Depends on who is driving the horse
Posted on 03/21/2014 5:33:42 AM PDT by SJackson
No talk of the white “wage slaves” who toiled in the mines and factories and built this great nation?
Why just not use stone and finish taking us back into the Stone age?
“Cross-laminated timber panels are combustible, but char and burn out without buckling, reports the Oregonian.”
This is sheer idiocy and I say that as someone around carpentry all my life.
And then, there is Portland cement concrete. Of course it needs steel reinforcing but it is superior to wood both structurally and architecturally.
I would think a proper use of Green wood would be to make the frames and support structures for wind turbine towers and solar collector arrays. That however is not done. There are no such structures made from wood composites.
lol!!!!! Unclear to whom? Come on, this is caveman stupid.
I thought the great Chicago fire showed us something about building cities out of wood
I really want to be 50 stories up in a wood building
NOT
Install a moat and bailey, call Monty Python and feign food sickness...
Depends on who is driving the horse
There’s a reason wooden buildings never reach more than a few stories in height.
They’re easier for the Eco terrorist to burn like the SF, CA Castro fire recently?
I’ve read this a couple of times. This has to be from the Onion. Satire?
Ever been on a wooden roller coaster?
Its a unique experience...fun at the theme park, but not for an office building.
I usually agree with Greenfield. However, he is not an engineer. Also, I do not think any of you are based on your comments.
Let me enlighten you. They are not talking about building with the 2x4’s and 2x10’s you can buy at Home Depot.
Laminated Veneer Lumber and cross laminated lumber can replace steel in many of the applications required for tensile strength beam and column applications. Imagine plywood that is 6-12” thick and 40’ long.
Lumber can also be made fire retardant and resistant to insects. This is no different than the bonded cellulose insulation that is blown into EVERY new construction house/building in North America. Bonded cellulose is ground up newspaper treated with a fire retardant. Also, unlike San Francisco and Chicago in the 1800’s, ALL commercial buildings now have sprinkler systems.
ALL modern houses, built in the last 10-20 years already have laminated veneer lumber(LVL) in them. These are the main carrying beams that typically support the center of the house. They replaced solid timber beams because they are STRONGER and lighter. They are also used as the header/carrying beam above your garage door opening. They allow you to have a clear span across much wider spans than traditional wood framing.
Lastly, ask a fire fighter is they would rather go into a wood framed building or a steel framed building that has caught fire. The wood will char and stay up longer than steel.
Concrete is a good building material but you do not see 100 story buildings being built out of concrete alone. That is because it shrinks and expands with changes in weather. It requires large expansion joints or it will buckle. When it shrinks it will crack. Also, it does not have the tensile strength of wood or steel. That is why there is so much rebar added to concrete. However, that rebar is subject to corrosion over time. It is difficult to gauge that corrosion when it is surrounded by 6” of concrete.
FYI, I have a BS in Wood Products Engineering from the SUNY/Syracuse Forestry College. This is Civil/Mechanical Engineering applied specifically to wood. I have also been a lumber broker for 28 years. I have also built/designed and remodeled four houses.
Anything to sell your product huh. LOL
We need to have a rerun of ‘Towering Inferno’.
That’s what wood does. That’s what wood really wants to do. Lots of effort needs to be expended to make sure that doesn’t happen in fact.
They reason concrete is used is because it is CHEAP and it has good compression strength when cured. It is also very heavy. Why not just build all our multistory buildings out of granite? It has good compression strength, is pretty and will last for 3000 years.
On the other hand. Lets build all our buildings out of graphite, titanium and Kevlar. I am sure a Kevlar building would be much stronger than steel, concrete or cellulose based materials.
Actually, I have no vested interest in the sale of LVL or composite lumber.
Anything to support your ideas, even when you do not know what you are talking about.
Do you have ANY experience in construction, design or engineering. Have you ever built a dog house?
LOL
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