Main Lumber is a one of a kind lumber yard. We offer
much more than any traditional lumber yard.
The most advanced framing material available:
Strength Wood will endure extraordinarily heavy loads, such as
a sudden heavy snowfall, and retain its original shape. The
same cannot be said for sheet metal. The sheet metal used
for residential framing is about the thickness of a metal
soup can. Wood framing is always a minimum of 1½ inches
thick. Builders using wood products have much greater design
flexability than ever before.
Peace & Quiet Many residents of experimental sheet metal frame houses
report that they find these homes noisy. The reason is that
sheet metal reverberates sound, while wood absorbs sound.
Incomparable Fire Safety In a fire, wood meets or exceeds the level of fire safety
provided by a house framed with sheet metal. While metal doesn't
burn, it does melt. Tests conducted by the National Research
Council in Ottawa discovered that in a fire a sheet metal
framed wall can lose its drywall covering faster than a wood
framed wall, due to the fact that as heat builds the attachment
between the drywall and steel fails. Once a wall's protective
covering is lost, flames and smoke move rapidly from room
to room.
Ease of Renovation and Home Improvements Most homeowners know how to install blinds, hang pictures
and create built-in shelving using traditional tools. Wood
framing allows you to easily make these home improvements
using the knowledge and tools you are familiar with. Suppose
that in ten years you want to add a room. Call a renovation
contractor to confirm for yourself that wood frame construction
is the easiest to modify.
Environmentally Superior Over 80 per cent of Canadians believe that sustaining
the environment is a major priority. A study by the ATHENA
Sustainable Materials Institute examined the relative environmental
impacts of various building materials. The results clearly
demonstrate that the manufacture of wood products is cleaner,
less wasteful and consumes less energy than the alternatives.
It is also a renewable resource.Life cycle analysis shows
that a sheet metal wall requires three to six times more energy
to extract, manufacture and construct than a wood wall. The
sheet metal wall also uses 25 times more water in its manufacture,
and releases three to six times more carbon dioxide emissions.
