Pandemic Hack: How to Build With Less Wood

​As the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, architecture and construction are experiencing a downturn due to shortages in building materials. Demand for lumber and plywood is high because more new homes and additions are being built while labor is scarce for wood mills and in the trucking industry, and a glue shortage has slowed plywood production. Clients are changing their minds about moving forward with their projects and contractors are scrambling to figure out how to make money on projects where current prices have little relationship to their original bids.

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Folks have been talking about building more efficiently for a long time but pandemic conditions have made the need to build with less wood a priority. Less wood means lower costs, which means that your project might actually be built. As a client, you can help keep your project within budget by staying informed and asking your contractor the right questions. Here are some tips for building with less wood.

Use advanced framing instead of conventional framing. Advanced framing uses 2X6 wood studs spaced 24 inches on center in place of 2X4 or 2X6 studs placed 16 inches on center in conventional framing. Walls are topped with a single top plate instead of a double top plate. And windows and doors have single instead of double headers. Overall, advanced framing means using less wood. This in turn leads to more energy-efficient buildings. Not only are you optimizing material usage and reducing construction waste, but you are also maximizing space for cavity insulation and minimizing the potential for insulation voids! More insulation and a tighter building envelope equals a more energy-efficient building.

Plywood is very expensive at the moment so it is helpful to find ways to reduce plywood during construction. One option is to replace plywood sheathing on the exterior of wood framed walls with metal strapping. Properly-installed and spaced metal straps can provide resistance to loads much like plywood sheathing. One downside is that it is more difficult to attach siding to the building if metal straps have been used instead of plywood. But this can be overcome by being careful to ensure that nailing only happens where there is a stud to nail to.

​You can’t avoid plywood sheathing entirely on the roof. But you can minimize it by using thinner boards (down to 7/16 inch thick) in place of the typical 5/8 inch boards. If thinner boards are used then you must solid block the edges of the sheathing by nailing 2X4s or 2X3s to it or attaching the whole thing together with metal clips. The thinner plywood is floppy at the edges so solid blocking will provide the necessary support.

Architects and builders have known and used these strategies for some time. They are widely used for green building, for example. But, with the costs of building supplies at their highest levels in decades, there is no reason not to popularize these strategies. You can have your cake and eat it too!

Links:
https://www.protradecraft.com/article/best-way-frame-less-wood-more-thought
https://www.apawood.org/advanced-framing
www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/cad/detail/metal-strapping-as-shear-bracing