By MiTek
The Selati Group’s doors were opened in 1963 as a hardware store and has grown into a highly successful business specialising in the structural (roofing) timber industry with two major divisions.
Selati De Hoek Sawmill manufactures and supplies structural SATAS/SABS Grade-, and Selati Grade SA Pine timber to the construction market. Selati Roof Trusses manufactures and supplies timber roof trusses with all associated roofing materials to the building industry.
De Hoek Sawmill
The whole timber process and the core of Selati’s business starts in the picturesque mountains of Tzaneen and Magoebaskloof. Here, SA pine trees are harvested and well looked after. They are also properly managed for 18 to 25 years. As sad as it is to witness the harvesting of 25-year-old trees, it is truly one of the few 100% renewable products on the market and is thus the reason we have implemented our ‘Green’ harvesting methods. Once the tree is in the ground, log cleaning takes place to determine the best possible length to be cut. These logs are transported from the various plantations to Selati’s De Hoek Sawmill’s log yard.
Selati’s policy of Maximum Timber Recovery is at the core of their entire process, and this starts in the yard where the logs from the plantations are sorted into different sizes and lengths for maximum saw recovery and ease of production.
De Hoek has two sawing lines to accommodate both the small logs (90 – 300mm diameter) and the larger logs (diameter > 300mm) where both lines work on the same principle and sawing methods. Logs up to 600mm in diameter can be cut with relative ease at around 6m per minute. One can only stand in awe along with a touch of fear when watching a 600mm log being cut into more than 11 timber boards.
To ensure maximum timber recovery, whilst ensuring the safety of their staff at all times, Selati has upgraded the old sawmilling methods to make use of the latest industry best practises and machinery. The timber boards are prepared and stacked on trolleys according to their relative lengths and thicknesses, where they will be kiln dried until the correct specified SABS moisture content is reached.
At De Hoek, steam is generated to produce the energy necessary to dry the timber in specialised timber drying kilns. All waste timber, which consists of sawdust, cut-to-length offcuts, knot offcuts and any other form of timber which is not sellable, is transferred through a waste transport network to one location, named the ‘Fuel Bin’. From there they fire up a boiler system which is kept at 6Kpa at all times which then produces the steam necessary to dry the timber. Wet timber goes into the kiln at around 900kg/ m³. and after about 36 to 48 hours, depending on the size of timber, it has lost almost half its weight and comes out at around 450kg/m³.
After the boards have cooled down sufficiently, they are moved to the de-stacker where they are offloaded line by line into an industrial planer, where they are planed to the required 38mm or 50mm thickness. The boards are then sent off to the automatic rip saw where laser technology is used to determine the best cutting method to be used, thus ensuring maximum board utilisation and minimum wastage. At this point, the boards have been planed and cut to various sizes, and all that remains is to cut each board to the longest possible stock length according to the SATAS specifications. The boards are cut to lengths from 900mm to 6 600mm, generally in 300mm increments. After all the cuts have been made the timber is visually and/or stress graded and stamped to SATAS specification, then bundled and strapped by size and length, and finally the timber is safely transported to the proud new owner. Selati sells and distributes timber all over Southern Africa.
This, in a nutshell is and overview of the De Hoek Sawmill’s SATAS construction timber production process.
About Selati roof trusses
Selati Roof Trusses are one of the happy customers and consumers of De Hoek Sawmill’s SABS construction timber. With a highly reliable timber supplier, which produces and delivers high quality SATAS timber on time every time, it is easy for Selati to keep up with their clients’ demands.
“With our friendly and well-trained staff, we strive to make the roofing portion of your project as stress free as possible. Here at Selati Roof Trusses we do not do roofing as an extra product or service, we ONLY do roofing, and pride ourselves in being your roofing partner of choice, hence our slogan – ‘Your roof is our business’,” says a Selati spokesperson.
According to Selati, “Service to our customers is synonymous with our name. A roof is not a commodity that can be replaced every few years, so we partner with our customers ensuring that the best solution is found for their project, making the planning and design phase of the project extremely critical.
“We use MiTek Industries, South Africa’s state-of-the-art design software. We have invested significantly in Computer Aided Manufacturing in order to ensure best truss quality and improve manufacturing efficiencies.
Selati is your final stop for all your roofing needs. We can supply and erect all material required for your project, whether it is the supply or installation of the timber structure only, various roof coverings (for example concrete tiles, roof sheeting, etc.), and even ceilings and cornicing. We use our strong relationships with the main industry suppliers (such as Marley, Coverland, Safintra, Clotan, ATI, and MiTek) to ensure that a quality supply chain is maintained to our valued customers.
Selati is extremely proud of its brand, and our products and services are synonymous with quality. We do not view ourselves as a roofing supplier, but rather a roofing business partner.”
