Architecture and Wood Frame

Created On:

March 28, 2016

Wood construction is currently in fashion, but we are talking about one of the oldest building materials in history, noted for its strength, ductility, and being a renewable natural material. Despite its popularity, there are still many taboos surrounding wooden construction related to its structural strength, behavior in the face of weather agents, and many others.

One of the most well-known building systems based on wood is the Wood Frame, a dry building system based on the creation of frameworks with wooden profiles and plates. This system became popular in the 19th century in North America, but today its popularity has spread to all continents.

The term arises as an opposition to Steel Frame, as they are very similar, but this one uses wood, as its name indicates.

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These frameworks are composed of solid standardized wooden beams and crossbars, and in some cases with specific treatments to increase their qualities or lifespan, such as fireproof treatments to slow down its collapse in case of fire, sealants to treat their surface for specific environments, or others that increase their resistance to weather agents or other specific chemicals. The wood used must be from reforestation and must be dry and knot-free or imperfection-free.

The load-bearing walls differ in their composition, besides the size of the beam, they must have an OSB (Oriented Strand Board) plate for greater stability. These OSB plates are also used in situations where the walls are subjected to heavy loads, significant wind effort, or great slenderness.

With regard to the finishes, we could say that they adapt to almost all cladding systems, although it is common to use gypsum boards inside and either a ventilated facade, an adhesive cladding or ceramic cladding outside.

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Some of the most notable advantages of this invaluable material are:

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👉Carbon footprint:

The production and processing of the process from the trunk to the beams or wooden plates uses a high percentage less than most traditional building materials.

👉Structural behavior

Its structural performance is highly noteworthy. Today there are constructions up to 18 levels high where a structure based on pillars and beams of CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) and Wood frame is combined for vertical partitions and closures.

👉Excellent thermal insulation performance

Wood is a material with a high performance as a thermal insulator, so these panels are already highly efficient for exterior closures, and to this, we add the insulation that we can add both to the interior of the panel or with a ventilated facade with insulation.

👉Maintenance and Repair of Installations

In this type of construction, we have the advantage that maintenance and/or repair of the installations is simpler than in traditional constructions because they are inside the walls and it would only be necessary to remove the necessary covering plates to access them.

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