Machined voids in T-111 and woodpeckers?
Posted by admin on August 31st, 2010 filed in Garden Bird ControlAm I the only one with this problem…?? Has anyone ever noticed machined voids (holes) in their T-111 panels? I’m NOT talking about a hole that goes straight into the panel like a nail hole or a drilled hole. I’m talking about a roughly 1/8 inch square hole that runs sideways through the entire 4 foot width of the panel under the raised sections. You can only see the hole if you look closely in the grooves. If you see it while looking in one groove, it will be at the exact same location in all the grooves all the way across the sheet of T-111. These holes MUST be there as a result of the process of layering the T-111 together during the manufacturing process. The problem is that woodpeckers interpret these little voids as places where insects are hiding and they hammer through the top layer of the T-111 into the void. When they don’t find an insect, they simply move left or right and pound another hole. They don’t penetrate all the way through the T-111, just deep enough to enter this little void. Eventually, they make a series of horizontal holes that completely cross the whole T-111 panel. So I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed this phenomenon or if I’m the only lucky one. My home was built 35 years ago and still has the original T-111 panels. Steve
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August 31st, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Layered panels, like plywood & T-111, are built from vernier sheets, "peeled" from logs with a cutter much like a long knife.
Just after peeling, they undergo a ‘cleanup’ operation, that uses a die punch to cut out imperfections (such as branch knots) in the sheet.
Lower grades of plywood can have several of these, higher grades get exact fit ‘plugs’ glued back into the void, to maintain structural integrity.
After that the sheets are piled up to several layers, (using glue between the sheets), compressed and heated, to ’set’ the glue.
Depending on the grade being made, the outer layer can be a modestly nice vernier sheet, with no open voids (C-D X);up to top quality, no die cuts or plugs on at least one side (A-B Interior).
T-111 uses waterproof/resistant glue, middle grade ‘inner sheets’ and 1 exterior side of nicer grade. The grooves are cut as a final step.
Only marine grade plywood uses voidless vernier sheets, for total structural integrity.
Woodpeckers have exceptional hearing, so when they tap on an object, they can detect the voids, which in trees, would be the cavity left behind from a feeding larva…that’s what they seek.
(Have you ever seen a robin hopping along then stop & cock his head? He’s listening for worms…same deal.)
T-111 having voids, becomes the target of the defrauded woodpecker, and there ya’ have it.
August 31st, 2010 at 7:33 pm
I’m quite familiar with the "holes". about the only thing you can do is caulk them full to fool the wood peckers. I’m not sure why the panels are made this way, but they still are.
August 31st, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Well your not Special sorry, Yes it happens here to, a lot of people don’t have birds in there area so it doesn’t happen. If your wood is stained you would have to fill it with putty, on painted houses the voids are easily filled with caulking, Those voids occur because the enter core of the plys are a low grade lumber(veneer) like CDX you will see the knots on the c and d grade sides, though they usually plug the outer layers but the voids are left on the inside layers and when it gets grooved they are opened up. Then bugs crawl in side and the woodpeckers peck them out and look for more.