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Wood also is highly flammable and that is not stopping one of the most developed country in the world to keep using it to build houses.

sn_master 6y ago
Wood used for construction is required by law to be fire treated. https://www.fp-supply.com/st-louis-fire-treated-lumber.html https://www.fp-supply.com/st-louis-fire-treated-lumber.html
- audunw 6y ago
  Where? In what contexts? It's not required for houses or town houses where I'm from at least. From the pictures I guess it's mostly relevant to larger buildings?
  - saltyshake 6y ago
    "Over 90% of the homes that are built in the United States each year are constructed using wood-frame construction" https://awc.org/codes-standards/firesafety https://awc.org/codes-standards/firesafety
    - rootusrootus 6y ago
      And close to 100% of those are built with garden variety untreated fir lumber.
- LegitShady 6y ago
  This is too general a blanket statement to be true. Plenty of wood in construction is not treated for fire. Fire ratings are generally done for assemblies, not components of assemblies, and there are ways to build fire rated assemblies without treated wood. Also, not all assemblies need fire ratings. Sometimes its just the exterior walls adjacent to neighbouring structures, etc.
audunw 6y ago
It doesn't melt though. In fact mass timber is relatively resistant to fire, possibly better than steel. If I remember correctly, the surface chars and becomes a relatively good insulator of heat, so the core preserves its strength.
syoc 6y ago
Wood really isn't that flammable either. Most thing in your house, furniture, paint, books, drapes etc. is on fire before your walls or your floor. Huge caveat on solid wood walls and floor.
LegitShady 6y ago
wood is a lot less flammable than a material made of chains of hydrocarbons, and has far preferable burning characteristics to plastic. The two facts that 1) you could burn wood and 2) people build with wood, should not logically lead someone to claim that building things with any flammable materials is ok because of this.

sn_master 6y ago

Wood used for construction is required by law to be fire treated. https://www.fp-supply.com/st-louis-fire-treated-lumber.html https://www.fp-supply.com/st-louis-fire-treated-lumber.html

audunw 6y ago
Where? In what contexts? It's not required for houses or town houses where I'm from at least. From the pictures I guess it's mostly relevant to larger buildings?
- saltyshake 6y ago
  "Over 90% of the homes that are built in the United States each year are constructed using wood-frame construction" https://awc.org/codes-standards/firesafety https://awc.org/codes-standards/firesafety
  - rootusrootus 6y ago
    And close to 100% of those are built with garden variety untreated fir lumber.
LegitShady 6y ago
This is too general a blanket statement to be true. Plenty of wood in construction is not treated for fire. Fire ratings are generally done for assemblies, not components of assemblies, and there are ways to build fire rated assemblies without treated wood. Also, not all assemblies need fire ratings. Sometimes its just the exterior walls adjacent to neighbouring structures, etc.

audunw 6y ago

It doesn't melt though. In fact mass timber is relatively resistant to fire, possibly better than steel. If I remember correctly, the surface chars and becomes a relatively good insulator of heat, so the core preserves its strength.

syoc 6y ago

Wood really isn't that flammable either. Most thing in your house, furniture, paint, books, drapes etc. is on fire before your walls or your floor. Huge caveat on solid wood walls and floor.

LegitShady 6y ago

wood is a lot less flammable than a material made of chains of hydrocarbons, and has far preferable burning characteristics to plastic. The two facts that 1) you could burn wood and 2) people build with wood, should not logically lead someone to claim that building things with any flammable materials is ok because of this.