Running head: WHY WOOD IS THE BETTER MATERIAL

Why Wood is the Better Material

Ben Edward Smith
Waxahachie Global High School

Table of Contents
Abstract.........................................................................................................................................
...3
Introduction..................................................................................................................................
....4
Figure 14
Strength........................................................................................................................................
....4
Efficiency.................................................................................................................4
Earthquake...........................................................................................................................5
Cost..............................................................................................................................................
....5
Cheaper and
Better...............................................................................................................5

HVAC...................................................................................................................................5
Difficulty of
building.......................................................................................................................6
Making, transport, and
placement........................................................................................6

Faster Building
Times..........................................................................................................6

Modifications.......................................................................................................................6
Environmental
Impact......................................................................................................................7
Renewable
Resource............................................................................................................7
Negative Carbon
Footprint...................................................................................................7
Fire
Resistance.................................................................................................................................8
NGC
Testing.........................................................................................................................8
Conclusion....................................................................................................................................
...9
References..10

Abstract
This paper has been written to explain why using wood in the form of Cross Laminated Timber
(also known as CLT) is a better choice force most building applications rather than using concrete
or steel. This paper will give an overview of what Cross Laminated Timber actually is and will go
over various aspects of Cross Laminated Timber including the strength, cost, difficulty of
constructing a building of this type, the environmental impact of Cross Laminated Timber, as well
as the fire resistance of Cross Laminated Timber.

Introduction
Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is the layering of wooden planks in typically ninety degree
fashion. These planks are glued together with a type A adhesive which will last as long as the
building will. This type of layering makes the wood strong enough to hold a multi-story building.
Wooden planks are weak to a force that goes against the grain (Engler 2009), so if there was a
plank that was placed in a horizontal over a span and a force was applied vertically to the grain of
the wooden plank, it would break under a much less force as opposed to a force that was applied
parallel with the grain of the wood. CLT fixes that weakness by the grains of the wood being
placed vertically as well as horizontally making the wood strong both ways. CLT made is through
gluing planks of wood in a horizontal layer. After that, a vertical layer is made and glued to the
back of the horizontal layer.. This process is repeated until the wall has been completed.

Figure 1. Cross laminated timber diagram

Strength
Efficiency
CLT is stacked into layers of three, five, seven or more layers (American Wood Council,
2013). It is significantly lighter than concrete according to (Wood Solutions 2012). In fact, it is
about four times lighter than concrete but, holds just as much.

Earthquake
Cross Laminated Timber buildings have been proven to perform better than steel or
concrete buildings during earthquakes. An Italian research institute built and tested a 7-story
building on the worlds largest shake table in japan. The results were phenomenal. The building
was hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 (about the magnitude of the Kobe Earthquake.)
When the test was over, there was no residual deformation (Xlam, 2013). The most that the inner
stories moved was 40 millimeters and the most that the top moved was only 287 millimeters
(about 11 inches). Cross Laminated Timber buildings are very flexible buildings and have
extremely energy dissipation.
Cost
Inexpensive
Cross Laminated Timber is much cheaper than other materials such as concrete or steel.
When Emory University built Emory Point, it was decided that wood would be the more
economical choice. They concluded that it would cost them only 14 dollars a square foot while
concrete would cost them 22 dollars a square foot. Because of the light weight of Cross
Laminated Timber, foundation cost are also reduced because there is less that needs to be
supported.

HVAC
Cross Laminated Timber provides and near airtight building envelope which makes the
cost of heating and cooling cheaper. Other types of construction can leave gaps up to the size of
a basketball. Cross Laminated Timber buildings are ideal for passive homes (homes that do not
require heating systems). The temperature in this type of building remains stable throughout the

entire day and night keeping the building warm in the day and cool in the night (CST innovations
2012).
Building Process
Production and distribution
The energy needed to produce a ton of sawn softwood is five times less than concrete and
twenty-four times less than steel according to (Risen, 2014). Cross Laminated Timber panels are
extremely easy to shape for a multitude of applications such as flooring, walls, and roofing. Since
Cross Laminated Timber panels are made before they go to the job site, openings doors, windows,
stairs, and ducts can be pre-cut. In this way, they are more like pre-cast concrete panels and less
like traditional timber constructions.
Faster Build Times
Because of their light weight, they can be easily lifted and secured into place making
building times quicker than other means of construction. The Bridgeport House, an eight story tall
building in London, was constructed in just 12 weeks by four laborers and one supervisor. Also,
because of the faster building times, the wood panels spend less time in on-site storage. That
means that a construction site does not need to be as big as the site of other building materials and
it makes it easier to maneuver in tighter building sites.
Modifications
Unlike steel or concrete, wood is a very easy material to modify. It does not require
special tools in order modify the panels. Therefore, if modifications are needed in the field, it
would be a simple task.
Environmental Impact
Renewable resource

Because wood is a renewable resource, our supply of wood will not be exhausted. The
world regrows trees relatively quickly. For example, UBC sciences building is made up of
573,360 feet of wood. The United States and Canadian forests grow this much wood in
approximately four minutes.
Negative Carbon footprint
When other types of building materials are refined, they produce carbon and other
greenhouse gases, which leaves a carbon footprint. This if very detrimental for the environment.
Cross Laminated Timber actually has a negative carbon footprint, meaning that it absorbs more
carbon than it releases. Even though carbon emissions are made from cutting, sanding, and
processing the Cross Laminated Timber into a finished product, they are outweighed by the tree's
entire life of absorbing the carbon. This makes Cross Laminated Timber a wonderful building
materials for those who are environmentally conscious. With the UBC sciences building, 1,005
metric tons of carbon dioxide is stored in the wood. They avoided putting out into the air 1,168
metric tons of greenhouse emissions making the total carbon benefit to be 2,173 metric tons.
This is the equivalent keeping 415 cars of the road for a year or powering a home for 185 years.
Fire Resistance
Even though Cross Laminated Timber is wood, it still has a very high resistance to fire.
This is because of the multiple layers it has. When one layer burns, it chars which protects the
inner layers giving people more time to get out of the building if their was a fire. Cross Laminated
Timber chars at a slow predictable rate, which means that the will continue to maintain significant
structural capacity for a longtime in a fire.
NGC Testing

The NGC testing services test the fire resistance of a Cross Laminated Timber wall for the
American Wood Council. They took 60 x 120 x 6 7/8 inch Cross Laminated Timber wall. The wall
held 87,000 pounds which was the max that the testing facility had to offer. The goal for the wall
was to last for two hours. The wall lasted for 3 hour and fifty-seven minutes (Menchetti, 2012).
That is nearly double what the goal for was for the wall.
Conclusion
Wood, when assembled in the form of Cross Laminated Timber, can be just as strong as
steel or concrete. Itt is a lot lighter material than concrete or wood. Because of its lightweight, it
saves money in many different aspects of the building process. It saves money in by requiring a
thinner foundation than that of steel or concrete. Wood is an easier material to work with and is
cheaper to process and to put the panels into position on the building. Wood has been proven to
have fantastic earthquake resistance by the shake table tests done in Japan when the seven story
Cross Laminated Timber building show no residual damage from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake.
Cross Laminated Timber despite it being wood, put up and incredible resistance to fire damage by
lasting nearly double the goal time in a fire test. It lasted three hours and fifty-seven minutes.
Cross Laminated Timber is much better for the environment than steel or concrete because Cross
Laminated Timber is actually carbon negative. It makes heating and cooling a breeze because
Cross Laminated Timber buildings have a nearly airtight building envelope which is perfect for
home that don't have a heating system. Because of these benefits, Cross Laminated Timber is the
best building choice.

References
American Wood Council. What is Cross Laminated Timber? Retrieved
fromhttp://www.awc.org/helpoutreach/faq/faqFiles/cross_laminated_timber.php
Bryan, K. (12/2012). Tall Wood Takes a Stand. Retrieved from <http://continuingeducation.
construction.com/article_print.php?L=221&C=960>.
Engler, N. (2009). Wood Strength. Retrieved from <http://workshopcompanion.com/KnowHow/
Design/Nature_of_Wood/3_Wood_Strength/3_Wood_Strength.htm
Evans, L. (10/2013). Cross Laminated Timber. Retrieved from <http://continuingeducation.
construction.com/article.php?L=312&C=1138>.
Klassen J. Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Benefits. Retrieved from
<http://www.cstinnovations.ca/benefits.php#installation>.
Risen, C. (2/26/2014). The World's Most Advanced Building Material Is... Wood. Retrieved from
<http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/worlds-most-advanced-building-material
wood-0>
Xlam (2013). Seismic Testing. Retrieved from <http://www.xlam.co.nz/engineeringseismic>.

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