Three Types of Wood Commonly Used in Home Construction

For thousands of years, wood has been used as a construction material due to its outstanding durability, timeless charm, and natural appeal. And even with the emergence of far superior building materials such as concrete, brick and steel, the number of modern homes that uses wood as the main building material remains at an incredibly high amount.

With the functional and environmental benefits of using wood as a construction material, I am not surprised why that’s the case. I mean, not only is wood a renewable resource that carries an environmental edge with it, but it is also durable and has outstanding thermal, acoustic and aesthetic properties. You can’t really blame them for still opting to use wood, right?

But, the thing about wood is that there are many different types to choose from, each of which has its own uses in general home construction, and not everyone knows about them and their frequent uses for residential projects. So, to help guide those who are not well-versed about wood and its various types and species, below are the three types of wood that are commonly used when building homes.

1   Timber

Timber, also known as lumber in North America, is an example of manufactured wood that may either come from softwood or hardwood. It is the type of material typically used for wall frames, roof trusses, columns, and planks, among others. If you’re not yet aware, there are a wide variety of hardwood and softwood species available, which means that the timber frames and trusses in your home are among those species. 

Although different types of trees are used to produce sawn timber products for residential projects, the most commonly used species are bald cypress, eastern white pine, white oak, and Douglas-fir, with each species having its own unique attributes that also work as advantages.

1    Hardwood

Unlike timber that is manmade, hardwood is a natural kind of wood that comes from deciduous trees, which are giant flowering plants that grow in various parts of the world and lose their leaves annually. There are plenty of hardwood species out there, including willow, sassafras, locust, magnolia, maple, elm, beech, ash, and hickory, among others. Due to the remarkable strength of wood from hardwood trees, it is typically used in exterior applications like window frames, outdoor decks, fencing, and panelling, as well as in interior applications such as floors, walls, doors, and furniture. Lastly, the hardness of the wood varies among the hardwood species, of which the hardest is hickory.

2    Softwood

Another natural kind of wood, softwood comes from either conifer trees, which have needles instead of leaves, or evergreen trees. In comparison to hardwood, softwood is lighter and more pliable, but its strength is roughly the same. The various species of softwood include, but are not limited to, pine, cedar, spruce, hemlock, Douglas-fir, European yew, and cypress. In addition to being chosen because of its hardness that is more or less similar to hardwood, some people select softwood because of its workability, sustainability, and affordability. Softwood can be used to make window frames, door panels, and doors – and can also be used for the construction of wooden walls, floors, desks, and much more.