If you have every wondered where wood shutters in Toronto come from and how they are made, this article aims to help explain the process. The trees from where lumber are produced are typically classified as softwoods or hardwoods. Although the woods of most trees are hard, there are also those that are classified as soft. Most of the hardwood trees have leaves and are shed during the winter. Hardwood trees include those like walnuts, oaks, maples, birches, cherries but they also include balsa which is considered to be one of the lightest and softest of all the woods. Softwood trees have needles also instead of leaves. These trees do not shed their needles in the winter but remain to be green all throughout the year and are at times even called evergreens. Trees which are considered to be softwood include firs, pines, redwoods and spruces.
Hardwoods are considered to be more expensive compared to softwoods and are usually used in home improvements such as cabinetry, flooring, doors, paneling, trimwork, and wood shutters in Toronto. Since household investments like wood shutters and flooring improve the property value, only the finest wood materials are selected. They are also used greatly when manufacturing furniture. Hardwoods are available in different lengths from 4 to 16 feet. Softwoods are also used for wall studs, planks, beams, joists, stringers, rafters, decking, subflooring, posts and concrete forms.
Both the hardwood and softwood lumber are graded according to the size and number of the defects in the wood. Defects will include holes, knots, pitch pockets, missing pieces and splits on the corners or edges called the wanes. The defects will typically affect the appearance and will also affect the strength of the lumber. The higher graded lumber is called select grades. Hardwoods will also be graded as first or second which are higher compared to select. The grades have often very few defects and are used in molding, trimming and finishing woodwork wherein the appearance is very crucial.
If the lumber grade is high, this means that there will be fewer defects. The lower grades are usually termed as common grades and are typically used for general construction wherein the wood will be covered and the defects will not be considered objectionable. Common grades are also designated in descending order of quality by numbers like #1, #2 and so on. Pieces of softwood common grade lumber can also be designated with a name that is equivalent to it like construction, merchantable and so on. Lower grade lumber is not used for producing wood shutters in Toronto because the quality of the wood is not considered good enough. Lumber which is intended for uses other than in construction like ladders or boxes are also given other grading designations.
The Process of Manufacturing Shutters
In Canada, most of the trees which are predestined to be cut into lumbers are grown in forests which are managed and are either owned by a certain lumber company or are leased from the government. When the trees have reached its right size, they will be cut down and then transported to the lumber mill wherein they will be further processed, cut into different lumber sizes, and eventually turned into wood shutters in Toronto.
The first part of the shutter manufacturing process which is deemed to be very crucial is Felling. Selected trees in a certain area are visually inspected and are marked as ready to be taken down or felled. From here, the wood supplier will transport the tree to the lumber mill wherein the final processing takes place.