A standard has finally been approved for CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber), a new structural wood product that can be used either as a wall or as a slab. From the APA press release:

ANSI/APA PRG 320-2011 Standard for Performance-Rated Cross-Laminated Timber, a new standard for cross-laminated timber (CLT), was approved for publication last month by by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).  is a prefabricated solid engineered wood panel made from at least three layers of solid-sawn lumber or structural composite lumber (SCL) that are stacked cross-wise and bonded together with structural adhesives to form a solid, rectangular-shaped panel that is intended for construction applications, including roofs, floors and walls in residential and non-residential buildings. Orthogonally bonding the layers increases the structural and dimensional stability of the product as a slab or wall.

Find out more about this product and download the standard’s text here:

• New Standard for Cross-Laminated Timber Approved by ANSI | APA – The Engineered Wood Association
• A primer on CLT by NaturallyWood

Current suppliers in North America:

• CST Innovations, New Westminster, BC, Canada
• Nordic EWP, Montreal, QC, Canada
• Structurlam, Penticton, BC, Canada

Now that the holidays are almost here…

I wish you all a joyful and peaceful time. Wherever you are and whatever you celebrate, enjoy time with your family, rest, relax, take some time off and recharge. All the best for the new year. See you in 2012!

Some amazing wood carvings of “melting” wood:

“SOUS TITRE” EXHIBITION / DURAMEN SERIAL on the Behance Network

(via Go Wood)

Admittedly this is a bit of a strange question to ask. However, when you are considering using wood products in your buildings, this question might come up in discussions – especially when clients think about resource depletion issues. As it turns out, the entire amount of wood required for a 50,000 s.f. hotel in the Northeast grows in the meager timeframe of 2 minutes. Not much resource depletion there (and forests tend to get re-planted, of course).

WoodWorks, the US and Canadian agency that promotes the use of wood for non-residential construction, just released a Carbon Calculator on their website. This tool allows for interactive estimating of the carbon impact of any wood-based construction project. Because trees store (“sequester”) carbon (from CO₂) when they grow (instead of emitting large quantities – as is the case with some other building materials), this calculator also estimates how much CO₂ emissions are saved if wood is used. From WoodWorks’ description:

Wood products continue to store carbon absorbed by the trees during their growing cycle, keeping it out of the atmosphere indefinitely. Using wood in place of fossil fuel-intensive materials such as steel and concrete also “avoids” greenhouse gases that would have been emitted during manufacturing. Now, with the Carbon Calculator it is possible to quantify these benefits for wood buildings. The more detail you provide, the better the results.

The Carbon Calculator comes in two flavors: An “Estimator” that uses average quantities and produces a result based on a building type, size and location. In addition, a “Calculator”, which allows the user to enter the exact quantities of 2x4s, OSB sheets etc. and get a much more project-specific answer.

Another very useful tool is WoodWork’s cost comparison calculator (based on RSMeans data). From their website:

WoodWorks Cost Comparison Calculator - gives you a current comparison of building material costs using data from RSMeans Costworks data. Information used by RSMeans is based upon current city cost indexes calculated for each city/metro area included in the costing calculator. RSMeans uses index figures for both material and installation which are based upon the 30 major city average of 100 and is updated quarterly. The weighted-average index is calculated from about 66 materials and equipment types and 21 building trades. Click here for more information on RSMeans costing data.

These tools should give the planner or developer adequate information about how wood often matches or even outperforms other building materials in terms of environmental impact and cost.

Links:

• WoodWorks online calculators (Carbon Calculator)
• WoodWorks cost of building calculator

Springfield Tornado (June) – This is a tree close to a school in the Forest Park neighborhood. Replanting efforts have started and if you would like to contribute, go to http://regreenspringfield.com/. For more images, go here.

Presumably drunk driver (August) – This was the tree in front of our house that got plowed down by a (presumably) intoxicated driver late one night in August. We since replaced it with a nice Japanese maple.

Hurricane Irene (August) – Although we didn’t have much damage around our place, there were some limbs down and some areas lost power for quite a few days. For more images, go here.

Halloween Nor’Easter (October) – This is just one of the many trees that came down during the Halloween snow-storm last weekend. We lost a bunch of large branches in the back of the yard and had no power for two days. But now we’re back on-line. Some areas apparently will have no power until the end of the week.

From the foreword by Michael Green:

Each tree is a beautiful part of the answer to climate change, and yet we are only beginning to ask of its potential. Each time we choose to build in wood we are part of a critically important chain of responsibility that will see the elegance of the living tree through to a new life in a building.

This book provides a wonderful context within which to examine the future potential of wood as a building. As the 21st Century unfolds, “Toward a Culture of Wood Architecture” argues that by revitalizing our wood building tradition we can create new synergies between the natural and the built worlds, distribute both social and economic benefits, and contribute to the mitigation of climate change.

You can preview an excerpt of the first chapter on Issuu below and if you like it, purchase the book here: http://abacuseditions.com/

Only 10 days left for early registration! Also check out our updated speaker list and the details on AIA/PDH credits.

Join us this September for the 2011 Symposium on Wood Engineering, Architecture and Construction at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Presentations will cover passivehouse technology, environmental benefits of using wood and new, innovative wood building systems. Two afternoon workshops will focus on detailing essentials such as thermal, moisture and acoustic issues, air tightness, and indoor air quality and ventilation. In addition, an exciting new wood product out of Europe, called Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), will be showcased. Experts from both North America and Austria present the essentials in achieving energy efficiency and sustainability in wood construction in this inspiring 2-day seminar.

Info and registration: http://www.woodstructuressymposium.com/

We now have the symposium website and the registration up and running – feel free to browse it and make sure you tell all your colleagues about it.

The 2011 Wood Structures Symposium will be an exciting venue with experts from the University of Innsbruck in Austria presenting on Passivehouse construction and Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) construction. In addition, presenters from North America will talk about CLT and sustainable construction in wood. We will also have two afternoon workshops to complement the talks and teach anything from green building in wood to Passivehouse detailing and quality management.

For more information, visit our site:

http://www.woodstructuressymposium.com/

Similar to what I have been posting already about wood to my @alexschreyer account, I will in the future be posting more wood-related content under the new account. So to make a long story short:

Follow @timberengineer if you like or work with wood!

See you in the Twitterverse…