Wood Construction

[SouthernTier]

Except for a few dry stack folks and berm houses, most folks here are building their cabins/buildings with wood.

I recently came across this building under construction.  Except for a raised concrete slab for the foundation, it seems like it is entirely constructed out of wood.  Probably not being done by a hobbiest on the weekends 

I didn't think that buildings like this were being made entirely out of wood anymore!

[Redoverfarm]

Old School Construction 

[MountainDon]

All the apartment and condo complexes that I have seen built here in NM are just like that. Lots of wood using open web floor trusses as a rule.

[MushCreek]

And boy- do they BURN! They were building a big complex like that in Tampa FL a few years ago, and it caught fire before it was completed. What a fire!

[Don_P]

I believe the IBC allows up to 5 floors in wood. There is a 30 story wood framed tower overseas... no thanks! AWC woodworks program is really focused more on non residential wood construction, there is alot of info over there. CLT, cross laminated timber construction, is the latest buzzword. These are panels made by glueing dimensional lumber into "plywood" type panels, 6 or more inches thick and in large SIP like panels. There are a few buildings in construction and the APA has recently released product standards for its' use. Expect to see more of it in the future. It is a good place to use some of our overstock of small trees.

Old school was heavy timber, mill type construction, for buildings of this size. The heavy timbers would surface char and then could support loads for quite awhile in a fire. Lightweight construction at heights greater than I want to jump is less comfortable to me. The CLT should behave more like heavy timber in fire.

[rick91351]

And boy- do they BURN! They were building a big complex like that in Tampa FL a few years ago, and it caught fire before it was completed. What a fire!

Same here, it was a two or three story low income apartment complex almost finished.  Plumber or roofer caught it on fire.  It was over almost before it started it went so fast.  Caused a lot of how safe talk?  Was redesigned / re-engineered or what ever before rebuilt.   

[umtallguy]

true, though srpinklers help alot once buildings are completed.