Wood is Durable and Resilient

Durable and strong, wood is a resilient material that can provide many decades, even centuries, of service. Timber buildings benefit from advancements in modern engineered wood products and can withstand strong winds, harsh weather, fire and earthquakes.

• “Mass timber has inherent fire resistance. During fires, exposed mass timber chars on the outside, which forms an insulating layer protecting the interior wood from damage. Mass timber construction can meet and even exceed fire safety requirements in the Canadian building codes. “

  “When mass timber buildings are designed with local climate impacts in mind, they can last for centuries. Durability can be enhanced through environmentally friendly preservative treatments.”

  “Mass timber buildings are designed to resist high winds and earthquakes given their light weight and inherent flexibility in the connections design.”

  Reference: Mass timber buildings are sustainable, safe and healthy
   

• “Wood structures can withstand earthquakes, wind and fire. In the aftermath of an unfortunate disaster, wood is a versatile and resilient building material well-suited to repairing and rebuilding structures.”

  Reference: Wood's Resilience | Building & Construction | naturally:wood
   

• “These endorsements of the ability of wood-frame construction to perform well in the face of earthquakes are based on several research and documented wood building system characteristics. 

  1. The attachment of sheathing and finishes to the numerous wood joists and studs in a typical wood-frame home provides redundant load paths for the earthquake forces. There are numerous small connections rather than few large-capacity connections. If one connection is overloaded, its share can be picked up by the adjacent connections. 
  2. Wood has a high strength to weight ratio and therefore wood buildings tend to be lighter than other building types. Lightness is an advantage in an earthquake. 
  3. The nailed wood connections in wood frame systems allow the building to flex thereby absorbing and dissipating energy during an earthquake.

  In engineered wood-frame buildings, structural panels (plywood or OSB) acting in combination with studs and joists, create shear walls and diaphragms—very effective lateral-force resisting building assemblies.”

  Reference: Wood-Frame Construction Meeting the Challenges of Earthquakes (2003), Canadian Wood Council, Page 4. Full Document
   

• “Wood’s Seismic and Wind Resistance, High winds, hurricanes and earthquakes are a harsh reality for much of the U.S. Building in these unpredictable climates requires special consideration of wind- and seismic-resistive construction materials. Wood-frame buildings can be designed to stand up to high winds and earthquakes given these characteristics:

  Inherent Flexibility
  Wood’s ability to withstand high loads for short periods of time and retain its elasticity and ultimate strength can be an asset in seismic and high-wind zones.

  Lightweight
  Wood-frame buildings typically weigh less than those made of concrete and steel, reducing inertial seismic forces.

  Ductile Connections
  The ability to yield and displace without fracturing under abrupt lateral or horizontal stresses is an attribute of wood-frame construction, which features several nailed connections that allow it to respond to seismic and high-wind events without critical failure.

  Redundant Load Paths
  The numerous fasteners and connectors used in wood-frame construction offer multiple, often redundant, load paths for extreme forces, reducing the chance the structure will collapse if some connections fail.

  Strength and Stiffness
  The thickness of mass timber panels and the number and size of nails fastening the assemblies determine each component’s stiffness. Heavy bracing for shear walls can resist lateral distortion common in earthquakes.”

  Reference: Think Wood Webpage