Wood / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Wooden mid rise construction time lapse video
Wood and organic materials

Mid-rise construction time-lapse video with CLT & glulam beams

...wood, CLT and lightweight wood frames are surely the future of low-embodied carbon construction and bio-economic development in Canada, especially for mid-rise buildings: LCA for buildings - wood v concrete v steel - embodied carbon Which is better, OSB or plywood - for roofs, walls and floors? The best lumber ch...

Wood and organic materials

The construction of mid-rise residential buildings in Canada - wood or concrete?

...wood mid-rise construction time-lapse video for Arbora LCA for buildings - wood v concrete v steel - embodied carbon Which is better, OSB or plywood - for roofs, walls and floors? The best lumber choices for wood frame construction of homes All about wood frame construction Find more about green home construc...

Freshly Stained Cedar Wood Deck after Renovating old Decking to Look Like New
Decks, porches and gazebos

How to stain or paint cedar wood decking when renovating old decks

...wood that has seen years of weather will absorb a lot more stain than new wood. The area a container will cover should be on the label, so measure the deck and calculate what you’ll need considering the age of the wood and add a decent margin for error and it being an older weathered wood deck. Another suggestion we wo...

Cómo restaurar una terraza de madera de cedro fácilmente
Decks, porches and gazebos

How to restore a cedar wood deck easily

...wood as smooth as possible.  If you are wondering why your deck is fuzzy after pressure washing, that is most likely due to choosing the wrong nozzle, not going with the grain, or having too high an angle. Going against the grain will rip the wood fibers loose, that is the fuzz you may be feeling. After watching a few ...

How to Build With Less Wood for Best Performance
Wood and organic materials

How to build high performance homes with less lumber

...wood structure ICF walls are now as affordable as wood There is a lot about ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) walls we don’t love, but there is a lot of good as well. First what we do like – they just work great in certain applications. A basement built with ICF won’t go moldy like standard basements do. If you opt to sea...

All About Hemp Wood Flooring, How it's Made, Where to Buy?
Flooring and stairs

Natural non-toxic hemp flooring by HempWood & Tennessee Wood Flooring

...wood lumber to the housing industry. Read more here about other hemp building materials on the market and why they are sustainable.  Hardwood flooring companies will on occasion use wood reclaimed from river beds, recycled barn boards, or renewable building materials such as bamboo, but this hemp flooring from a Ten...

How to Insulate Exterior Walls from the Outside US Canada Ecohome
Walls and Roofs

The easiest way to insulate walls from the exterior in older homes

...wood does act as a thermal bridge, but not nearly as much as metal, and with engineered I-joists, at only 5/8ths of an inch, the conductivity of the wood isn’t a great concern and becomes even less so the deeper it is.  Fiberglass thermal spacers or "Cascadia Clips" The purpose of fiberglass insulation fasteners is to ...

MDF Formaldehyde Free Alternatives - Made from Rice Stalks
Healthy indoor air quality

The formaldehyde-free MDF non-toxic alternative made of natural rice-stalks

...wood materials, there are other durability and air quality issues with MDF and other engineered building products. Solid wood is a very difficult place for mold to form, but it becomes increasingly easier the more processed a wood product is.  And while these products constitute an excellent re-use of natural material...

Wood Combustion - How it works and the different stages
Wood stove and biomass heat

Heating with wood– how firewood burns & how to get the best heat while being eco-friendly

...wood combustion relies on getting the wood temperature up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit as the water in the wood begins to boil, then evaporates. Evaporation takes a lot of energy, which drastically reduces heat output. So first rule of wood burning in stoves or fireplaces is be sure your firewood is dry.  Maximum moisture...

FSC certified wood carries the FSC certification labels
Wood and organic materials

All about FSC certified lumber and wood products - why FSC certification is important

...wood products, like eco-friendly hardwood flooring, pay attention and look for the FSC certification.  Wood with a FSC logo ensures it should come from sustainably managed forests There are three FSC certifications for wood products All FSC Certified wood products are easily identifiable by carrying one of the follow...

Pallet beds are trending but pallets can be toxic so be careful
Recycled and Reclaimed Materials

Is it safe to build beds or furniture with shipping pallets?

...wooden shipping pallets Half a billion pallets are made each year and about two billion pallets are in use across the United States alone - used for transporting all manner of goods as diverse as foods and hazardous chemicals. The production of pallets accounts for 43% of hardwood and 15% of softwood usage in the U.S....