An Even Playing Field – Wood Exposed

Apr 11, 2017 | Construction, Light Steel Framing Industry News, Training & Education, TSN News

How does/can the design and construction industry help reverse the trend of apartment fires that continue to destroy so many lives in our country? Disinformation, subsidies, and a lack of education have all played a part in the tragic history of wood apartment fires. We need only bring clarity, education, and an even playing field to the construction means and methods driving this market segment in order to save lives and stop the insanity of building combustible multi-family dwellings. I hope to communicate the importance of our collective role as design and construction professionals and as you will find, expose light steel framing (LSF) has a prominent material in the future of our society.

In finding the opportunity to effect real and positive change, let us review some of the drivers that have shaped the past. Starting with a sanity check, we need to understand the economics that drive decision makers to allow companies to cut down millions of oxygen producing trees, resulting in the destruction of the surrounding wildlife and ecosystem. Secondly; and more significant, what is the safety record for apartments constructed with these very same trees?

The National Fire Service reports apartment fires under its own category and its records show the harsh reality that few owners know. An average of 400 men, women and children or infants are killed or seriously injured each month in the United States. In addition to the 400, firefighters face a daily risk to death or injury as well. Wood-constructed apartment fires have accounted for over 3 million blazes which have taken more than 20,000 lives here at home during the past 35 years. In addition, these apartment fires accounted for an estimated $92B in damage, effecting 1.2 million units and countless lives. Just how far will the timber industry go to promote its products?

I am baffled when I see 4-plus story wood apartment buildings going up locally. Knowing what I do now, I see the efforts of the timber lobbies succeeding with their propaganda. This industry has gone so far as to push a university dorm to 18 stories… this is insanity. A dorm with 400 student apartments at the University of British Columbia is at risk due to this behavior. This is how a highly subsidized project was presented by Jim Carr, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources.

“This remarkable building, the first of its kind in the world, is another shining example of Canadian ingenuity and innovation, an apt demonstration of how Canada’s forest industry is finding new opportunities through technology and innovation — opening up a world of possibilities for our forest and construction industries…”

The link to the full article is below and shows how this sort of propaganda aims to numb our common sense no matter what the risk.

This problem has deep roots entangled in the lumber import disputes between the US and Canada dating back to the early 1800’s. At the center of the dispute is a subsidized lumber import that places US construction material manufacturers at a disadvantage in addition to depressing lumber prices and adversely affecting timberland values in the US.

Low-cost timber combined with grants, subsidized loans, and loan guarantees create artificially low production costs for Canadian lumber producers. This subsidy amounts to Canada dumping lumber in the US thereby holding timber prices artificially low. The lower-priced timber further drives builders to lower bids, resulting in wood apartments being the cheapest option in the short-term. Here, short-term refers to projects where developers have no intention of holding the property but rather intend to flip the entire complex to a new owner. The bottom line: the US has an abundance of low quality combustible apartment complexes that are costly to maintain. We should not be surprised that the use of timber is promoted and protected by a well-funded lobby both locally and nationally.

As a structural engineer since 1980, I know of no structural fires that have occurred in a light steel framed apartment, hotel, dorm, or military barracks. Perhaps now is the time to expose the drivers that take lives in America daily, and if not now, when? I believe that contractors skilled in the trade of construction with LSF need to take this story to local fire officials and lawmakers today!

The LSF industry can effectively stop the timber industry’s desperate effort to grow and together we can facilitate responsible change by presenting the facts beginning with, “No matter how you look at wood or treat it, it is the primary fuel to the fires that take so many lives.”

Accompanying this article is a piece of legislation (Maryland-2017-HB1311 and Maryland-2017-SB722) that I urge you to take to local fire officials and lawmakers in order to begin the movement toward safer cities. It is going to take an industry to shape this change and why not let that it be the LSF contractors and General Contractors that see this clearly as a needed and important change.

It is important to understand that in the building industry it is common to discuss the requirements of non-combustible construction, especially when protecting high occupancy multi-family dwellings. The term non-combustible simply means that materials will not act as fuel for a fire. Generally we are building with metal and or cementitious products when non-combustible requirements are enforced. Separating wood (combustible) from steel and concrete (non-combustible) is an important distinction, but it is not the only factor important to owners and consumers.

We are not talking rocket science here, so it is important to understand that the cost of a non-combustible light steel framed apartment complex in the short and long-term is more than competitive with wood construction when evaluating the value of the completed project.

The benefits of steel don’t end with its non-combustibility. LSF is termite-proof, stronger than wood, doesn’t shrink, is mechanically connected, and does not use friction-based nailing to hold it together. Steel can be engineered to be progressive collapse-resistant, has no nail or screw pops, and remains straight (does not warp). Steel is the only framing material that has a 500+ year life cycle and offers a reprieve from the vicious build-destroy-rebuild cycle fires cause. The information promoted on the environmental impact of timber production is equally misleading.

The Worldwatch Institute, in its Reforesting the Earth paper, estimated that the earth needs at least 321 million ACRES of trees planted just to restore and maintain the productivity of soil and water resources, annually remove 780 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere and meet industrial and fuel wood needs in the third world. For every ton of new-wood growth, about 1.5 tons of CO2 are removed from the air and 1.07 tons of life-giving oxygen is produced.

Another pointed difference between the safety of wood and steel is that steel has gained strength through advanced manufacturing over the years while wood has weakened due to smaller and younger harvests. Engineered light steel framing is not based on outdated old-growth (historical) wood design tables that do not represent the timber harvested for product largely used today.

If not now when will wood lose its foothold as the default method of building cheap apartments and condos? As already shown, the cost to construct these wood dwellings must also calculate more than just the physical materials because the dollar value in fire loss cannot define the cost to life, possessions, and security; and certainly cannot replace those things. Short-sightedness in building has proven dangerous.

Back in 1993, following the devastation of hurricane Andrew, which precipitated skyrocketing lumber prices, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) was solicited by the National Association of Homebuilders research facility in Rockville, Maryland to fund LSF standards for Residential Construction. By 1999 the effort had failed to produce positive change.

Consistent with the past, NAHB’s courtship with timber drove the development of a LSF prescriptive standard which proved to be a prescription for disaster and further expanded the use of combustible wood products. In the prescriptive standard the steel 2×4 was engineered and tested and held to a standard wood could never meet with today’s 3rd to 6th growth forests. NAHB research accomplished the short-term goal of limiting the performance of steel to prescriptive tables which was never a comparable, much less an even playing field.

Today, NAHB fails to point out the importance of LSF. Sadly, under NAHB “research” you can find “sustainability” and no mention of steel as a solution. This research defines sustainability as “Resource conservation techniques, such as using high-performance engineered wood, wood alternatives, allergen-free materials, recycled building materials, sustainably harvested lumber and more durable products”. Where is the LSF standard that was funded? The fact is, LSF met all of these criteria 25 years ago when AISI was working together with NAHB Research and the three model building codes to evaluate steel as the best alternative to wood framing overall.

The costs of LSF mid-rise structures are competitive with all alternative materials. We continue to see increased use of LSF structures for dorms, hotels, military barracks, and mid-rise apartments in spite of the forces pushing wood. The next and most important step is for every contractor, fire service official, and lawmaker, is to take a stand and stop wood-framed structures from exceeding three (3) stories in height.

As an engineer, a concerned member of the community, and a father, I urge you to forward this article and the attached legislation(Maryland-2017-HB1311 and Maryland-2017-SB722)  that was developed in Maryland, to all building code and fire service officials in your area. This legislation can act as a template to develop one tailored to the needs of your community. Now is the time to expose the drivers that take lives in America daily, and advance light steel framing as the solution it has been for decades!

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About the Author: Edward di Girolamo, P.E. is the Chief Executive Officer of The Steel Network, Inc. (TSN) since 1994 and Applied Science International, Inc. (ASI) since 2000. The companies are based out of Durham North Carolina and have a presence in the European Union, Egypt, Singapore, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand and Korea. TSN and ASI have completed analysis of many specialty structures and consulted in the design, construction, and demolition of numerous facilities throughout the world. Mr. di Girolamo is a structural engineer with a history of innovation in the engineering and construction industries. His expertise centers on product development and market deployment of disruptive technologies throughout a career spanning 35 years. With a focus on the stability of mid-rise buildings, di Girolamo developed the StudPlank® building system which he first used on a seven (7) story apartment building in New York City in 1988. Recognizing the value of LSF in mid-rise construction, di Girolamo introduced the SteelSmart® System engineering software in 1995 enabling 1000’s of engineers throughout the US to efficiently and safely design LSF mid-rise structures. Further expanding steels opportunity in midrise in 2005, TSN introduced its SigmaStud® and StiffWall® in order to go higher with a fully integrated load-bearing stud and shear wall system. More recently, di Girolamo, a Navy veteran, leveraged the TSN team to develop prototypes for the US Army’s GP Giant tent (Exhut) replacement project for the Rapid Equipment Force and demonstrated the versatility of LSF in extreme environments. You can contact Mr. di Girolamo at Edward@steelnetwork.com.