It is no wonder that wood construction has maintained its value over millennia. We continue to experience strong emotions when stepping inside impressive wooden buildings, whether they are newly built or centuries old.
One of the advantages of the material is adaptability. Humanity continues to discover new dimensions of this familiar material, such as wood's ability to act as a carbon sink. Above all, wood generates positive sensations that create well-being for residents and other building users, whether in homes or public buildings.
UPM Timber produces wood raw materials, i.e., sawn timber, and DEN Finland, a supplier of small and log houses, is one of the refiners that transforms wood into habitable and livable forms.
Construction and interior design methods affect how strongly the positive impacts of wood construction are highlighted. The properties and effects of wood are emphasized especially in log construction.
Breathable logs promote high-quality indoor air
Technically, wood both absorbs and releases moisture. A wooden surface can balance indoor humidity, as well as temperature. This property of wood or logs is often referred to as breathability.
“The indoor air of a log building is perceived as fresh and high-quality, which is one reason for the popularity of logs,” says Markku Uotinen, Procurement Director at DEN Finland.
Indoor humidity, which varies according to the time of day and season, remains more stable because of wood.
According to Jarmo Huhtala, Chief Operating Officer of DEN Finland, as a single-material structure, a log building is not as susceptible to design or construction errors because moisture cannot condense in the wrong place. In this sense, wood is fault-tolerant and has been found to have antibacterial and antistatic properties, which is why the material is used, for example, in saunas and cutting boards.