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Wood Framing Can Enhance Disaster Resistance
As the post-Katrina rebuilding process moves into higher gear in the Gulf Coast, a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) one-hour documentary on disaster-resistant housing is currently playing on television stations in the U.S., predominantly in the West and Midwest. The documentary features on-air interviews with technical staff members of the American Forest & Paper Association on safe and effective design for homes.
Based in Washington, D.C., the American Forest & Paper Association is a member of the National Council of the Housing Industry — The Supplier 100 of NAHB.
When expertise on disaster-resistant home design and construction was needed for the program, PBS turned to the association’s American Wood Council. The program educates viewers on properly designing homes and small businesses to minimize damage from hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires.
During the PBS documentary, American Wood Council staffers shared how wood can play an important role in helping designers, builders and home owners make their homes more disaster-resistant. During the first half of the program, they appear in a segment on wood product performance in earthquakes, and in the second half they discuss innovative products that can contribute to safety.
The association’s “Wood Frame Construction Manual for One- and Two-Family Dwellings” is cited during the program as a good tool for designing more disaster-resistant homes in high-wind, snowy or seismic areas.
“One of the benefits of using wood construction in an earthquake area is that wood is very ductile,” Robert Glowinski, executive director of the council, is quoted during the program. “For example, when wind blows a tree, the tree bends, it doesn't break, and wood has the characteristic that it is very flexible and very strong. So in an earthquake that is shaking a building, wood is a flexible material that actually performs very, very well. And so, as long as you've used proper design for your building in that earthquake, you will do very, very well in a wood-frame building."
The program’s two 30-minute segments are available for viewing at: www.itvisus.com/programs/homes/watch.asp.
The American Forest & Paper Association represents more than 200 companies and related association involved in the manufacturing of pulp, paper, paperboard and wood products. The forest products industry accounts for roughly 7% of total U.S. manufacturing output, employs 1.5 million people and ranks among the top 10 manufacturing employers in 42 states.
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