Spruce

Spruce is a good general purpose construction timber. It is a strong and reasonably lightweight timber. It has no natural decay resistance so should only be used where it will be protected from the weather and not in direct contact with the ground. The natural colour is pale cream to almost white when initially cut, this will darken to a yellow-cream with exposure to the sunlight over time. Can be treated but doesn’t take preservative well as the cell structure of the wood closes as the wood dries which prevents absorption of the treatment. This is however also an advantage as once dry it is difficult to get spruce wet again as the same closed cell structure prevents it from absorbing moisture too.