Framing Lumber from building removal: How Do We best Utilize this Untapped structural resource? Authors: robert H. Falk steven cramer James Evans (corresponding author) Professor Mathematical Statistician Research Engineer Department of Civil and USDA Forest Products Laboratory Advanced Housing Research Center Environmental Engineering Madison, WI 53726-2398 USDA Forest Products Laboratory University of Wisconsin
[email protected] Madison, WI 53726-2398 Madison, WI 53706
[email protected] [email protected] AbstrAct Compared with other construction materials, wood products are environmentally attractive because they sequester carbon, are renewable, and are low in embodied energy. Lumber salvaged from building removal possesses these same qualities but with additional environmental attributes. In spite of the environmental attractiveness of reclaimed lumber, its widespread acceptance is hampered because it is not formally recognized in our grading or engineering design standards. This causes confusion for consumers, builders, and building officials, both in the marketplace as well as at the jobsite. In this article, possible alternatives for recognizing and accommodating reclaimed lumber in lumber grading and wood engineering design standards are provided. 492 FALK ET AL. INTRODUCTION to reproduce the product new, makes reclaimed The past decade has seen tremendous growth in lumber a leading contender for the greenest of green building practices, and the building design green building materials. and construction industries are paying more In this article, we will discuss the potential attention to reducing a building’s energy and water for reusing lumber in construction, some of the usage, reducing a building’s waste and carbon current barriers to wide-scale reuse, the state footprint, and specifying building materials that of engineering research to quantify its residual are not only sustainable, but that have the lowest properties, and some suggestions on how to move Framing Lumber from building removal: environmental impact.