While wood is the main material that is used in the construction of residential buildings, it may surprise you to find out that wood is also a very popular material in the construction of commercial buildings. Commercial framing contractors find that wood is a highly useful material that comes with numerous benefits that should be taken advantage of. In this article, we at US Framing would like to tell you about some of the great benefits of using wood as framing material and to inform you that wood is—indeed—still very widely used among commercial framing contractors.
A Brief History of the Use of Wood in Building Construction in the United States
A great number of commercial building projects make use of masonry and steel as their primary structural element, but what is less widely known is that wood is also used in these buildings. In these cases, wood is installed for non-load bearing framing for the interior portions of the building. Building developers previously made extensive use of wood for the interior framing of walls and partitions for a long period of time, up until the last few decades, when studs made of metal replaced wood as the most widely used framing material.
The utilization of wood in the framing process of building construction has been commonplace for centuries in the United States of America. Wood is typically readily available in every part of the nation, and therefore it was utilized in the construction of numerous buildings that exist in many cities and towns today. And once again, this useful material has become a widely accepted element in the construction of buildings of the commercial variety. Due to the quick process of modernization, the construction industry has become more competitive than it has ever been in the past, and the prices of steel and concrete are rising. Due to this fact, wood is now a highly popular alternative material and is now more frequently used as a structural element with great load-bearing capacities.
What Are the Benefits of Wood?
Here are a couple of specific benefits of wood that make it such a beneficial material these days, in commercial construction projects.
Wood Is Versatile and Adaptable
An important thing about industrial and buildings is that they must be flexible and versatile because the specific needs of the tenants of a building would change as time passes. It is for this reason that the spaces of a building are frequently constructed in a way that makes them as unobstructed and open as is possible. Wood is capable of this kind of versatility and would therefore be capable of meeting these needs, in most cases.
Wood Is Sturdy and Durable
When wood is maintained in a proper way and with the correct methods, it is capable of lasting for centuries. The natural sturdiness of wood can be enhanced with modern methods, and this will allow a building made of wood to withstand the harshness of the elements and tolerate almost any kind of climate.