Wood easily degrades without sufficient preservation. Apart from structural wood preservation measures, there are a number of different chemical preservatives and processes that can extend the life of wood, timber, and their associated products, including engineered wood. These generally increase the durability and resistance from being destroyed by insects or fungi.
In moist and oxygenated soil, there are few treatments that enable vulnerable wood (softwood here) to resist for long against bacterial or fungal degradation
Detail of sample in photo above
A modern wharf piling bored by bivalves known as shipworms.
Paviljoen Eindhoven NobelWood
Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes, including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing. Lumber has many uses beyond home building. Lumber is referred to as timber in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, while in other parts of the world the term timber refers specifically to unprocessed wood fiber, such as cut logs or standing trees that have yet to be cut.
Wood cut from Victorian Eucalyptus regnans
The harbor of Bellingham, Washington, filled with logs, 1972
A sawmill with the floating logs in Kotka, Finland
A common 50 by 100 mm (2-by-4-inch) board
