Non-residential building construction in North America is a vast market for wood-based products in structural and non-structural applications. For a variety of reasons, this market is currently dominated by steel, concrete and masonry structures. Promotional efforts by the forest products industry are making positive effects in convincing specifiers to use wood-based systems in some non-residential applications. Platform-frame wood construction is the most common wood-based structural system that is currently dominating the low-rise residential market in North America. With slight modifications, this system is also well suited for use in single-storey box-type non-residential buildings with heights up to 10.7 meters (35 feet). Incremental research contributions are needed if such tall wood-frame walls are to make serious inroads into the non-residential construction market.
This project provides a literature survey on the topic of tall wood-frame walls. It identifies the important issues related to the design and performance of tall walls used in construction of single-storey non-residential box-type buildings. In addition, it gives an overview on the marketing aspects of use of tall walls in non-residential applications, as well as information on the concrete tilt-up, masonry and steel structural systems as main competitors for the market share. The results of this project will be used as a basis for planning of the future research activities in the field of tall wood-frame walls.