Talking Mass Timber
This week, Tim and Carolina talk about mass timber and how it is becoming an asset in the building industry.
More About the Show
The Build Perspectives podcast shares insider knowledge to build connections and community in the building materials industry. Tim and Carolina are friends, colleagues and former coworkers who love the construction industry and their clients, and want to share their passion and insights to attract future talent to the industry.
In this episode, Tim discusses with Carolina what he learned at the Mass Timber Conference, why people are wanting mass timber in their projects and how Tim will take action on what he learned.
What Is Mass Timber?
Being the week of the mass timber conference, Tim and Caroline discuss mass timber. Mass timber is somewhat a self-defined term, as there are so many different subcategories. Some forms of mass timber are analogs. Mass timber, when people talk about it on a day-to-day basis, is a buildup of dimensional lumber to create a new timber product — think glulams.
Tim’s early exposure to glulams was when he sold his first glulam package in lumber sales. He had a catalog that showed him span charts and prices, and he could just order them, so he really didn’t need the engineering. They were developed by engineers.
Because of the engineering, they are user-friendly. Anyone at the counter at their local lumberyard can sell, substitute and use different beams in different applications on a set of plans for a home or a building because engineers have prescriptively broken out the span tables based on loads and the different factors that go into a building.
It never occurred to Tim that mass timber would be used in so many different ways. From entire floors, roofs and wall panels, it is used everywhere. Taking those dimensional products, people make new beams, new floor panels or other new products using nails, glue or dowels (or all of the above.)
Offsite Construction Importance
Offsite construction is where some part of a building that would normally be assembled on-site is pre-fabricated and assembled offsite, like at a warehouse or a factory.
When Tim thinks about some of the headwinds the industry faces, like labor material shortages, chain issues, skilled labor shortages and the challenges posed by regulatory bodies, Tim sees the importance of offsite construction. It answers a lot of those questions when done correctly. Several folks have proven over the years that it can be done incorrectly, like anything, but it has the ability to work.
A good illustration of proof is the sheer amount of investment capital that comes into the space. Smart, institutional money is coming into the space because they believe in it and believe in pure fabrication, whether that is on or offsite.
Do People Want Mass Timber?
People do want mass timber. It is lumped in this whole offsite category because they are made in a factory. Mass timber can be made onsite with nail laminated or dowel laminated timber, but it is largely offsite. Modular offsite with CLT can be seen, but it’s a modular unit or best part of the roof assembly. Hybrids could develop, which would be fun to realize that people are doing the right thing because it is the right thing, not because they are married to a certain modality.
Years ago, the mass timber community had events that were viewed as tree-hugger events. They’re very niche and out there. This is unique because glulams are so ubiquitous and popular, as they are used in almost every structure in North America. Glulams look about 10-15 years to be accepted. Mass timber is on that same S curve of adoption.
It is manifesting in the number of successful events, and the people wanting to put their necks out there and invest or speak on the subject or specialize in it. This mass timber event is three days long, each day being 5-6 hours. People from logistics to forestry to investment banking are speaking at the event. Along with these people, there are about 20 case study tours that people can do virtually. It has grown so much within a few years, and it is much more sophisticated.
It is a proven category because mass timber has been used for years in some form but just hasn’t been called that. People want it, and there are more buildings being built with it. A lot are multistory, but John Burns has discussed the potential of it being used in single-family homes or for smaller, mid to low rise or horizontal apartment developments.
What Tim Learned
People can raise money to build a mill, but it does take a while to do. Tim learned that to start up a fiber cement plant might be a hundred million dollars, but some of these plants for mass timber could be built for far less than that and have a ridiculous upside, like at the beginning of the fiber cement adoption curve.
He also learned about the logic behind the reduction. Instead of protecting these lands, a lot of the protected lands actually become a higher wildfire risk because they’re not harvested the way they should be. There’s a lot more understanding and training and smart people in forestry in the United States and Canada that are able to present this to politicians to make sure that people can keep harvesting. When it’s done correctly, it can actually reduce the risk of wildfire.
If someone cuts a tree down, uses it in a building and grows another tree, what does that tree do? The person has sequestered carbon, and then over time, reforested, but also harvested. Those buildings, especially mass timber, are meant to last not 30 years. Now, they have this embodied energy, embodied carbon and embodied labor lasting a long time that will most likely get refinished or refurbished then torn down in the future because of the nature of the construction. That is true sustainability.
Tim’s Actionable Items
Tim wants to dig deeper into what idle lumber mills could be retooled for, and what’s out there for the inventory of mills, as costs between $40-$60 million to build a mass timber plant. He also wants to talk more about nail laminated timber.
There was an event last month called Mass Timber City. Greg Howe ran that and he also runs AUC Hackathon. Before the event, Kirk Hodgson opened Tim’s eyes about how quickly a startup could be built with nail laminated and dowel laminated mass timber.
They do not need a factory, with only a warehouse is needed to keep things dry. Onsite work can be done because it is just a nailing pattern, which can be stamped. Tim’s actionable item here is to talk more about those two modes and to figure out the connection between 3D construction and mass timber.
Join the Conversation
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this week’s episode! Shoot us an email at buildperspectives@gmail.com.
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