The WoW Style

For centuries, wood has been used for so many different things around your home. It’s highly likely that you’ve got a large piece of furniture, like a bed, a table, or some other type of sideboard that’s been made out of wood. You’ve probably also got lots of wood on your walls as well, whether that be a simple skirting board, a dado rail around the middle of the wall, or even claddings. It’s highly likely that much of the material holding your house together, like the joists and the floorboards, are probably made out of wood as well. While it’s a popular material, there might be better materials to use for whatever task you’re planning. Here are some of the reasons why wood isn’t always the best material for the job:  

There are limitations to the material

One of the major limitations to wood is that it’s a natural material. That means that it can be hard to get it to be the exact right shape and size necessary for a job where you need exact measurements. Wood can even change shape depending on how hot it is. If you hear creaking in your house during the day, it could be your floorboards expanding and contracting depending on how warm the room is. As wood is so regularly changing shape, it’s almost impossible to make an airtight container out of wood. That’s why many people choose to keep their cigars in acrylic humidors instead of the more traditional wooden ones. You can read about all of the advantages of best acrylic humidors on this website here. This problem also makes wood a poor material to make roofs out of. If you are building a shed, it’s important to cover any wooden roof with a felt material, so water doesn’t seep through any gaps in the wood. 

It can be heavy

Another disadvantage of using wood is the sheer weight of the material. Even if you’re using a thin piece of natural wood, it can still weigh too much to simply be able to stick it to the wall. If you’re looking at adding some cladding to your wall, consider using alternative materials that are lighter and can simply be secured with some adhesive and a few nails. This will mean you avoid having to drill a number of holes into your wall to secure heavy cladding with screws. Not only is this time-consuming, but screws look a lot less attractive than nails, which can be easily hidden.

Wood is very expensive

One of the biggest problems with wood is that it’s very expensive. A few planks of hardwood could quite easily put you back 100 dollars or more. If you really do need wood for the job, consider using a manmade wood, like an MDF or OSB. Whilst these are technically wood, they’re made by compressing and gluing lots of tiny offcuts and shavings of wood into one new material. Many of these materials are just as strong as natural wood and are considerably cheaper.