by Web Editor | Oct 31, 2018 | News
Prescriptive requirements for wood structures up to 18 stories were among the additions preliminarily approved for the International Building Code following the work of the International Code Council’s ad-hoc Tall Wood Buildings Committee.
Wood is widely recognized as a carbon-neutral building material, but its use as a structural material has been mostly limited to residential and low-rise buildings due to its combustible nature. Through recent advances in manufacturing and engineering, wood in the form of mass timber products is increasingly attracting interest as a structural system for tall buildings.
Portland, Ore., recently saw the completion of the eight-story Carbon12, currently the tallest wood building in the United States. Still, progress has been slow in this country as compared to Europe or Canada, where the 18-story-tall Brock Commons, in Vancouver, stands as the tallest timber structure in the world. One significant issue inhibiting widespread adoption in the U.S. is prescriptive building codes, which currently limit the height of wood buildings to 85 feet, or six stories. In December 2015, the International Code Council (ICC) formed an ad-hoc committee to study the impact of tall wood buildings on the building code with the membership voting on the adoption of proposed changes on Oct. 24.
The ICC’s International Building Code (IBC) classifies a high-rise building as any building with an occupied floor 75 feet above the lowest level at which fire department vehicles can access. The 2018 IBC defines heavy timber structural members as Type IV construction, which also includes a range of wood products, such as solid sawn timber, glue-laminated members, and composite wood members. The term mass timber, however, comprises both heavy timber as well as engineered products, many of which the IBC does not reference, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT).
Heavy timber construction is currently limited to a height of 85 feet. Architects can design taller wood structures, but they must demonstrate that the design meets the prescribed code and performs as well or better than a similar concrete or steel structure. This can be a costly and time-consuming process, requiring extensive testing and documentation on the part of the design team and building owner.
Read more on this from Architect Magazine at https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/support-for-tall-timber-reaches-new-heights-in-the-building-code_o.
by Web Editor | Oct 24, 2018 | News
From October 21-27, 2018, we celebrate the value of America’s forests and recognize how vital they are to our well-being and national prosperity during National Forest Products Week. This week is recognized each year by a Presidential proclamation. At the USDA Forest Service, we work year round to create new opportunities for wood products that contribute to diversified rural economies and support sustainable forest management.
By supporting forest products markets, we have the opportunity to create safer communities by reducing wildfire risk, supporting rural economic development, and contributing to a more sustainable building sector. The Forest Service is working to develop the U.S. market for cross-laminated timber, or CLT, and other mass timber technologies.
CLT is a made from several layers of dried lumber boards stacked in alternating directions, glued and pressed to form rectangular panels. These panels have exceptional strength and stability and can be used as floors, walls and roofs in building construction, replacing or used along with traditional building materials such as concrete and steel. In fact, the International Code Council is examining whether or not tall wood buildings up to 18 stories will be included in the 2021 International Building Code. A final decision will be made later this year.
The state of Oregon has already adopted the proposed provisions for the International Code Council under its Statewide Alternate Method, and Washington State legislation already embraces mass timber construction. The U.S. Department of Defense is already using CLT in some of its on-base housing because of the incredible resiliency of the materials and their resistance to explosive forces.
We are on the precipice of major momentum in the marketplace with mass timber, with four factories in production, including two making architectural grade CLT; five factories coming online (either under construction or just completed); and three more factories recently announced in eight states. Compounded with the upcoming code decisions, we expect to see many more mass timber and CLT buildings in the near future.
From the USDA: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2018/10/22/forest-service-celebrates-cross-laminated-timber-during-forest-products-week
by Web Editor | Sep 14, 2018 | News
Boise Cascade Company has entered into an agreement with Woodgrain Millwork to sell its northeast Oregon lumber mills in Pilot Rock and La Grande and the particleboard operations in Island City. The planned transaction does not include Boise Cascade’s plywood mill or the powerhouse and log utilization center, based in Elgin, OR.
Woodgrain is a manufacturer and supplier with a diverse product offering including moulding, door shop products, and window parts, headquartered in Idaho. “The sale to Woodgrain allows us to further focus on our veneer-based engineered wood products and plywood businesses,” said Mike Brown, senior vice president of operations, Boise Cascade Wood Products division. “Woodgrain is a family-owned company with a solid reputation in the industry. The products manufactured at these northeast Oregon facilities are a good fit with their business strategy.”
“Being a fully integrated company in each step of our supply chain has become one of our core strengths as a company,” said Kelly Dame, Woodgrain CEO. “Being able to grow the Woodgrain Lumber division is a key step in growing as a company. We are excited about the opportunity it offers.”
The details of the agreement were not disclosed and the transaction is contingent upon the results of the due diligence process, which is expected to take approximately 60 days.
by Web Editor | Sep 7, 2018 | News
In a recent message from the National Hardwood Lumber Association encouraging member companies to contact representatives in Washington regarding the tariff situation, NHLA passed on this information from the Hardwood Federation on the importance of the wood products industry to the United States.
The wood products industry in the United States is an important contributor to the U.S. economy, accounting for approximately 4 percent of the total U.S. manufacturing GDP. Wood products companies are among the top ten manufacturing sector employers in 47 states, producing $210 billion in products annually.
The industry employs nearly 900,000 people; more than the automotive, chemicals and plastics industries. Many of them are in rural areas where employment opportunities are limited.
Hardwood is an important sub-sector of the wood products industry and has a heavy reliance on export markets for its survival.
In 2017, U.S. hardwood producers shipped $4.04 billion worth of U.S. products to global markets; $2.09 billion to Greater China, including Hong Kong and Macau. Combined, China, the NAFTA countries and the E.U. make up 82 percent of hardwood exports. Dependable, long-term export markets are vital to the sustainability of the hardwood industry. In 2017, the U.S. had a trade surplus of $1.475 billion in hardwood lumber, up from $1.1 billion in 2015.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/how-important-us-wood-products-industry?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
by Web Editor | Aug 22, 2018 | News
Wood Construction Pushes Forward On Both Sides Of The Border
Mass timber construction is making waves on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, but factors in each country mean a different pace of progress.
The state of Washington is rapidly moving forward on both green construction and use of advanced wood products, but Washington State Department of Commerce forest products sector lead Brian Hatfield said the state isn’t necessarily ahead of its Canadian neighbor. “In some ways, British Columbia is ahead of us in terms of low carbon building materials,” he said.
In 2017, the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services oversaw a pilot project that built 20 kindergarten through Grade 3 classrooms using cross-laminated timber (CLT) in five school district sites in Washington. “We had a pilot district for five school districts, all single-story schools, and those have gone pretty well. They went up quickly and everyone was impressed,” Hatfield said.
The state’s 2016 supplemental capital budget included $5.5 million for the pilot project, which also measures the efficiencies of using engineered wood products through the construction process.
While Washington is taking steps to increase wood use in construction, the Province of British Columbia has pushed for mass timber and wood-focused design for the previous decade. In 2009, the Province of British Columbia put the Wood First Act into practice, which requires provincially funded projects to use wood as a primary construction material. The B.C. building code was also modified in 2009 to allow for wood buildings of up to six stories.
From Journal Of Commerce: canada.constructconnect.com.
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