In recent decades, eco-friendly has not only created a push for environmental awareness but has also created innovations in wood for the construction industry.  With these innovations, the intentions are to reduce the carbon footprint in which it takes to create building materials, capitalize on wood’s sustainability, and improve the assembly time of on-site construction.  Down below, we've compiled a handful of wood innovations that are looking to make an impact on the future of wooden building materials and the construction industry.

1. Cross Laminated Timber

source: via wikipedia.org

Commonly abbreviated as CLT, Cross Laminated Timber products are laminated wood panels made from layering lumber boards in a perpendicular manner and gluing them into place.  It is similar in it’s manufacturing of plywood, but the laminations are thicker and have an overall higher structural rigidity.  CLT is an advantageous new building material due to being a carbon reducing renewable domestic resource, higher strength & stability, and flexibility in its applications.

2. Mass Timber

source: via wikipedia.org

Mass timber construction is distinguished from other construction methods by its means of building and framing structures with solid wood panels.  It is considered to be more advantageous than concrete and steel in certain situations, as it is more efficient, has a lighter carbon footprint, and retains structural properties while weighing less.

3. Prefabrication

source: via americanpoleandtimber.com

One of the most important recent trends to catch on in construction is prefabrication.  While it is not a new construction process, the process has gained more traction due to the rise in popularity of mass timber construction and the utilization of cross laminated timber products.  Prefabrication increases construction efficiency and affordability by assembling varying wooden components of a structure off-site for quick on-site assembly; thus, expediting the overall construction time.  

4. Superwood/Mettlewood

source: via inventwood.com

Touted as being stronger than steel alloys, super wood, also known as mettlewood, is manufactured by partially removing the wood’s lignin, mechanically pressing it to create densification, and then painted.  This process causes the wood to become one-fifth the thickness of its original size, and significantly improves wood’s natural stability.  Super wood applications are numerous, but it is especially important for the construction industry in its ability to be a sustainable replacement for steel.