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A couple of years ago a fairly large, multi-storey apartment building was put up in my town. It was constructed entirely of wood. While the roof was being finis

A couple of years ago a fairly large, multi-storey apartment building was put up in my town. It was constructed entirely of wood. While the roof was being finished, a worker who was putting in some overtime on a sunday accidentally started a small fire which quickly got out of control. It ended up taking the entire building out, costing millions of dollars, but thankfully no lives. Wood is great, but it does have downsides. I wouldn't like to see a real-life sequel to The Towering Inferno.

khrbrt 6y ago
Was it balloon timbered with plywood walls? I've seen those popping up quickly, and they look very flammable, with thin support frames and walls, and a high surface area to volume ratio. The wooden building in this article looks different, with much thicker wooden posts and flooring. The article said a test structure lasted four hours at 1000C temperature flames.
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  England just went through an unfortunate lesson in approved materials being used in apartment buildings that in fact were flammable (cladding.) I think they had 2 major fires as a result. Hopefully this isn't a repeat of that, but it sounds similar. Note the wikipedia article says it did not comply, but I've read other articles that said it did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire
SkyPuncher 6y ago
Were the interiors in yet? My understanding is much of the fire rating comes from interior materials that protect the wood from fire.
cwdegidio 6y ago
We had the same exact thing happen in Houston. The lot it sat on is now a big eye sore since, I assume, the owners of the building and insurance companies are probably still duking it out in court.
nick_kline 6y ago
How about conventional building materials, surely they would be safe? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire I don't want to assume that a wooden building under construction would be less safe than multiple conventional buildings. Grenfell was a particular error in cladding choices, but still. Remember https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fire-breaks-out-dubai-skyscraper-near-burj-khalifa-n488586 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fire-breaks-out-dubai-sky...
airhead969 6y ago
All buildings should be built with metal studs like US commercial spaces are required to. Lighter construction mass, doesn't burn, and doesn't get termites.

khrbrt 6y ago

Was it balloon timbered with plywood walls? I've seen those popping up quickly, and they look very flammable, with thin support frames and walls, and a high surface area to volume ratio. The wooden building in this article looks different, with much thicker wooden posts and flooring. The article said a test structure lasted four hours at 1000C temperature flames.

redis_mlc 6y ago
England just went through an unfortunate lesson in approved materials being used in apartment buildings that in fact were flammable (cladding.) I think they had 2 major fires as a result. Hopefully this isn't a repeat of that, but it sounds similar. Note the wikipedia article says it did not comply, but I've read other articles that said it did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire

SkyPuncher 6y ago

Were the interiors in yet? My understanding is much of the fire rating comes from interior materials that protect the wood from fire.

cwdegidio 6y ago

We had the same exact thing happen in Houston. The lot it sat on is now a big eye sore since, I assume, the owners of the building and insurance companies are probably still duking it out in court.

nick_kline 6y ago

How about conventional building materials, surely they would be safe? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire I don't want to assume that a wooden building under construction would be less safe than multiple conventional buildings. Grenfell was a particular error in cladding choices, but still. Remember https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fire-breaks-out-dubai-skyscraper-near-burj-khalifa-n488586 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fire-breaks-out-dubai-sky...

airhead969 6y ago

All buildings should be built with metal studs like US commercial spaces are required to. Lighter construction mass, doesn't burn, and doesn't get termites.