Wood – Environmentally friendly material

More than 10 years ago, it was difficult for many of us to imagine that using wood as a building material is actively protecting the environment, is using “green” materials and wood is a “sustainable” material. more than many other materials… But that’s the reality, with wood that is said to be “modern”

FROM DESTROY NATURAL TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

From deforestation for wood,…

Previously in our country, wood was harvested entirely from natural forests. This natural source of wood is increasingly depleted, the forest takes several hundred years, even thousands of years, to form and has been lost within a few decades.
Wasteland, climate change, floods are the consequences of deforestation. Not to mention the permanent loss of natural scenery…

Deforestation at the headwaters zone of the Amazon River 

To plant forests to exploit

In the developed countries of Europe and North America, environmental impact assessment of the use of wood materials is carried out regularly and rigorously.
It has been proven that the process from raw wood to useful products requires less energy than most other materials. Even heat in wood drying is generated from chips or wood chips…
Planted forests in these countries are also being developed at a very fast rate. Between 1953 and 2007 alone, the volume of wood in the forests of the United States doubled: from 5 billion m3 to 11.4 billion m3. The amount of wood harvested is much smaller than the amount planted.
Europe also plans to plant 3 billion new trees between now to 2030.
After harvesting, they also regenerate the forest based on scientific research on the regeneration of nature. The forests also help to reduce CO2, the plantation timbers are of good quality and of various types, suitable for many different applications.

In developed countries, people have used timber from planted forests for a long time. The scope of using wood is also very diverse due to the high level of processing technology.
People use wood to make from household items such as tables, chairs, etc. to building houses and public works. Even traffic structures such as large span bridges are made of wood.

Wood is used to make load-bearing structures in modern construction

FROM DOMESTIC WOOD TO IMPORTED WOOD

Vietnamese people “love” wood so much that they often use the phrase “wooden furniture” to refer to furniture. But this “love” is also very harmful, they only like precious woods from natural forests.
Many homeowners are very proud to show off large doors or counters, countertops made from only a single precious wood. Wood species such as oak, cedar, rosemary, ironwood, rosemary, etc., are therefore exploited to the point of exhaustion.
Recently, Vietnamese consumer sentiment has changed in a more positive direction. They accept previously undervalued woods such as rubber wood and gradually familiarize themselves with imported woods such as oak, walnut, peach, ash, …
Most of the furniture on the domestic market has been made from imported wood sources combined with Plywood, Veneer… Vietnam is currently a top-class furniture exporter in the world with all these products being manufactured. manufactured from imported wood with a certificate of legal origin.

Plywood is used for interior decoration 

RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION

In Vietnam today, people mainly use wood for interior items, wall decoration, flooring and almost do not use wood for house construction because there is still a mentality that this is a less durable material. compared to brick and concrete.
There are a few wooden houses, but they are classified as “play” because the use of wood is very precious and expensive.

Wood is used to make load-bearing structure high-rise buildings in the US

Meanwhile, in developed countries such as the US, Australia, and Europe, people often build houses with industrially harvested wood. Except for the foundation, from the bearing frame, the floor, the wall to the roof are all made of wood and wood products.
Many buildings with large roofs such as sports arenas also used wood as load-bearing structures more than half a century ago. Recently, people have also begun to intend to build high-rise buildings with wooden structures for the reason that this is a very environmentally friendly material.

HARD WOOD AND SOFT WOOD

Currently, wood is classified into two groups: hardwood and softwood. This classification is mainly based on some biological characteristics rather than the hardness of the wood.
The concept of soft or hard cannot be taken literally in Vietnamese because there are soft woods that are actually harder than hardwoods.

Soft wood:

Softwood is usually wood from bare, coniferous trees such as Pine, Conifer, … generally evergreen trees, do not lose leaves in autumn and active in winter.
Softwood is often used to build houses, boats, stairs, …

Hard wood:

Hardwood is the wood from angiosperms, broad-leaved trees such as:   Oak, Walnut, Ash…. They often grow flowers and fruits, shed their leaves in the fall and go through a dormant period in the winter.
Hardwood is used to make furniture such as tables, chairs, cabinets, beds… Currently, Vietnam is a country that imports hardwood in huge volume from the United States.
Forest trees planted in Vietnam are mainly hardwood trees: Acacia, Eucalyptus,… most of them are exploited to produce plywood for export.
Vietnam export Film Faced Plywood is preferred by international customers over film faced plywood made from soft wood from China because of its high bearing capacity.