Wood

Abstract

The growing diversity of wood products and their uses contradicts the idea that wood is a traditional material, which has always been used by humans with a minimum of modification, widely known and still mainly processed on an empirical knowledge basis. Since wood is a natural material, there is a plethora of information about its production, about the forestry concerns in environmental terms and the wood’s value within the context of sustainability of the construction. Given the objectives of this publication, this chapter would cover mainly the aspects that can more directly help engineers and architects regarding the use of wood in construction. Together with a basic knowledge of the material, which is considered indispensable, a point has been made to provide guidelines for the selection of wood and its application in the construction industry.