Lumber
Lumber in its broadest sense is an alternative word for timber. Initially it referred specifically to sawn planks, but it has come to mean various cuts of timber. Its use in reference to cut timber began in North America around the 17th Century where it is still used. In Europe it might be used in connection with timber that originates from Canada and America.
It is also found today in the names of some standardised and processed building products such as Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL), Laminated Strand Lumber (LSL) or Parallel Strand Lumber (PSL), and is also commonly associated with the term lumberjack, a woodcutter (or in the UK perhaps a tree surgeon) who sources the timber or lumber at the initial stages from the forests.
It is thought to have originated in England, where the word appeared in lumber houses which were pawnshops or stores belonging to 14th century Italian immigrants, originating from the Lombardy region, who worked the banking and trade industries, also known as lombards or lumbards. It came to mean surplus or disused and stored items,with a theory that over time, through its adoption and migration to North America it came to mean more specifically timber planks for construction.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
- 11 things you didn't know about wood.
- A guide to the use of urban timber FB 50.
- Biomaterial.
- Birch wood.
- Carpentry.
- Cedar.
- Chip carving.
- Compressive strength of timber lattice columns for low-rise construction.
- Confederation of Timber Industries.
- Cross-laminated timber.
- Decking boards.
- Definition of tree for planning purposes.
- Engineered bamboo.
- European Union Timber Regulation.
- Facts about forestry.
- Forest Stewardship Council.
- Glulam.
- Hammerbeam roof.
- Hardwood.
- In-situ reinforcement of timber beams.
- Janka hardness rating scale.
- Laminated veneer lumber LVL.
- Legally harvested and traded timber.
- Lime wood.
- Modified wood.
- Nails - a brief history.
- Panelling.
- Physical Properties of Wood.
- Plywood.
- Predicting service life of timber structures.
- Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification.
- Properties of mahogany.
- Recognising wood rot and insect damage in buildings.
- Softwood.
- Sustainable timber.
- Testing timber.
- The differences between hardwood and softwood.
- Timber and healthy interiors.
- Timber construction for London.
- Timber frame.
- Timber framed buildings and fire.
- Timber preservation.
- Timber vs wood.
- Types of timber.
- Wainscoting.
- Whole life carbon assessment of timber.
- Wood and educational buildings.
- Wood around the world.
- Wood, embodied carbon and operational carbon.
- Wrot timber.
Featured articles and news
Retrofit 25 – What's Stopping Us?
Exhibition Opens at The Building Centre.
Types of work to existing buildings
A simple circular economy wiki breakdown with further links.
A threat to the creativity that makes London special.
How can digital twins boost profitability within construction?
The smart construction dashboard, as-built data and site changes forming an accurate digital twin.
Unlocking surplus public defence land and more to speed up the delivery of housing.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill
An outline of the bill with a mix of reactions on potential impacts from IHBC, CIEEM, CIC, ACE and EIC.
Farnborough College Unveils its Half-house for Sustainable Construction Training.
Spring Statement 2025 with reactions from industry
Confirming previously announced funding, and welfare changes amid adjusted growth forecast.
Scottish Government responds to Grenfell report
As fund for unsafe cladding assessments is launched.
CLC and BSR process map for HRB approvals
One of the initial outputs of their weekly BSR meetings.
Architects Academy at an insulation manufacturing facility
Programme of technical engagement for aspiring designers.
Building Safety Levy technical consultation response
Details of the planned levy now due in 2026.
Great British Energy install solar on school and NHS sites
200 schools and 200 NHS sites to get solar systems, as first project of the newly formed government initiative.
600 million for 60,000 more skilled construction workers
Announced by Treasury ahead of the Spring Statement.
The restoration of the novelist’s birthplace in Eastwood.
Life Critical Fire Safety External Wall System LCFS EWS
Breaking down what is meant by this now often used term.
PAC report on the Remediation of Dangerous Cladding
Recommendations on workforce, transparency, support, insurance, funding, fraud and mismanagement.
New towns, expanded settlements and housing delivery
Modular inquiry asks if new towns and expanded settlements are an effective means of delivering housing.