Each layer is oriented crosswise to the next, which makes for extremely stable and strong panels. Having established itself on the European market over the past twenty years, CLT has only recently become available in North America.
This type of wood has excellent thermal and acoustic properties, is highly resistant to fire, and provides exceptional structural strength. CLT can be used to build load-bearing walls, floors and roofs. To date, it has mainly been used in residential construction, but tall wood buildings between 5 and 10 stories , encouraged by changes in building code in relation to timber use in tall buildings, are now starting to pop up all over the world with over mid to high rise timber buildings under construction across Canada alone in Also known as Aspenite, OSB is a panel fabricated using small strips of wood.
OSB is not as strong as plywood, or as resistant to weather, but it is a lower cost alternative to plywood. It is most often used as exterior sheathing, as well as being the centre web of engineered wooden I-Joists. OSB makes use of small pieces of waste wood and is bonded using a phenol formaldehyde, a far less toxic substitute for the urea formaldehyde of days past. All that to say, it certainly won't improve the air quality of your home , but it is generally not thought to be too great a health hazard.
Did you also know that OSB sheathing can be used as a vapor barrier in homes? See here. Plywood is most commonly found as a 4 x 8' panel that is made from thin sheets of wood veneer that are bonded together using phenol formaldehyde glues, although certain manufacturers are leading the way with formaldehyde-free plywood products.
Plywood is used for different structural elements such as studs in load-bearing walls, partitions, floor beams and roof supports. It is assembled with the grain of each layer running in the opposite direction of the previous one, making a very stable and strong final product that is highly resistant to cracking, twisting and shrinkage.
Plywood is commonly used on residential construction sites as a flooring substrate, exterior wall and roof sheathing, as well as certain interior finishing applications and furniture. Mouldings for interior finishing can be made of all sorts of materials. Solid wood is one option pine, oak, maple or yellow birch. It is still rather expensive but it has the advantage of being a durable material that doesn't require harmful adhesives. MDF mouldings Medium Density Fibreboard are more reasonably priced and made largely of waste wood products, but they are fairly heavily ladden with toxic adhesives.
Solid wood products with Zero VOC finishes will go a long way to helping you keep clean indoor air quality , though other eco-friendly alternatives to MDF are becoming available, such as formaldehyde-free MDF made from rice husks.
Note: There are companies that offer pre-painted wood siding products, a quality that you cannot match on a ladder with a brush.
Several coats of paint are applied, to both sides, so your job is simply to cut the siding to length, paint the ends, and install it. A reputable company will give your siding a warranty up around 15 years, and potentially up to 30 years if you apply a coat of paint within that first 15 years.
If you prefer to paint your wood siding yourself, it will be a lot easier and a better quality if you do it on the ground before installation. It will require significant space to paint, but also the time to build drying racks for your siding to sit on while the paint finish is drying off.
To see more about choosing the best siding for your house, see here. Regardless of the type of wood that is used, furniture for use inside the home should ideally be free of volatile organic compounds VOCs , including formaldehyde, to protect your indoor air quality. For finishings and maintenance - again to protect your air quality - look for zero VOC paints and finishes.
I'm surprised to see that All OSB is manufactured with phenol-formaldehyde. I was trying to figure out how to tell which companies used phenol and which ones used urea. Same with plywood - I was under the impression that most interior grade plywood used urea formaldehyde, while exterior grade plywood used the phenol stuff.
The biggest culprit for urea formaldehyde in homes is cabinetry products, that you can bet will be filled with urea unless they specifically advertise otherwise. There is one formaldehyde-free plywood - Purebond from Columbia forest products which is the healthiest such product we've come across so far and which can be specified prefinished as formaldehyde-free plywood with a VOC free clear finish. I am chemically sensitive and so I need to be very aware of the materials that I add to my home, what is your recommendation for healthy finishing products?
Everything I have found for wood finishing is toxic to some level, even the oils seem to contain solvents. Thanks in advance for any help! There is a company in Quebec named Livos that provides natural and non-toxic finishing oils, have a look, I think they should have the finishing products you need that will also safeguard the air quality of your house.
Great article! I've always found it confusing whether to use the words lumber, wood or timber in connection to construction in the US and Canada, and I think i get it now. Timber frame and timber in general isn't just what a lumberjack shouts, this refers to larger structural elements and manufactured wood, whereas lumber and simply wood describes the standard type tree-derived sawn or planed products used in house framing for building homes in North America.
My name is Lina. I needed plywood for my boat, at first I ordered plywood from the first company available on the Internet without doing proper research. After 2 months, the plywood began to crack and turn black, although I ordered it specially water-resistant.
As a result, I had to redo everything. I read a bunch of reviews this time and decided to order plywood on the internet and for good reason! In general, very high quality plywood sourced online was a very great discovery so thanks Ecohome for pointing me at Columbia Forest products for great plywood! Sign Up to Comment.
The best way to insulate the exterior of a house has a lot to do with what is going on inside the walls, and how extensive your energy-efficient renovations will be. The following page will help you understand some of the risks and find the best way forward -. The easiest way to insulate walls from the exterior in older homes. It is also hydrophobic, meaning it is very resistant to moisture and water damage. The most common reason that a good product can cause a wall failure is by putting it in the wrong place.
The safest advice we can give you is to learn the science behind walls so you can choose wisely. There are some rigid insulation panels with air barriers, vapor barriers, some with none and some with both. In cold climates you want vapor barriers on the interior, so you need to be careful not to apply a vapor-impermeable panel to the outside.
On the Halo website they speak of 'breathability' of the Exterra product, so that's good, though it would be nowhere near as breathable as Rockwool. Choosing the best exterior insulation will also depend on your climate, so if you tell us your climate zone or closest city we may be able to offer a bit more insight.
In the meantime, here are a few more pages that will help you find the best option. The answer is actually pretty easy but not one you probably want to hear, and I know I risk getting lots of different opinions and comments - but in our opinion you should probably remove the poly vapor barrier. Any moisture that may have leaked in through unsealed windows would be a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of water in the concrete foundation , which takes years to fully dry.
And even that can only happen if it is protected with a membrane to prevent it from absorbing more moisture from the ground. Either there is no exterior moisture protection separating concrete from the ground and it will just stay wet forever, or it is protected from absorbing moisture on the outside, but still the only way the moisture in the concrete can dry is to the interior, which is currently being stopped by your poly vapor barrier.
So the short story is, despite that fact that so many builders keep putting vapour barriers on the interiors of basement walls, it is the worst thing you can do down there since the main source of moisture is not interior humidity in the air, it's the wet ground and or the concrete itself. Here is an article that will better help you understand why the walls are wet and how renovations should be carried out - ].
Having to remove all the poly is probably not the news you were hoping for but you are at least fortunate in the sense that there is no drywall on at this point. Since there are 12 board feet in every cubic foot, you just need to determine the volume of a tree to understand its useful wood yield.
Since most lumber comes from cylindrical shaped, coniferous trees, you can do this by measuring the height of the tree and multiplying by its average cross-sectional area. The height of a tree can be calculated very accurately from the ground by using a tape measure and basic trigonometry yes, you finally get to use some high school math, or more roughly by measuring shadows. Learning how to do this is a fun exercise and videos and descriptions can be readily found online.
For our purposes we will simply use the average height of currently harvested trees which is eighty feet. Next we need to determine the diameter of the tree. Foresters use a standard place to measure diameter at chest height, or about 4. This following may sound complex but it is not. With this volume known, all you have to do is multiply it by 12 to get board feet! Now that we know how to figure out the amount of wood per tree, we just need to know how much wood we will need to understand how many trees we will need to cut down.
The precise amount of lumber required to build a wood-framed house varies slightly across the nation, but a good average would be 6. According to the Census Bureau, the average American home built in was 2, square feet, meaning it would have required 16, board feet of lumber to build!
So how many trees does it take to build a house? Using the calculation detailed above, you will find that its lumber yield is about board feet. And if you require 16, board feet to frame the average home, almost 22 mature firs will be needed.
Another trees will be needed for the rest of the house and its finishes. Hardwood floors, cabinets, siding, roofing, paneling etc. In total, building a home today will consume forty-four mature trees for every square feet.
Be sure to include the garage when adding up your square footage. The problem with trees is it takes a long time to make one. All this for just a single average American home.
To be available today, these trees must have begun growing just after World War II. The sacrifice of trees is a big environmental investment in your home. Especially when they are used to make in a structure that perhaps through a combination of fickleness, change of fashion and poor care may only last 50 years. In addition to habitat, trees furnish essential requirements like clean water, food and oxygen. As humans evolved and migrated around the globe, trees also provided additional necessities such as energy, shelter, medicine, tools and transportation in the form of wheels and ships.
A primary motivation to explore the new world was to find more trees as they had become scarce on the European continent. Running out of trees, as happened on Easter Island can be devastating and have irreversible consequences.
Trees contribute directly to the environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife. During the process of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we breathe. Trees help to control climate by moderating the effects of the sun, rain and wind. Trees also preserve warmth by providing a screen from harsh wind. In addition to influencing wind speed and direction, they shield us from the downfall of rain, sleet and hail.
Trees also lower the air temperature and reduce the heat intensity of the greenhouse effect by maintaining low levels of carbon dioxide. According to the U. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people. After trees intercept unhealthy particles, rain washes them to the ground.
If you are going to take the time and expense to build a wood Deck A level unobstructed surface. Forgot Your Password? Create Account. Advanced Search. Sign Up. Chat Email Our 10 Guarantees FAQs. Please sign-in or register to save plans. Advanced Plan Search. Search House Plans. Advanced Search Options. Efficient Kitchen Workspaces. Energy Efficient Roofing. Related Articles Designing Your Patio.
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