wood promotion network

WOOD FRAMING 101 "I took 20 kids from my church to build Habitat homes in Homestead, Florida," says John Phares, an experienced builder. Phares says the simplicity, flexibility and forgiveness inherent in wood framing is as right for beginners as it is for the pros. "When you've got kids who've never seen tools, never mind having worked with them, wood is the only way to go." That's not to say there weren't framing errors. The flexibility of wood framing came to the rescue when Phares had to have kids sledgehammer a couple of non-load-bearing walls out to make a kitchen wet-wall in one house and a closet in another. "There's no way you'd have kids set block or brick," Phares said. "And I'd never want to see a kid try to figure out metal studs."

Wood has always been the most reliable, flexible and renewable material when it comes to framing a home. And new engineered wood products are allowing builders to increase span widths, open up rooms and improve build quality in remarkable ways. That's why more than 90% of all builders frame with wood. It's also why Habitat for Humanity has used wood for the past 25 years.