The fundamental importance of trees and plants for all life on earth is well known. Since wood is a renewable resource, it has also been used as a building material for thousands of years. In addition, wood products that are recycled for energy at the end of their service life can actually provide more energy than was consumed in their manufacture. Wood is also a building material that does not draw any heat from the human body. Rather, it provides a natural indoor climate in your home.
In order to keep the transport routes and the energy required for the provision and preparation of this building material as low as possible, Steinböck | Homes uses mainly local wood for the construction of its prefabricated wooden houses.
Another advantage of wood in prefabricated construction: Your wooden house can be easily deconstructed at the end of its life cycle, and the individual components can be recycled. In this way, virtually no waste remains from your dream house. A good feeling, isn’t it?
Wood used to build your home does not release the carbon it contains into the atmosphere, but continues to store it, just like the forest in which it once grew. And that can be quite a lot, because every cubic meter of wood used in the construction of your home binds one ton of CO2. In addition, all prefabricated houses made of wood reduce the use of other CO2-intensive building materials such as concrete or steel. Building your home from wood is therefore definitely a good decision!
While other raw materials are becoming increasingly scarce, wood is constantly growing back. In Austria’s forests, one cubic meter of wood is produced every second. The principle of sustainability, which has been practiced in this country for 300 years, ensures that there is always enough wood – another decisive advantage of wood in prefabricated construction. Just one third of the annual wood growth in Austria would be enough to cover the entire volume of building construction in a year.
However, wood as a building material not only protects the environment, but also increases the added value of the entire forestry and timber industry, which is one of the largest employers in this country and creates numerous jobs, especially in rural regions. The industry currently employs around 300,000 people in Austria.
Intensive research and development in recent years have produced new wood materials that allow new construction methods. The innovative cross-laminated timber (a flat wood product made of several layers of wood laid crosswise on top of each other and glued together) has revolutionized timber construction and now also allows multi-story construction with wood, as this solid wood slab can be used like a reinforced concrete slab.
Computer-based calculation and production methods have also long been used in timber construction. Among other things, they allow completely new forms of design – from wide-span supporting structures to high-rise buildings, everything is possible. More and more renowned architects such as Shigeru Ban and Norman Foster are exploiting the potential of what is probably the oldest construction material in the history of mankind, and which is currently becoming the epitome of modern architecture and the art of building.
Wood as a building material is also increasingly shifting the construction site to the production hall. Walls, ceilings or even entire rooms made of wood are precisely prefabricated in the factory; absolutely independent of the weather! The finished building components are then assembled on your building site within a very short time to form your dream house. There is also no need for drying times as with reinforced concrete. And there is no construction noise to annoy your future neighbors. This, of course, is another not inconsiderable advantage of wood in prefabricated construction.
Are you interested in our services or do you have questions about prefabricated wooden houses? Then contact us and make an appointment for a personal consultation right away!
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