30% of all framing lumber comes from Canada.

[tjbnwi]

As noted, escalation clause. My escalation clause kicks in a 1.5% +/-.

Tom

 

[squall_line]

My wife and I ordered an amish-built shed for our backyard in the winter of 2020/2021.  When the building arrived in the summer of 2021, I asked the owner of the company about materials prices, and he said that he usually orders a year at a time and was able to get his order in over the winter of 2020 before prices went up, so he wasn't losing anything on my build.  He then said that, yes, prices would be going up for their 2022 catalog.

When my aunt and uncle moved to Arizona in 2003, they had a stack of doug fir studs in their basement that never got used for their remodel, so I took them to my house in Iowa.  I still had them when I moved in 2017.  Tried to give them away to our framer when we had some work done in our basement in 2019, but he said he didn't need them.  My wife insisted on leaving them behind when we moved in November 2019, and they were subsequently lost in a storm in 2020.  Depending on how hardened they had become in that time, they would have been perfect for any number of small projects I did around the house since 2020 since they were flat and straight and dry.  C'est la vie.

I've spent more time than is probably healthy watching Matt Risinger videos on YouTube, and laminated or otherwise engineered lumber/timber is the current trend for high-end homes, especially for kitchens and baths where flat, straight walls are the key to reducing cabinet install labor costs.

 

[Mini Me]

Steel framed houses are all that can be built in parts of Australia due to termites which destroy timber frames in short order. I can recall someone telling me years ago that special fixings had to be developed to attach dry wall because the expansion rate of the steel frames is greater than timber but I don't know how true that is. 

 

[Packard]

Steel framed houses are all that can be built in parts of Australia due to termites which destroy timber frames in short order. I can recall someone telling me years ago that special fixings had to be developed to attach dry wall because the expansion rate of the steel frames is greater than timber but I don't know how true that is.

Are concrete homes a thing in Australia?  I think concrete block construction is common in Florida for the same reason—bugs.

Some concrete block homes are cleverly clad so you would never guess it wasn’t sticks and Sheetrock.

I wonder what it would take to make a house fire proof.

In New York City, the fire code called for a 2 hour fire rating, which double thick cinder block construction met when the blocks were still “green” (new and still retained moisture from manufacture.). But a few years later would not pass that same test.

That is something insurance companies are going to be interested in.

 

[Mini Me]

Most homes here are built on a concrete slab with sewer and water supply embedded in the slab. The frame is Radiata Pine built off site and then assembled straight onto the slab with a steel (Colorbond) roof which never has to be replaced. The exterior walls are generally a single layer of bricks tied to the frame, tiles have just about been consigned to antiquity and shingles are unheard of. Insulation gets lip service at best and someone once described Australian houses as leaky tents.

Our houses would never survive in a Northern hemisphere winter or more likely the occupants would freeze to death. I haven't watched this video but it may give you some insight into the building practises employed

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

I wonder what it would take to make a house fire proof.

(Snip)

Hi [member=74278]Packard[/member],

There are a variety of best-practices to make residential structures more resilient in fire-prone areas, including non-combustible siding and roofing products, non-ventilated attics (so-called "hot-roofs"), and maintaining a radius around the home clear of brush and other combustible materials.

Here is a page from Cal Fire on home hardening:https://www.fire.ca.gov/home-hardening

As you've acknowledged elsewhere, it's nearly impossible to "proof" things (fire-proof, water-proof, theft-proof, damage-proof, etc...), and if the products/technology were available it would likely be so expensive as to be unaffordable and/or impractical for most homeowners. The next-best option is to design resiliency into the structure, and maintain that resiliency over time by following regular maintenance and being mindful of surrounding conditions.

 

[Packard]

What once was cost-prohibitive might not be anymore.

My friend bought a Co-op town house in Florida 2 years ago.  It is in one of those HOA governed developments.  They pay for the home owners’ insurance through the corporation (The Co-op).  He was just notified that the insurance-only part of his home owners fees were increasing by $1,000.00 per month ($12,000 annually).  This was due to the recent history on storm damage. 

So, if insurance goes up enough, the break-even point for fire-proof construction changes.

As an aside, several years ago, I saw a HGTV-type show and the home owner installed a slow flow water pipe on the ridge of his home that would start to flow with the flip of a switch.  The water source was his swimming pool.  I would guess about 10,000 gallons.  The pump was battery powered and recharged by both a solar cell and house current.

Are roofs the major transmission source of house fires from wilderness fires?  It seemed like a clever idea to me.  He needed the swimming pool source because electric power was required to fill the water tower that fed his home. 

 

[squall_line]

Hardening a house against external fire threats and hardening it against internal threats (which are more prevalent and likely) are two completely different tacks, honestly.

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

Are roofs the major transmission source of house fires from wilderness fires?

(Snip)

There are a variety of transmission sources, none of which can be overlooked. No amount of exterior measures will be effective if the homeowner leaves the windows open (embers can enter via an open window), has a ventilated roof assembly (embers enter the attic space via the soffit vents, sets the roof sheathing and/or attic contents on fire), or any number of other design- or lifestyle- choices which may make a given home more susceptible to loss. In other words, it doesn't matter if the structure is fire resistant if embers are allowed to enter the building envelope. 

 

[Mini Me]

A few videos at this link on constructing houses in bush fire zones. My house is about 100 metres from the tree line and sits on the top of a small valley. We long ago came to terms with losing it in a fire but a lot of people can't so they should not live here and one of our neighbours moved out due to that.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=house+construction+in+a+bush+fire+zone