Wood has been used as a building materials for thousands of years, only second to stone in terms of its rich and storied history in the word of construction. A variety of innovative wood-based products and structural solutions have been developed over the past few years and are now available for use in various segments of construction. In particular, pre-fabricated wood building components and a new generation of engineered wood products, such as panels and beams, offer strength and safety properties on par with more traditionally used construction materials.

Wood has several benefits that make it an excellent candidate for use in a wide array of construction projects, including:

• being proven fire safe for builders, occupants, and fire service officials
• being structurally comparable to concrete and steel buildings in strength
• storing carbon to lessen the impact of climate change
• lower greenhouse gas emissions from construction by not using energy-intensive materials
• lower buildings costs with cheaper materials and quicker construction time
• providing safe and reliable flexibility under seismic loading (earthquake impacts)
• supporting sustainable forest management policies

Additional Outside Resources:

American Wood Council - Details for Conventional Wood Construction (PDF)

Related Topics

• Building Rating Systems
• LEED

Tags

• New Construction