MANUFACTURING OF CEILING AND WOOD WORK IN BUILDING
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
The construction and building industryworldwide is experiencing expansion on an unprecedented scale as a result of a high demand for both commercial and residential houses in both developed and developing countries. Incidentally, the construction and building industry is responsible for high levels of pollution on account of large consumption of energy during extraction, processing, and transportation of raw material [1, 2] . According to USEIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration), building-related energy consumption accounted for about 29% of the global energy consumption in 2007 [3] . In the United Kingdom, approximately 47% of CO2emissions originated from construction-related activities [4] whereas in Japan, housing construction consumed 416000TJ of energy, accounting for about 4% of the total domestic consumption of Japan [5] . The high energy consumption in the construction and building industry with its associated negative environmental consequences underscores the need to promote a low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive “green economy” [6] . One area where the concept of “green economy” can be applied in the construction and building industry is the use of eco-friendly materials. Timber has, for centuries, enjoyed high patronage as building and construction material among homeowners, architects and building engineers. It is one of the most common and oldest forms of building material [7] and an important resource that has many applications including its use as flooring and ceiling panels. The dominance of timber in the construction and building industry is arguably attributable to its possession of unique properties such as versatility, diversity, and aesthetic [8, 9] . Additionally, the utilization of timber in the construction and building industry is driven by its ability to reduce the concentration of GHG carbon dioxide, by storing large quantities of carbon over a long period of time [8, 10-12] . When timber is produced from a sustainably managed forest, it is renewable [11] and the embodied energy and environmental impacts of timber is much lower compared to aluminum, brick, steel, glass, plasterboard and concrete [12, 13] .
On account of the important role timber plays in the construction and building industry, several studies have been conducted to evaluate consumers’ attitudes towards its use as construction and building material [8, 12, 14] . Assessing the success factors of wood as furniture material, reliability, environmentally-friendliness, good-look and value emerged as the most important attributes that make timber superior to other materials [15] . Another study [14] reported that building professionals consider “beauty” and “proprietor” as two most important factors that may influence their decision to use wood as construction and building material. In their study to assess consumer attitudes towards timber as construction and building material, Ref. [8] found that the ability of timber to promote the well-being and high living-comfort were the two reasons cited by their sample. In addition, the authors reported that visual appearance and eco-friendliness were found to be an advantage of timber.
1.2 Statement of the problem
In spite of the popularity of timber in the building and construction industry, its use as construction material is being threatened by other substitutes such as plastics and wood based-plastic composites. Studies [16, 17] have reported that wood based-plastic composites will displace non-engineered materials for products such as chairs, containers, indoor decorations, decks and flooring. Ref. [18] has reported that, the use of plastic materials in commercial and residential buildings has increased as a result of improved material performance, efficient use of technologies in new applications, and the need for lightweight, durable materials for construction purposes. While timber as building material has received publicity by both academics and practitioners, the use of plastic-based panels as building materials has, on the other hand, not received much attention in the published literature. Additionally, several research has focused on consumers’ perception toward wood as building material but the perception consumers hold for plastic-based panels as building material has not been explored even though there is evidence to suggest that the use of plastic-based panels as ceiling material is gaining popularity among homeowners in Ghana and elsewhere. Moreover, previous studies tended to focus on the use of materials for building sections other than ceiling, even though ceiling accounts for about a third of interior surface areas in most buildings and are often a building’s largest and most visible interior surface. Also, most of the studies on building materials were conducted outside Africa as a result of which the perceptions of consumers in Africa have not been heard in the published literature. Finally, few studies have attempted to model the preferences of building materials accounting for the effects of both demographic variables and quality attributes.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The main purpose of this study is to examine the manufacturing of ceiling and wood work in building.
The specific objectives of this study are:
- To examine the trends in the use of wooden materials for ceiling
- To examine the quality attributes of wood and ceiling panels perceived by homeowners
- To examine if the choice of ceiling material affect the conservation of forests
- To examine the environmental concerns in the use of wood-based products
1.4 Research questions
- What are the trends in the use of wooden materials for ceiling?
- What is the quality attributes of wood and ceiling panels perceived by homeowners?
- Does the choice of ceiling material affect the conservation of forests?
- What are the environmental concerns in the use of wood-based products?
1.5 Significance of the study
This study has both theoretical and practical implications. The study will bring the competing qualities of wood-based and plastic-based panels as ceiling materials to the limelight and the results of the study can be used to validate the findings of similar studies carried out elsewhere. Understanding the perceptions of homeowners towards wood and plastic-based ceiling materials would allow wood engineers, architects and marketers to rethink about the way the various materials are designed and presented to consumers.
