South Africa’s Forests Surplus Wood May Be Used To Build Houses

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29240, 25 June 1960, Page 10

South Africa’s Forests Surplus Wood May Be Used To Build Houses

CAPE TOWN. Afforestation plays a vital role in South Africa’s economy; vast areas have been planted to trees in past decades and new areas are constantly being developed. The timber resources have been developed at such a rate that over-production would be inevitable within 15 years. This opinion was expressed by representatives of the Wood Manufacturers and Distributors trade at a recent meeting.

Representatives suggested that South African sawmills should adopt overseas wood measure-

ments in order to improve export possibilities. Everything possiblgjshould be done to seek markets Tor waste material The expected surplus in wood cou ld be used in the building of wood houses. The rea-

son why there were so few. woodbuilt houses in the Union was that efforts had not yet been made to enlighten the public on the advantages of using wood as a- building material. In the United States more than 30 per cent, of the population lived in wood-built houses, and this percentage was constantly increasing.

Wood-built houses could compete in appearance and comfort with houses built of other materials. The life of these houses was 30 years and more—equal to that of average standard-built houses. Houses built with wood are also considerably cheaper. Apart from the benefits which could be derived from woodbuilt houses a change to this type of building could also help to solve South Africa’s anticipated wood surplus.