10 reasons to build a wooden house

It must be acknowledged that we are firm advocates of timber construction.

Many clients come to our studio concerned because they want to build a wooden house but are unsure if it is a durable material that is sufficiently resistant to humidity, fire, or the passage of time.

For this reason, we have attempted to summarize in this post some of the main advantages of building a wooden house compared to construction with concrete or steel.

Wood is one of the oldest construction materials; it is a flexible and versatile building material with an excellent strength-to-weight ratio and countless structural benefits. Furthermore, it is an abundant and renewable resource that is positioning itself as the construction material of the future to address climate change.

But let us look in detail at each of the 10 advantages of timber construction:

1) A lightweight structural material

Wood is a material with excellent mechanical properties; its fibers provide tensile and compressive strength, and it offers a great versatility of construction options.

In addition, wood is one of the lightest structural materials, with an average weight of only 400 kg/m³ compared to concrete, which weighs approximately 2,500 kg/m³, or steel at 7,000 kg/m³.

The weight of the structure, as we know, has a direct relationship with the type of foundation of a home; the less our building weighs, the less foundation we will need, with the consequent saving in construction costs that this entails.

2) Building a wooden house is faster than building with concrete

Building a wooden house is much faster and more efficient than building with any other material.

Wood is a material that allows for off-site fabrication in a workshop to be subsequently transported to the site.

This offers two advantages: on one hand, we can maximize control over construction details in the workshop, where high-precision machinery allows us to control cuts to the millimeter; furthermore, this provides an added time advantage, as while we are excavating and preparing the foundations on-site, we can be preparing the structure and walls in the workshop.

3) Wood is a sustainable material

It is said that wood generates a positive CO₂ balance in the building; this is because the energy balances of materials are calculated from the moment of their formation.

If we take into account that building a wooden house involves a material that comes from the forest, we must start counting the ecological balance of our house from the moment the tree is born and begins to absorb CO₂.

According to the ProTierra Foundation, a tree absorbs an average of 10 to 30 kg of CO₂ each year depending on the species and age; for this reason, when we harvest the wood, it already has a negative CO₂ emissions balance and has also emitted oxygen.

4) A wide variety of construction options

There are countless products on the market for building a wooden house made solely from materials derived from trees. We have pillars, beams, fiber or cross-laminated panels, flooring, cellulose or cork insulation, and much more.

To build a natural wooden house, we will opt, as far as possible, for materials that do not use toxic adhesives in their joints—such as fiber panels.

5) Because we can build with local wood

In Spain, it is possible to build a wooden house using wood from local forests certified under the PEFC or FSC systems, which guarantee the legality and sustainability of the wood as well as the maintenance of the natural richness of the forests of origin.

While we do not have the tall firs found in Northern European forests in Spain, it is possible to build a local wooden house with smaller trees such as pine, fir, chestnut, or eucalyptus. Many Spanish sawmills offer solid wood for timber structures up to 12 meters long.

In recent years, wood with greater strength and length has also begun to be produced. The company Egoin in the Basque Country produces glulam beams (with greater strength than solid beams) in large dimensions using local wood.

6) Because we can build a wooden house using dry construction

Dry construction is a term that refers to the absence of water in the process of building a wooden house.

Wood, as we know, incorporates glued, screwed, or interlocking joints, but requires no mortar for its installation. For this reason, it is considered a dry work that generates very little waste and allows for exhaustive control of construction details designed with millimeter tolerances.

Dry construction also allows for better planning of each construction phase, reducing on-site improvisation and decreasing construction times.

7) For its ability to regulate humidity

Wood is a hygroscopic material, which means it is capable of absorbing and releasing moisture from the environment; this is an advantage, as the interior environment of our home can release or absorb moisture from the surrounding materials, naturally regulating indoor humidity.

8) Because its fire resistance should not concern us

One of the main objections to building a wooden house is the fire resistance of the structural elements; however, it is necessary to consider that, like all construction materials, wood must comply with very demanding regulations regarding fire prevention. For this reason, we can be sure that the structure of a wooden house meets the minimum fire resistance requirements demanded by regulations. This protection is achieved through the physical protection of the structure, either using panels or fire-retardant paints.

Furthermore, it is important to note that wood burns easily but only on the surface, and for this reason, it is easy to increase its fire resistance by increasing its cross-section.

9) For the anti-seismic properties of wooden structures

Another concern of our clients is the behavior of wood during an earthquake. However, as we have mentioned, wood is one of the lightest construction materials, and this gives it a great advantage in the event of an earthquake compared to concrete or steel.

A wooden house weighs less and possesses excellent compressive and tensile strength; for this reason, it generates fewer inertial forces in the event of an earthquake, where the greatest danger is represented by horizontal acceleration forces.

10) Because it is a durable material

The renovation of a chapel in the Monastery of Pedralbes was recently inaugurated in Barcelona, where research shows the wooden beams date back to the 14th century. Is it possible for beams over 800 years old to still be standing?

Indeed, our ancestors’ knowledge of timber construction was very advanced; they allowed the wood to dry correctly before installation, where it was protected from moisture and kept ventilated to prevent attack by insects or fungi.

With good execution of construction details, building a wooden house is a durable as well as sustainable investment.