Since over 90% of the Homes built in the United States are wood framed, reducing the amount of wood used in each frame has a tremendous multiplier effect that results in substantial wood savings overall. One of the easiest ways to achieve significant savings in framing lumber on a project is to apply the Advanced Framing techniques that are promoted by the National Association of Home Builders Research Center and others. Advanced Framing involves Optimum Value Engineering, through strategies such as 24" on center framing, two-stud corner assemblies, insulated headers, and in-line framing with a single top plate.
Although not every Advanced Framing Technique is necessarily applicable in each project, taken together the strategies can save a significant amount of framing lumber in each project: 17-30 percent depending on the design characteristics.
Similarly, specifying engineered wood products for a project results in wood savings, when the products are applied according to their engineered capabilities, rather than as one-to-one substitutes for solid-sawn lumber. Because each engineered wood piece is stronger than a comparably-sized piece of solid wood, a project that uses engineered lumber can use fewer framing pieces in total. Furthermore, engineered wood products achieve a very efficient utilization of wood fiber from each harvested log, and prevent wood waste at the job site that results when pieces of lumber are culled because of warping, checking, or knots.
Bottom line:
Both advanced framing and engineered lumber allow Reduced Materials Use. For companies that follow sustainable forestry practices, lumber is a Renewable Material. A wood-framed project has the potential to become more resource efficient if Local Sources for the wood products can be used.
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