Timber Buying Guide

When choosing the right timber for a project, customers can be forgiven for feeling slightly overwhelmed, especially given the many choices available on the market, each with many unique characteristics.

To make this easier, we have included the main factors you should consider when deciding which timbers to choose, such as durability, appearance, workability, and sustainability.

This timber buying guide will provide insight into our range of timber options, including Red Cedar, Alaskan Yellow Cedar, Iroko, Siberian Larch, Tulip Wood, Douglas Fir, and Pressure Treated lumber.

Canadian Red Cedar:

Canadian Red Cedar is known for its exceptional natural beauty and durability. It has a distinct reddish-brown colour with a tight, straight grain. This timber is naturally resistant to rot, decay, and insect damage, making it an excellent choice for outdoor applications such as fencing, gates and cladding. Western Red Cedar is also lightweight and has excellent workability, allowing easy cutting, shaping, and installation.

This is one of the best timbers available today and one of the most popular with architects, landscape designers and DIY enthusiasts alike.

Customers can expect a lifespan of between 20 and 30 years.

Alaskan Yellow Cedar:

Alaskan Yellow Cedar, also known as Nootka Cypress, is a highly valued timber known for its exceptional durability and natural resistance to decay and insects. It features a pale yellow to light brown with a straight and even grain. Alaskan Yellow is a versatile wood that can be used for both interior and exterior applications. It is commonly used for fence panels, benches, decking, cladding, outdoor furniture, and boat building. This timber is known for its stability, workability, and ability to hold finishes and preservatives well. Its unique properties make it an excellent choice for projects requiring long-lasting performance and a beautiful aesthetic.

As such, customers can expect a lifespan of between 25 and 30 years.

Iroko:

Iroko is a hardwood timber native to Africa. It features a golden to medium-brown colour, often with interlocking grain patterns, giving it a unique and visually appealing look. This timber is highly durable, boasts impressive resistance to rot, and has excellent stability, making it suitable for indoor and outdoor applications. Thanks to the numerous natural benefits, Iroko can be used on various projects such as fencing, bin stores, furniture, flooring and even on boat builds.

Iroko is low-maintenance and comes with an amazing lifespan of 30 years plus.

Siberian Larch:

Siberian Larch is a popular choice for outdoor renovations due to its impressive durability and natural resistance to various negatives such as decay and rot. It has a beautiful golden-brown colouring, which, when left untreated, weathers to an attractive silvery grey over time. This is something designers will allow to happen thanks to the modern finish created by natural weathering. If treated regularly, customers can expect the Larch products to retain their golden-brown tones for longer.

Siberian Larch is also very easy to work with. Its dimensional stability makes it ideal for any garden renovation project, such as fencing, decking, cladding, furniture and other outdoor structures. It is also a sustainable option as Siberian Larch forests are responsibly managed.

Customers can expect a lifespan of 20 years plus.

Tulip Wood/Cambia:

In its natural form, Tulip Wood (aka yellow poplar) is a versatile and lightweight timber found in North America. It has a pale yellow to light brown colour with occasional purple or green streaks.

For this timber to provide customers with a stylish and durable investment, it must undergo thermal modification. This process improves the durability of the wood whilst simultaneously increasing dimensional stability. Following the thermal treatment, the wood undergoes a special drying process that infuses the characteristically rich, deep brown tones tulip wood is known for and highlights the natural beauty of the wood grain.

The finished product transforms Tulip Wood into Cambia, a relatively low-maintenance material ideal for use as fence panels, gates, cladding, furniture and more.

Customers can expect a lifespan of 25 to 30 years plus.

Tulipwood/Cambia products have unrivalled green credentials as one of the most sustainable products on the market currently.

Douglas Fir:

Douglas Fir is a popular softwood known for its strength and versatility. It has a light reddish-brown colour with a straight-grain pattern and is one of the best alternatives to Siberian Larch.

Douglas Fir can be used in various applications, including structural framing, flooring, fencing, and cladding. The timber is durable enough to endure harsh British weather for many years without damage and, like Cedar and Larch, can be treated to preserve the light brown tones or left to age gracefully.

This is an ideal option for those looking for a Siberian Larch alternative or something a little more affordable than Red Cedar.

On average, it can last between 20 and 30 years, and with regular treatment, it may last even longer.

Pressure Treated Timber:

Pressure Treated Timber (aka Tanalised Timber) refers to timber that has been chemically treated to enhance its durability and resistance to decay, rot, and insect infestations. From a price perspective, it is our most affordable timber, although it still has that stylish modern impact designers crave.

It is typically made from softwood species such as pine. Tanalised timber is commonly used for outdoor applications, including decks, fences, and landscaping structures and comes with a lifespan of between 10 and 15 years, longer if treated regularly.

Tanalised timbers have a light tone making them easy to paint to suit your surroundings.

Buy with Confidence

Each timber that we stock has been sustainably sourced from forests sporting the FSC and PEFC certifications, ensuring that you can buy with confidence knowing your purchase helps to support responsible forestry management. We hope this timber buying guide has given you a fuller understanding of the timbers we stock to help you decide which is right for your garden renovation project. Our expert team is always available for expert advice if you have further questions. Happy shopping!