Sawn Timber

Sawn timber is cut from logs and is the most common framing material for houses and similar structures in New Zealand. Sizes and lengths are limited by the log resource. The timber is manufactured for a range of end uses (such as appearance and structural grades) and is processed to meet these needs. Structural grades are used primarily for construction where strength and stiffness are important.

Sawn timber can be used for the following types of applications:

Appearance

Claddings.

Furniture.

Linings.

Mouldings.

Structural

Wall frames.

Roof framing (including trusses).

Floor joists and bearers.

Lintels & beams.

Foundation piles.

Outdoor (eg decking, fencing and landscaping).

Utility

Pallets.

Packaging.

Crates.

Grades

Grade	Colour marks (MSG only)	Typical end-use
VSG10		Engineering grades where design requires higher strength and/or stiffness.
VSG8 (Dry No. 1 F)		Lintels, floor joists, roof beams, general framing and trusses.
G8 (Green No. 1 F)		Structures where moisture content at time of verification or in service may be 25% MC or over.
MSG15 (Mechanical)	Orange	Engineering grade where design requires higher strength and/or stiffness.
MSG12	Purple	Engineering grade where design requires higher strength and/or stiffness.
MSG10	Green	Engineering grade where design requires higher strength and/or stiffness.
MSG8	Black	Lintels, floor joists, roof beams, general framing and trusses.
MSG6	Blue	Non load-bearing walls, truss webbing.

Source: Grade Right web site.

Click to enlarge Image gallery

Light Timber Framing

The houses in these images display how wood can be used to construct various parts of a building. Both houses utilise light timber framing for the walls, floor and roof.
Image credit: Andrew Charleson

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Sawn Timber

Performance

The PDF below contains the following information on performance:

Characteristic stresses for visually graded timber, radiata pine and Douglas fir.

Characteristic stresses for dry mechanically graded timber, radiata pine and Douglas fir.

Sawn timber performance - Printable PDF

Availability

Structural grades

For many years, traditional structural timber grading in New Zealand was done by visual grading with a very small number of grades.

Graded timber was occasionally tested by national authorities to check the characteristic stresses, resulting in infrequent code modifications.

Increasingly large regional differences in the strength and stiffness of visually graded timber made it impossible to continue a visual grading system without any form of verification, hence the recent introduction of a stress class system.

This has resulted in big changes for producers of visually graded timber, but only minor changes for producers of machine stress graded timber.

The range of sawn structural timber commonly available from sawmillers and building merchants is summarised below.

Machine stress-graded (MSG) timber

Grade	90 x 45	140 x 45	190 x 45	240 x 45	290 x 45
MSG 15	**	**	**	**	**
MSG 12	x	*	*	*	*
MSG 10	x	x	*	*	*
MSG 8	x	x	x	x	x
MSG 6	x	x	x	x	x

** Unlikely to be available in New Zealand * Check with supplier x Available

Visual stress-graded (VSG) timber

Grade	90 x 45	140 x 45	190 x 45	240 x 45	290 x 45
VSG 10	x	x	*	*	*
VSg 8	x	x	x	x	x

* Check with supplier x Available

Visually graded timber

Grade	100 x 50	150 x 50	200 x 50	250 x 50	300 x 50
G8	x	x	x	x	x
No 1 F	x	x	x	x	x
	100 x 75	150 x 75	200 x 75	250 x 75	300 x 75
	100 x 100	150 x 100	200 x 100	250 x 100	300 x 100

x Available

Available lengths may typically 3.6, 4.2, 4.8, 5.4, 6.0 metres. Cut to length (eg for studs) may also be available on request.

Suppliers Database

Manufacture

The PDF below on the manufacture of sawn timber contains the following information:

Conversion into sawn timber.

Features of sawn timber.

Manufacture of sawn timber - Printable PDF

Grading systems

The PDF below on grading systems of structural timber contains the following information:

Strength of sawn timber.

Methods of grading.

Proof testing.

Verification methods.

Statistical properties of graded timber.

Typical test results.

Grading systems of structural timber - Printable PDF

Sawn Timber

Appearance

Structural

Utility

Grades

Click to enlarge Image gallery

Light Timber Framing

Light Timber Framing

Light Timber Framing

Light Timber Framing

Light Timber Framing

Light Timber Framing

Light Timber Framing

Light Timber Framing

Light Timber Framing

Recommended links for

Sawn Timber

Performance

Availability

Manufacture

Grading systems

Building Calc

House Calc

NZ Wood

NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards