There is no unified certification at the national level for Structural wood It imposes a “raising bar” in demand levels on house building With this material, according to international standards.
Thus he referred to Tailam Forest engineer Martín Sánchez Acosta, INTA Concordia researcher, who warned of the dangers of implementing constructions that do not comply with the standards and quality of standard countries such as Canada or Sweden, in addition to insisting on the necessity of progress in a sign that avoids confusion, whether for builders or consumers. And the authorities themselves.
“The seller does not know what to sell, the buyer does not know what to buy, and the government does not know what to check.”Sánchez Acosta summarized the situation created by the lack of uniform standards, to conclude that “until the series is standardized with a label, it is impossible for things to be done well”.
“If a viable raw material is not delivered for use, it is difficult to spread that people build with wood,” the researcher at the National Institute of Technology (INTA) stressed, while recommending that it be the “same chambers” in the timber sector that develop regulations. Marking”, as in the United States, where the labeling process is not a state job but the business of the American Plywood Association (APA).
In this sense, he evaluated that in Argentina these could be important for Argentine Federation of Wood and Related Industries (Faima).
In this regard, he compared the situation with that of other building materials and gave an example that “metal is uniform from La Quiaca to Ushuaia, but with wood it is difficult to do, and in this confusion it often leads to the purchase of products that are not the right people, because a certain type Of wood it may be suitable for furniture, but not for habitation.”
“The same thing happens with rafters that some put it on the outside, come out and blame the product, when in reality it’s about the interiors, a confusion no one can have with, say, any latex paint,” he said. .
With a broad path, Sánchez Acosta graduated as a forestry engineer from the National University of La Plata, in 1982 he obtained a doctorate in wood technology from the University of Valladolid and after passing the two-year defunct IFONA (National Forestry Institute). He worked decades at INTA, working on the woodwork from genetics to its application in various fields.
“Since 2007 we have an agreement with Canada, where we are trained and the building standard is the usual, so much so that 95% of the houses are made of wood”, shown. With that starting point, he said, “we got used to working with a quality rod.”
“We learned the philosophy of how to build and it’s very simple if you have a guideEverything depends on that, ”adding that with obtaining the appropriate certificates, problems are solved:“ In the world, builders do not know wood, but there is no confusion when choosing materials because they are based on classification. Something like this does not happen in Argentina, where they have to You have to ask the seller what kind of wood you’re buying and trust what they tell you.”
“Our message is to work under regulations, otherwise we don’t consider them to be homes,” he said, referring to certain structural aspects that allow, even without public certification, to build good homes.
on, It was strict that the measurements of the studs in the walls be 2 by 4 inches Specifically, because of the lack of labels, he asked, “In so many cases 1×2 lumber is used, we can’t consider this a house.”
He warned of this criterion, “It is not possible to know how many houses have been built in the country,” noting that if the constructions do not meet the criteria of 2 by 4, “No matter how beautiful they are, we do not call them. They are houses, in any case, they are constructions that are not stable “.
The difference between the two measurements indicated for the listings is necessary to determine the durability of the construction and its resistance to weather conditions, as Sanchez Acosta himself can give as an example in INTA Concordia: “There have been hurricanes that have taken away a trailer and even a truck but we have two-story wooden houses that support it without any problems.”
“Entre Ríos, for example, sets a high bar” on the conditions that a log house must meetAt the same time, he noted, the standards are not uniform across the country.
In this sense, he pointed out, another problem lies in the problems of coordinating national and regional laws with municipal laws and bids, in which directives are often not conveyed to the facts.
In any case, the standard already in place and implemented in housing schemes offers an advantage to wood construction, due to its potential for better energy efficiency than traditional wet construction.
“National social housing plans have a series of guidelines that must be adhered to, and one of those guidelines is to put energy labels on homes, He noted that the minimum required is a “B” rating, a level that is difficult to achieve in masonry, but much easier and cheaper to achieve in log homes.
