HAVE WE SEEN THE END OF WOOD FRAME BUILDINGS????

Are carpenters going to throw away their skilsaws and pick up tin snips?

The contractor building this project bragged that he had no carpenters on the project, that carpenters would only come to the project at the end to do the trim!

 It has become painfully obvious that the industry's attempts to make wood frame buildings energy efficient had failed miserably! Stuffing insulation into walls, and sealing walls up with plywood, or OSB, has stopped the normal breathing process of membrane drainage walls. The environmental movement has driven us to second growth lumber, which has led to imitation wood products like Hardie Board, products which aren't stable enough to resist the twisting, crooked, second growth studs. A solution emerging here is to build with metal studs, studs which can be braced without sheathing, a system which can get rid of the plywood to stop the sealing effect and allow our buildings to breathe again, and not rot out in 10 to 20 years. We are Insulating with foam in addition to fiberglass, installing Dens Glass for fireproofing to get 1-hour walls all around, and those walls can finally be covered with Hardie Board without the crooked studs telegraphing through!

Dick Seibert