Give Your Customers the Forest Facts It pays to reassure your customers that the wood you buy comes from an abundant renewable resource. But did you know that North American forests cover about the same area of land as they did 100 years ago? For more information on forests and sustainability, please click here

Why Wood is Good - Structural Integrity       The 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan demonstrated the strength of North American-style wood framing. Measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, the quake took 6,000 lives and caused more than US $100 billion in losses. However, while older homes built in the traditional Japanese post-and-beam style fared extremely poorly, wood frame homes built to modern building code standards remained largely intact. According to Forintek Canada Corp., which has analyzed about half a million wood buildings involved in earthquakes worldwide over the past four decades, wood framed construction offers some key structural advantages over other materials. Among other things, wood's high strength-to-weight ratio means that ground movement doesn't generate as much energy in a wood framed building. Plus, wood's flexibility allows it to absorb and disperse the energy that is generated without suffering damage. Although building codes will continue to evolve as new information is available, today's codes incorporate many years of research and provide a high degree of earthquake protection. Providing a wood framed home meets current requirements, it is one of the safest places to be in a quake. For more information: What is an Earthquake?: US Geological Survey How Do Earthquakes Affect Buildings?: US Geological Survey Wood Frame Construction: Meeting the Challenges of Earthquakes - Canadian Wood Council Earthquake Resistant Housing - Forintek Canada Corp. Why Wood is Good Energy Efficiency Environmental Benefits Structural Integrity Fire Safety