What is Douglas Fir?
Sourced from North America, the botanical name for Douglas Fir is Pseudotsuga Menziessi, sometimes referred to as Oregon Pine, British Columbian Pine, or Columbian Pine. Named after famous botanist David Douglas who first brought them over to the UK in 1827, the Douglas Fir trees are extremely tall, fast growing, and an important material in construction and landscaping. It’s a softwood just like Larch and Western Red Cedar, and similarly to them its colour naturally varies, commonly described as a beautiful, light reddish brown with a hint of creamy yellow.

Now let's discuss the main properties (basically all the important things)
Strength – In comparison to other softwoods, Douglas Fir is actually considered one of the strongest on the market, and its because of its strength and hard wood fibres that it’s primarily used in building and construction. For a softwood, its compressive and bending strength is actually pretty impressive, it’s been found to be 60% stiffer, and 40% more resilient than other softwoods with a high strength-to-weight ratio.

Durability – Douglas Fir is relatively durable, naturally rot resistant, and impervious to abrasions. It’s high in natural oils for further longevity with little risk of quality loss.

Versatility – You’ll be happy to learn that this wood is extremely easy to work with. It’s stable, machines with ease, and accepts glues and treatments very well. It’s commonly used for both cladding and fencing (which is what we sell), but Douglas Fir is suitable for both exterior and interior applications, so if you’ve got an indoor project in mind, don’t hesitate to order some battens.

Density – This softwood has a significant density of 540 kg/m3 on average. For those who don’t know, this is quite a reasonable density for a softwood. It’s a lightweight timber which means its not heavy to lift at all, making Douglas Fir an ideal option for projects where weight might be an affecting factor, like up and over garage doors.

Moisture Content – To remove moisture content, the wood is kiln dried and its fairly resistant to water. But if you are using Douglas Fir externally, its important to allow room for slight expansion.

Maintenance
Since we’ve got all the important stuff out the way, lets look at how to maintain your timber. With Douglas Fir, its fairly straightforward. There’s the option to treat your wood with a finish like the Osmo 420 UV Protection Oil to enhance and preserve the colour – you’ll likely need to repeat this every two to three years. Or, you can let your timber naturally weather to a beautiful silvery grey, and to protect its lifespan, you can simply clean with a pressure washer (light pressure with care) or a specialist cleaner, such as Osmo Wood Reviver Gel or Owatrol Net-Trol. Nice and simple.

Sustainability
Douglas Fir trees are fast-growing and plentiful, but it’s the sourcing that ultimately determines how sustainable the wood is. Luckily, all our Douglas Fir is PEFC Certified which ensures it’s been harvested legally from sustainably managed forests.

Cost
If you’re working with a budget, Douglas Fir might just be your best friend. It’s very cost effective in comparison to other softwood cladding and fencing materials like Western Red Cedar. If you’re someone who’s worked with Siberian Larch before, you’ll find the cost to be an equivalent replacement.

Now that you’ve got all the info, its time to start shopping. Douglas Fir has been a big part of our cladding and fencing collection for not even a year, and we’ve already seen some amazing projects being created with it, particularly garden rooms. You can find all our Douglas Fir products listed on our website along with live stock lengths, stock volumes and trade prices. We also welcome enquiries for bespoke sizes so if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for, get in touch.

We look forward to seeing what you’ll come up with next.