What is the lightest strongest wood? Redwood — It's one of the lightest and most durable woods used for building. It's one of the many reasons why Redwood is such a popular building material. Heartwood redwood grades are the most durable. Cedar — At just How thick should a stud wall be? The timbers used can be either mm x 50mm or 75mm x 50mm. This is personal choice and largely based on the space you have. Using mm timbers with What is a stud in Lgbtq?
Another common term is "stud". A stud is a dominant lesbian, usually butch. They tend to be influenced by urban and hip-hop cultures and are often, but not always, Afro-American. How long is a piece of lumber? In Canada and the United States, the standard lengths of lumber are 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 feet 1. Also known as Aspenite, OSB is a panel fabricated using small strips of wood.
OSB is not as strong as plywood, or as resistant to weather, but it is a lower cost alternative to plywood. It is most often used as exterior sheathing, as well as being the centre web of engineered wooden I-Joists. OSB makes use of small pieces of waste wood and is bonded using a phenol formaldehyde, a far less toxic substitute for the urea formaldehyde of days past.
All that to say, it certainly won't improve the air quality of your home , but it is generally not thought to be too great a health hazard. Did you also know that OSB sheathing can be used as a vapor barrier in homes?
See here. Plywood is most commonly found as a 4 x 8' panel that is made from thin sheets of wood veneer that are bonded together using phenol formaldehyde glues, although certain manufacturers are leading the way with formaldehyde-free plywood products. Plywood is used for different structural elements such as studs in load-bearing walls, partitions, floor beams and roof supports.
It is assembled with the grain of each layer running in the opposite direction of the previous one, making a very stable and strong final product that is highly resistant to cracking, twisting and shrinkage. Plywood is commonly used on residential construction sites as a flooring substrate, exterior wall and roof sheathing, as well as certain interior finishing applications and furniture. Mouldings for interior finishing can be made of all sorts of materials.
Solid wood is one option pine, oak, maple or yellow birch. It is still rather expensive but it has the advantage of being a durable material that doesn't require harmful adhesives. MDF mouldings Medium Density Fibreboard are more reasonably priced and made largely of waste wood products, but they are fairly heavily ladden with toxic adhesives.
Solid wood products with Zero VOC finishes will go a long way to helping you keep clean indoor air quality , though other eco-friendly alternatives to MDF are becoming available, such as formaldehyde-free MDF made from rice husks. Note: There are companies that offer pre-painted wood siding products, a quality that you cannot match on a ladder with a brush.
Several coats of paint are applied, to both sides, so your job is simply to cut the siding to length, paint the ends, and install it.
A reputable company will give your siding a warranty up around 15 years, and potentially up to 30 years if you apply a coat of paint within that first 15 years.
If you prefer to paint your wood siding yourself, it will be a lot easier and a better quality if you do it on the ground before installation. It will require significant space to paint, but also the time to build drying racks for your siding to sit on while the paint finish is drying off.
To see more about choosing the best siding for your house, see here. Regardless of the type of wood that is used, furniture for use inside the home should ideally be free of volatile organic compounds VOCs , including formaldehyde, to protect your indoor air quality.
For finishings and maintenance - again to protect your air quality - look for zero VOC paints and finishes. I'm surprised to see that All OSB is manufactured with phenol-formaldehyde. I was trying to figure out how to tell which companies used phenol and which ones used urea. Same with plywood - I was under the impression that most interior grade plywood used urea formaldehyde, while exterior grade plywood used the phenol stuff. The biggest culprit for urea formaldehyde in homes is cabinetry products, that you can bet will be filled with urea unless they specifically advertise otherwise.
There is one formaldehyde-free plywood - Purebond from Columbia forest products which is the healthiest such product we've come across so far and which can be specified prefinished as formaldehyde-free plywood with a VOC free clear finish.
I am chemically sensitive and so I need to be very aware of the materials that I add to my home, what is your recommendation for healthy finishing products? Everything I have found for wood finishing is toxic to some level, even the oils seem to contain solvents. Thanks in advance for any help! There is a company in Quebec named Livos that provides natural and non-toxic finishing oils, have a look, I think they should have the finishing products you need that will also safeguard the air quality of your house.
Great article! I've always found it confusing whether to use the words lumber, wood or timber in connection to construction in the US and Canada, and I think i get it now. Timber frame and timber in general isn't just what a lumberjack shouts, this refers to larger structural elements and manufactured wood, whereas lumber and simply wood describes the standard type tree-derived sawn or planed products used in house framing for building homes in North America.
My name is Lina. I needed plywood for my boat, at first I ordered plywood from the first company available on the Internet without doing proper research. After 2 months, the plywood began to crack and turn black, although I ordered it specially water-resistant. As a result, I had to redo everything. I read a bunch of reviews this time and decided to order plywood on the internet and for good reason!
In general, very high quality plywood sourced online was a very great discovery so thanks Ecohome for pointing me at Columbia Forest products for great plywood! Sign Up to Comment. The best way to insulate the exterior of a house has a lot to do with what is going on inside the walls, and how extensive your energy-efficient renovations will be. The following page will help you understand some of the risks and find the best way forward -.
The easiest way to insulate walls from the exterior in older homes. It is also hydrophobic, meaning it is very resistant to moisture and water damage. The most common reason that a good product can cause a wall failure is by putting it in the wrong place. The safest advice we can give you is to learn the science behind walls so you can choose wisely. Manufactured in a controlled environment, the load factors for these materials are precisely calculated for every size. Engineered lumber also saves trees by using more of the whole tree—typically 30 percent more than sawn lumber—so fewer need to be cut down.
The two most common engineered wood products used in modern framing are LVL beams and I-joists. Laminated veneer lumber LVL is just what it sounds like: wood veneers typically poplar, pine, or fir laminated together under heat and pressure with a moisture-resistant resin.
Because the grains all run in the same direction, LVLs are extremely stiff and stable. Because of their tensile strength—meaning they can hold up a lot of weight along their length without sagging—LVLs make great door and window headers, stair stringers, ridge beams, cantilevered roof supports, and other carrying beams. And as they have the ability to span long, open spaces, LVLs can eliminate the need for posts in basements and garages.
I-joists are engineered beams made in an I shape. They are made up of a vertical web of dense oriented strand board OSB in the middle, with a horizontal flange of dimensional lumber or LVL above and below. They're used for joists and rafters, because they're lighter than sawn lumber and able to span greater distances. And unlike lumber, they can take large holes for plumbing and ductwork without compromising strength. All these factors add up to higher ceilings, because a smaller I-joist will carry the load of a deeper one made from dimensional lumber, and systems don't need to run under the ceilings in added framed channels, or soffits.
The benefit of engineered lumber is its stability and strength. But Mike O'Day, manager of engineered lumber for Georgia-Pacific, one of the largest manufacturers of building products, says you can't generalize about the strength of engineered wood versus dimensional lumber—in part because the latter is so varied in quality.
It's worth noting that engineered lumber is generally more costly than dimensional lumber. Double check the code for you specific area though - sometimes they still want 2x4. Stumbled upon your website while researching whether it is worthwhile to finish the basement without hiring contractors. Your in-depth articles convinced me to do it by myself. Hey Jay - Assuming you're all set with inspections you can start the very next day.
Of course you might have some electrical or plumbing to run first Great blog. Unfortunately, I'm the type of person that measures once, cuts three or four times and breaks stuff that's not even part of the project. I got that "Homer Simpson spice rack" type of touch. My wife laughed when I told her that I wanted to finish the basement myself to help save money. When I showed her this blog she did manage to raise one eyebrow.
So I'm hopeful. I appreciate the hard work you did on this blog and look forward to some interesting times. Remind her that Homer once managed a nuclear power plant and tripled his productivity once he started working from home.
Because "I" was people like you at one point - then I just started trying stuff until I figured it out. Fortunately, during that time I didn't injury myself or break our house - at least no permanently. I grant thee - permission - permission to mess up a lot and look stupid, only to then turn around and look amazing smart and manly. I am so happy to have stumbled across this blog. Those before me asked questions I had and your feedback was both educational and in some cases, entertaining.
Do you have information on basement building code requirements? One you shared was the board touching the concrete must be treated. Any others you can think of? The builder of our home placed an insulation and fabric looking barrier along the exterior walls of the cement basement. Should we remove that barrier or keep it and frame right over it? Hello Mai - Thanks for the kind words. Yes, give him the green light and more importantly YOUR confidence! I have an entire article on basement insulation, you can check it out here.
We're about to buy a fixer upper with an unfinished basement and the basement will actually be our first project. We own a drill and some screw drivers. I know how to hang picture frames. That's about it. So I'm devouring your site. This post was super informative AND made me laugh out loud Jason, great info I am nuvie and was confused with fire blocking and came across your site with the explanation I was looking for in simple terms.
Question, did you use gunnailer for your job? If yes, what do you recommend? Hello Jose - Yes I used a Rigid 3. Similar to this one. You said you were not sure you could have done the job without the nailer, how so? I worked construction as summer help for about three summers. When framing walls, we almost never used a nailer but did everything with hammer and nail, it was not too bad. Are you simply suggesting a nailer is a lot easier than hammer and nails or is a nailer absolutely necessary?
Thanks for this blog, I have been reading a lot and it is helping me get to that ultimate point, starting! Hey Jeffrey- You're way manlier than I am I didn't have a lot of time and the nailer saved countless hours of me bending and pulling nails. Especially the way I toe nailed each stud.
We recently moved into our current home in Virginia. Do you think it is necessary to use treated lumber for the base of the wall if it is not contacting the concrete? Hey Dennis - I'd say its not necessary, but really not too cost prohibitive to keep it PT for piece of mind. Glad you've got a head start with the materials. I have a strip on my basement floor that is installed but not with treated lumber, can I treat this piece? Would it be easier to get the longest boards?
Hey Mary Jane - Longer the better, but you won't find dimensional lumber longer than 16' at your local lumber yard. Look down the length of the board and find the straightest one possible. Hi Jason.. This has been really helpful in getting the tools, materials, processes etc.
Should I buy 8' lumber and adding top and bottom plates, it would sum up to 99". Should I shim the remaining 1"? Is there a difference to buy precut versus customized sizes? Thanks, Sunil. Hey Sunil - The only customized size that I'm aware of is I would definitely not shim the entire wall. I would buy 8' lumber and use a double top plate. Hi Jason, Where can i get the tool to help me figure out how much lumber i need for my basement?
Hi Jason, I know I need the pressure treated for the bottom plate of a wall, but what type of wood should I use on the top plate? Hi Jason, Great site. Q: I have seen the treated lumber, in contact with the floor, glued , or nailed , or screwed to the concrete. Hi Kason. My question is when doing the base, do I just cover these ports up and then can only use my sump pumps to drain dehumidifiers, or is it possible to cut around those without weakening the strength of my wall and risking it warping or failing at a later time?
I also read that each Wood kind expands or shrinks differently. Are you knowledgeable on this? Can you please share if so. Hey Amanda - Wood will shrink and swell with the addition of summer humidity or as you dry it out with the furnace in the winter. If you buy kiln dried lumber, which almost all lumber from a box store is, you'll be fine. As an additional precaution, leave it in the room you're going to finish for several days so it can normalize prior to installing this is a common technique for hardwood flooring, but it works for all lumber.
Your email address will not be published.
0コメント