these

synthetics stay powerful as expressed by Ezeji (1984), relies upon various variables including

the sort of soil, openness to climate and the sort of termite included. The viability of wood

preservatives against termites as per Edlund, Evans and Henriksen (2006) is laid out when the

treated wood has a high protection from termite’s pervasion in circumstances near the viable

utilization over a period without losing its viability of safeguarding the wood.

Wood preservation in Nigeria has been around for millenniums originating before the

advanced techniques for safeguarding wood which started at London in 1938 with John

Bethel setting the pace for such innovation. Wood protection on the African mainland has

changed. In Nigeria, measures against termite pervasion range from customary techniques

and business administrations to actual evacuation of homes manually. However, some control

systems are like those detailed in the Americas and Europe, including soil applications

(effective and infusion) with the typical scope of termiticides, as well as bedevilling.

Preservative producers have a long custom of being at the front of innovative work. The

wood protection industry is confronting difficulties on a scale never seen. These as indicated

by Currie (2010) incorporate transformation of new ways to deal with administration life

expectation and normalization, guaranteeing a level battleground for examinations with

altered wood and other contending innovations, dealing with a change to guideline at another

level and a greater expense lastly in guaranteeing procedures for creating elective
preservatives that are humanly and naturally protected as conventional strategies are

supplanted.

Conventional strategies for saving wooden homestead carries out, wooden hunting weapons,

wooden plates, dishes and bowls, wooden posts for material, chieftaincy staff, veils, pestle

and mortars, drums, wooden level beds, royal residence entryways and a few different

utilizations have been by and by before the appearance of the cutting-edge cycles of treating

wood across the various societies in Africa, Nigeria and obviously Level State specifically.

The customary practice of regarding wood as caught by Kumar and Shukla (1994) which is

normal to most Nigerian people group include smoking of wooden posts for the support in

material nearby houses, oiling and terminating of strolling sticks and staff, submerging

lumbers in streams for capacity and safeguarding purposes (dousing woods will work with

filtering of starch and sugar which are the principal fascination for bugs), sprinkling wooden

utensils with fluid extraction from bark/leaves of certain trees.

Other customary strategies utilized in protecting wood is the utilization of combination of

spent motor oil and lamp oil whose viability in safeguarding wood against termite pervasion

has been affirmed through a review led by Olaniran, Olufemi and Oluyege (2010). A

significant disadvantage anyway of spent motor is its staggering impact on the climate with

no guarantees the involvement with the Niger Delta area of Nigeria because of oil spillage.

Notwithstanding the customary strategies for safeguarding wood in Nigeria, the regular

techniques for treating wood are utilized by different wood businesses and building

development specialists. A portion of the preservatives utilized by Ezeji (1984) and Freas

(2011) incorporate paints, water-repellent stain, DDT, Aldrin, Solignum, coal tar, creosote oil

to impede the impacts of enduring, dampness development, fire, contagious assault and bug

assault.
Chromated copper arsenate (CCA) blends have been displayed to offer great assurance to

delicate woods in Nigeria over lengthy times of administration, being exceptionally viable

against both contagious rot and bug assault. CCA is broadly utilized in Nigeria but since most

wood clients in the nation don't approach vacuum or strain treatment chambers, the

preservative is applied by immersion. (Adetogun & Omole, 2007).

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