( Grooving Machine in a Sawmill of my supplier)
( This is available now. Even this is hard to find. The Dark Brown soon be history)The days of good high quality Dark red Meranti wood planks ( for Bhs ) are gone. I still remember few years back when I was building Bhs I could easily get those Dark Red Meranti Planks from Sawmills. I could choose them there are plenty only the best Dark Red (brown) planks are taken especially the old ones. They resist fungus and mold even with constant high humidity in Bh. They will last for many years just like those old heritage wood houses in Melaka and Penang. They still stand today because of the good quality wood in those buildings.
Those days are gone. Our natural resources, timbers are depleting, many trees have been fell. Trees are getting smaller and smaller and the light color of the wood shows that.
In few years time from now the 3 or 4 graded Meranti would be considered 1st grade. This is due to scarcity. Last week I did order many tons of Meranti for Bhs obviously I can’t compare them with those that I had bought before. The colors are getting lighter. Hard woods are hard to find now due to over exploitation.
I told one buyer “If you don’t want it now I could assure you that the batches that come in next month wouldn’t be as good as the current one” As it goes more Bhs have no choice but to use what is available.
He has been searching high and low for good grade Meranti for his soon to be Bh. He has visited many Sawmills that he knows but somehow the best quality that he could get can’t match what I am having.
He have had bad experiences with Low quality woods often within 6 months to 1 years fungus and mold grow on them. Imagine you had spent so much effort and money in your dream Bh and birds started to stay and you discovered the planks start to have fungus problem. Wouldn’t it be good if you had used good planks?
More than 80% of Bhs in Malaysia are using Low graded Meranti which somehow later would have fungus and mold problem. Reason being:
1) They do not know how to distinguish and differentiate between good and low grade Meranti . (Technically all are using Meranti or they called it Meranti but there are many type of Meranti and genre. Some could be use for Bhs and some are not suitable for Bhs.)
2) Contractor and Consultant won’t give you Good grade Meranti because this would reduce their profit. (They knew that you won’t know the differences between the good and bad ones. Even if you do that would be a year from now.)
3) Contractor and Consultant have little knowledge about the importance of good woods Plank. To them all are the same. Let me ask you, are all Bhs the same? Definitely not If it is the same we won’t have failed Bhs and Successful Bhs. So remember that not all planks or Meranti are the same.
4) Unable to find and source good plank.
Gets the right nesting planks, because this is the place where the birds build nests. You could call them choosy but who wants to build nests on powdery fungus infested planks?
You could have the best design Bh with good micro or best sound system but if the planks fail the whole Bh fail as well.
As I had mentioned before there are other types of woods beside Meranti could be use as Nesting Planks but the criteria are:
1) Odorless
2) Fungus and mold free
3) are of old wood (preferable)
4) Not easily crack
5) Resists to Insect and termites
6) Dry and low moist absorption
7) With small pores
8) Many more…….
So be prepared good Dark Red meranti would soon be history. Before that comes get the best planks now.
(In Thailand some successful Bhs are using Plastic planks )
Good Swiftlet farming All.