Steel framing has often been suggested as being an environmentally responsible option to wood framing for houses. Indeed, steel is more easily recycled than wood. Steel framing is lighter and simpler to ship. It's resistant against insects. It's made, in part, from recycled steel; light-gauge steel framing is usually 20 to 25% recycled content. And, proponents argue, it does not require reducing forests to create.
While steel has some attractive environmental features, additionally, it has significant drawbacks.
First, while steel framing does contain recycled steel scrap, additionally, it contains a lot of virgin material. Iron and zinc ores are non-renewable, and their extraction could be ecologically damaging. Wood, on the contrary, is ultimately a renewable resource.
Co2 is changed into wood fiber with the procedure for photosynthesis, that is driven by solar power. If forests are managed in a sustainable, ecologically responsible manner, wood is really a highly attractive building material. The timberlands producing that wood provide wildlife habitat and recreational land for all of us to savor.
Another drawback is that steel framing takes more energy to create than wood framing; it's higher embodied energy. The main difference between your embodied energy of steel framing and that of wood framing is significant, even though it is not as high as numerous people once believed.
An article in Environmental Building News showed that the embodied energy of the steel used in a steel-framed home is about 28% greater than that of the wood in a wood-framed house.
Third, and many important, steel conducts heat far more effectively than wood. When used as framing for insulated walls, the steel studs become thermal bridges, allowing a lot of heat to flee, and dramatically lowering the overall R-value of the walls. A 2x4 wall framed with steel studs 16 inches on-center and insulated with R-11 fiberglass insulation will achieve a typical insulating worth of only R-5.5.
A 2x6 wall built of steel studs 24 inches on-center and insulated with R-19 fiberglass insulation will achieve a typical R-value of just 8.6. To operate effectively as wall framing, steel studs should be engrossed in rigid foam insulation, and also the environmental burdens of that foam insulation should be regarded as a component of the overall package.
While the power penalties argue against steel framing for exterior walls, steel studs do make a lot of sense for interior partition walls, in which the high thermal conductivity of steel isn't a problem. For nonbearing walls, even lighter-gauge steel may be used.
Some green builders are utilizing this type of hybrid building system, with wood framing or another alternative for exterior walls and steel framing for interior walls. Steel framing may also make sense in very mild climates and in which the alternative is framing houses entirely from preservative-treated wood.
Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article. Webworldarticles.com is a free articles resource thus practically any visitor can submit an article. However if you notice any copyrighted material, please contact us and we will remove the article(s) in discussion right away.
This article was sent to us by:
Douglas Gray at
04182011
1. Green home building and straw bale construction
All articles in this directory are property of their respective authors. Additionally, read our Privacy Policy
© 2010 WebWorldarticles.com - All Rights Reserved. Partners: Gunblade Saga