Monthly Update: November 2017

WoodWorks, with support from the Softwood Lumber Board and the USDA Forest Service Forest Products Lab, conducted a second series of blast tests on three existing two-story, single-bay cross-laminated timber (CLT) structures at Tyndall Air Force Base—the same structures involved in a series of initial blast tests performed in 2016. While a full analysis will be published early next year, on-site observations are decidedly positive. All structures remained intact under significant explosive loading well beyond their design capacity.

Over the next couple months, WoodWorks will be working with Karagozian & Case, Inc., the Air Force Civil Engineer Center and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to analyze the results of these tests and develop design methods for use by blast engineers across the country.

As part of its role to develop and amplify pro-wood messaging on behalf of the softwood lumber industry, reThink Wood nurtures ongoing and long-term relationships with media outlets and reporters to support the positive positioning of softwood lumber online, in print, and on TV. In the third quarter of 2017, reThink Wood placed 40 high-impact earned media pieces, exceeding second quarter results and reThink’s quarterly goal. Pro-wood stories were seen on NBC News (9.5 million online impressions), Futurism (2.3 million online impressions), and King 5 in Washington state (675,116 online impressions). In addition, a FOX 5 News channel led its 6 pm broadcast with a feature story on how wood can revolutionize how skyscrapers are built.

Thanks to reThink Wood’s efforts, wood enjoyed the highest positive sentiment among building materials in the third quarter, with 80% positive and only 4% negative sentiment. Wood’s competitors such as steel and concrete experienced significantly higher shares of negative sentiment and lower positive sentiment.

Through the use of emergent and innovative media tactics, and building long term relationships with media, reThink Wood serves as the authority and destination for wood news on behalf of the softwood lumber industry.

Wood, Naturally sponsored a cross-industry multi-user booth at the 2017 DeckExpo in Nashville, Tenn. in October which promoted live demos by contractor Mark Clement on wood decking, best practices using wood, and designing and building vertical outdoor structures using softwood lumber. The trades-only show attracts a key Wood, Naturally audience – design and build professionals that can influence homeowners to choose wood instead of manufactured competitors like composites.

Wood, Naturally’s booth featured staff from the Southern Forest Product Association (SFPA) and Western Red Cedar Lumber Association. Wood, Naturally increased foot traffic to the booth by using geo-targeted banner ads, which garnered nearly 150,000 impressions over the three-day expo. Wood, Naturally also cross-promoted social media content with SFPA to increase reach and engagement, and garnered over 330 engagements and nearly 20,000 impressions during the expo.

As part of its increased outreach to fire services where information is provided on best practices on construction fire safety to fire departments, the American Wood Council (AWC) is showcasing ads in the International Association of Fire Chief’s bi-weekly e-newsletter, the Bugle Brief, for the next six months, starting with the November 8th issue. AWC’s ads will direct readers to the industry’s www.ConstructionFireSafety.org website, which provides information and best practices on construction fire safety to fire departments.

In response to a recent report from the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) claiming that concrete is “cheaper than wood in building insurance costs,” AWC leveraged the research and estimates of several credible sources to quickly correct errors in the comparison. The report indicated that construction costs for four-story wood-framed and concrete buildings are the same at $140.00/square-foot; however, the International Code Council’s Building Valuation Data shows the average cost to build wood-frame is $110.87/square-foot compared to $127.05 to $158.84/square-foot for concrete. The figure for wood is inflated by as much as 26 percent. As such and because insurance premiums are based on the cost of building replacement, the cost for insuring wood-frame construction is actually considerably lower than reported and certainly lower than concrete.

AWC also  corrected the assertion that it takes the same amount of time – 15 months – to build a wood-framed building as it does concrete buildings, when wood-frame construction is consistently faster. Insurance during construction is based on the duration of construction, and is thus less for wood than reported.

Correcting these errors in the report’s insurance premium calculations would reduce the premium for the wood-framed building considerably. To date, few media outlets have picked up on NRMCA’s story; AWC continues to monitor its distribution in order to promptly correct the report’s  claims. The Build With Strength campaign did send out a memo addressing AWC’s claims. Read more here.