Nature’s most advantageous raw materials

A natural raw material is a raw material that comes from plants, animals or sediments. The advantages of natural raw materials is of course that they are sustainable, contribute to a better indoor climate and better health, they are timeless and beautiful, and if taken care of they ensure a long and useful life.

Wood is an organic raw material with many advantages:

Environmentally friendly

Trees and timber bind carbon. CO2* represents the largest share of the anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Timber is the only building material that binds carbon, and when timber is used in production, and then eventually recycled, the bonding time is extended even further, which contributes significantly to reducing the carbon footprint.

*CO2 consists of one carbon and two oxygen atoms.

Long shelf life

The lifetime of wood depends on the wood’s natural durability and the processing of the wood. Wood products are able to work for centuries!

Like other organic raw materials, wood is also biodegradable. A design of wood materials keeping the moisture content below 20%, will contribute to mitigation of fungal attack.

Strength

Timber is strong and rigid yet malleable, providing great architectural possibilities. Timber is also light compared to many other building materials. This makes handling easier and the transportation economical.

Versatility

Wood is an organic and living material found in many forms, and each has a different look and different characteristic and quality.

Aesthetics

As a classic material with large variations, wood appeals to most.

Fire retardant

Timber’s natural features ensure that, for example, wood fibre insulation is carbonised by fire, which thus protects the structure from the flames. In addition, insulation is an added natural fire retardant comprising ammonium polyphosphate, which further strengthen the carbonisation process around the insulation when any flames make contact.

Insulates heat and sound

Wood fibre is a thermal mass, which acts as a heat battery that is charged up and emits heat over time. This provides stable indoor temperatures: In the summer, the building does not heat up, and in the winter it does not get cold quickly. In addition, timber absorbs and cushions sound very well.

Regulates moisture

Wood fibre absorbs and wicks away moisture in accordance with its surroundings.

Good moisture transfer may prevent moisture damage, which in turn prevents fungus, thus providing a better indoor climate for better health.

Renewable

Wood is very suitable for recycling, whether it is to be reused, recycled as new or used for bioenergy.

What is a tree trunk?

From outwards in, a tree trunk basically consists of:

• Bark (dead cells which protect wood)
• Bast (living cells that carry the wood’s building materials)
• Cambium (composed of cells that divide whereupon the production of wooden material is realised)
• Sapwood (live cells that transport water and nutrients)
• Heartwood (dead cells that act as storage for substances for which there is no more need)

The Environment

Nature creates our raw materials and that’s why Hunton focuses on the environment from the tile to the end user. For many years, we have demanded of ourselves and of our suppliers that the wood we buy comes from forests that have replanting programmes. Hunton therefore uses only PEFC™ certified suppliers for their own manufactured products. All our products are CE marked.