what product is uded to fill in splits in wooden fences
Timber – A chip of a pain
Summertime in general is a complete pain for our manufacture, it's at this point we become customers questioning the 'quality' of our timber used in some of our products every bit some cracks and splits outset to appear in items that use posts such as play equipment and gazebos.
Thankfully, it's not just the states either, every unmarried supplier of timber products for the garden gets exactly the same thing.
Summer historically costs the timber industry thousands upon thousands of pounds due to perceived 'defects' in timber by customers when 99% of the fourth dimension no defect exists at all.
Natural Organic Substance.
Timber is a natural substance, we all know that. And, as it is organic, information technology is greatly influenced past information technology'south surroundings and more specifically it is trying to reach an equilibrium with it'due south natural environs.
Water Content.
When a tree is first cut down (green wood) it tin can incorporate over 50% of it'due south weight in water. This water is naturally contained in the wood and is divided into two categories:
Complimentary Water and Bound H2o.
Free Water is water that is held within the wood via capillary action. It tin can be captivated and expelled.
Bound water is water within the wood that is bonded via hydrogen atoms.
When timber is dried information technology will be the complimentary water that is the first to go out.
Earlier timber is used it is dried when most of the costless water is removed (fibre Saturation Betoken of Forest (FSP)) FSP is achieved at near 25 – thirty% wet content. Woods is dried to information technology's natural surrounding environs and as such is engineered to piece of work inside it to about 20 – 25%.
Benefits of dried timber.
- Decay organisms generally cannot thrive in forest with a depression wet content. Many wood loving insects can only alive in green timber.
- Dried wood has better thermal and insulation properties.
- Preservatives and finishes penetrate better with stale wood.
- Dried wood is generally a lot stronger than greenish wood.
Equilibrium of the surround
Every bit I've mentioned wood wants to be the same as information technology'due south environment both in moisture content and temperature. This is where we commencement to meet a problem, peculiarly during the Summer months and soaring temperatures. The timber starts to exhibit cracks and splits where information technology farther dries out from it'south original point of FSP.
It is, by its nature trying to achieve an equilibrium with it's surrounding air moisture. During summer this moisture content in the air is going up and down all the time as is the temperature and the wood is trying to practise the same affair.
Seasonal Woods Shrinkage.
Regardless of how well dried a slice of wood is information technology will always grow and shrink according seasonal changes in relative humidity of the air.
Changes in ambient humidity is all that is needed and volition e'er affect timber regardless of any other influences.
A skillful treatment tin slow this process down profoundly regulating how fast moisture gets in and out of the timber. Woods shrinks by dissimilar amounts in different directions, at that place is however very little movement in the grain lengthwise. There is some shrinkage radially and a greater amount tangentially (along the curvature of the growth rings).
Here's a flick of my gate post at home, the weather we've been having is having a major impact on it. You'll discover that cracks and splits are actualization and will proceed to do so at unlike rates. Most of the splits are occurring perpendicular to the growth rings because there is more shrinkage along the management of the rings. At the moment this slice of timber is still drying to attain an equilibrium with it'southward surround, the inner core is wetter than the outer but one time that has dried to the level of the atmosphere virtually all these splits will dissapear.
Cracked and Splitting timber
Here's another basic merely extreme case. Because of the unlike rates of radial and tangential shrinkage, distortion of the woods can occur. It can also cause radial cracks from the centre of the wood to the outer edge. This is because the circumference shrinks more than it's radius and a big radial crack appears allowing the circumference to shorten.
Shorter circumference resulting in a radial fissure
Here's my postal service again showing a crack height to lesser, this is a radial split as in a higher place and will close up once the whole of the postal service has reached an equilibrium either by further drying or expansion equally the moisture in the air increases such as Autumnal weather condition.
Longitudinal crack along the radius of the grain.
Here's another example, this is a crevice that's just starting to sally, they tin announced very quickly during a hot day and ofttimes later installation if exposed in the hot dominicus or stored in a hot surround such as a garage.
Gazebo Postal service Crevice starting to appear.
The same affair happens to furniture when out in the sun or a change of humidity. This is the timber from my picnic table I photographed yesterday, y'all'll detect pocket-sized cracks are just starting to appear.
Cracks starting to appear in the top of a picnic table.
Round poles such equally the type used in many play centres, swings and climbing frames also exhibit the same properties and often far worse:
Round pole split along the radius
What is mainly affected?
The backdrop exhibited here are mainly found in products that utilize posts such every bit our gazebos and outdoor play equipment.
This is because the posts are made from a whole tree torso. Yous can encounter that very conspicuously with my fence post as an example, this was not supplied via Tuindeco but past a local fence supplier, our posts withal will be the aforementioned. This post has been in the ground for about 12 months and supports a gate.
This mail is encompassing both the 'Heart' and the 'Pith' of the tree and as such it shrinks and swells at different rates. A whole tree body is used as it is considerably stronger than the outside of the tree, If we were to utilize the outside so nosotros would lose a huge amount of strength, the strongest part of a tree of grade is the center.
Summary
Every bit I've said and we all know, wood is an organic substance. Information technology likewise tries its hardest to match it'due south environment which y'all may not know.
It moves, swells, and shrinks to do so and is normal timber behaviour.
This should be fully understood and expected when buying any timber production for your garden. Sometimes these cracks tin open up alarmingly big only remember it is entirely normal and once the inner core has stale the crack volition close up. Likewise as the moisture in the air increases so volition the complimentary water absorbed by capillary activeness in the wood and once again the cracks volition shut upward.
None of these splits or cracks in the timber will affect it's structural integrity or inherent strength.
If however, it concerns yous I recommend the use of a adept quality timber handling as this volition restrict the moisture both entering and leaving the wood.
Basically timber can exist viewed as a fleck of a pain!
Customers sort through the DIY shops, they buy gazebos or other 'post' mode products and immediately pass up them equally beingness defective, this is simply not truthful!
Wood, past definition cannot be defective, there is nothing to go wrong other than obvious rot which is very rare in graded timber.
If you feel cracks and splits in your timber, especially when information technology is obviously milled from a whole trunk information technology is not a 'defective' product, nor is the force impaired, it simply is timber exhibiting information technology'due south normal state and characteristics.
Savour information technology and embrace it every bit information technology is part of it's charm and warmth we all enjoy. Watch it and marvel at it's behaviour, cracks and splits will disappear, open upwardly, wander and move …. is it really a hurting or a bloomin' clever feature of a very basic material we all love? If you don't similar it, treat it with a adept timber handling and restrict the flow of moisture in and out. However! Even the best treatments let moisture transfer, even plastic does to a certain extent.
The Only thing to remove the transfer of wet is aluminium every bit found in crisp packets! Cover your posts in this and they will never crack or split!
A personal Experiment with Cracks in Timber
Update: 11th Baronial 2013
I'm going to try and testify my own waffle, I'g going to focus on my fence post, bear in heed it's been in the ground for nearly a year and I'm now going to try and report it.
I plan to photo information technology over the weeks, months and maybe years ahead. It's all very well me spouting on about the theory. Some may even see it as excuses for a dodgy fleck of timber so lets actually run into what happens with this post over time if at the end I'thousand a liar I apologise. This is going to be interesting ….. every bit far as a fleck of woods can be …
I'g also going to detect a brand new post from one of our Gazebos, stick it in the basis and see what that does as well, for now, my fence mail …..
This motion picture is dated 5th August:
Baronial fifth, carve up argue post
Updated picture, today, 11th August 2013
Split post taken on 11th August
Some of the radial lines looks smaller to me, or am I just imagining them? The divide at most 12 o'clock is smaller.
At that place's changes merely nothing has really closed up.
The calendar week'south weather condition has had some rain, a couple of storms but not massive amounts, it's notwithstanding been pretty warm. Lets come across what the next week or two does to information technology.
The next fourth dimension I'll proceed the camera back like the moving picture higher up and then we tin really come across the changes ….. if whatsoever … or at least compare them better.
Update 29.x.13
A huge change since the final time I looked at the post. Y'all can really run into the change this fourth dimension and about of the splits have closed upward. Both the center and the pith are reaching an equilibrium. Clever stuff forest!
The cracked postal service a few months on. This pictures is dated 29.10.13
The splits that were showing in the side of the post accept almost gone too.
Fence post cracks are virtually gone compared to the summer months.
Timber splits in Structure
I bask looking at the backdrop of timber, information technology fascinates me how it moves twists and turns yet remains the verbal aforementioned forcefulness.
On a contempo trip to a city shopping center it tickled me to meet this split in a master supporting post.
Crack in supporting post
A crack big enough for my daughter to put her fingers in!
Amazing stuff timber! This isn't defective, information technology's not a problem and its strength is not at all affected, I hope not, as information technology's supporting a massive awning in the cities new shopping eye!
Update, 11.10.2018
1 of our employees had recently returned from a long weekend away in a log cabin – Lucky for some, I know. Although the log motel she has stayed in is seen every bit a 'traditional' log cabin, significant that they mostly utilise rounded/one-half round logs in their construction, the timber is similar. Merely like almost every type of timber yous'll find, there volition be cracks and split, simply it hardly affected its use for our employee's vacation!
She writes as follows:
"So thought this might be of interest, I stayed in a pine log cabin over the weekend and you should have seen some of the splits in most of the logs… I've attached some pics, it was interesting to see. (The pics aren't swell, sad)."
I remember that the pictures show more than plenty to evidence that even with cracks, the log cabin is nonetheless continuing strong and is more than suitable for the accomodation purpose it provides!
Source: https://www.tuin.co.uk/blog/cracking-and-splitting-in-timber/
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