top of page

Wood vs. Steel

  • Wood is more environmentally friendly - it lets off much lower levels of CO2, which can be seen in Image 2

 

  • Wood is much cheaper than steel, as you can see in an example shown in Table 1

 

  • Labor cost is much lower for wood bearing walls than steel bearing walls

Image 1: Steel vs. Wood

Table 1: Steel vs. Wood Bearing Wall Costs Example

Image 2: CO2 Emissions of Wood vs. Steel

Wood vs. CMU

Image 3: Wood vs. Concrete Masonry Units

  • Wood bearing walls are much lighter than CMU brick walls

 

  • Wood is more flexible than concrete and thus is less susceptable to cracking

 

  • Wood is more energy efficient

 

  • CMU brick walls take up more space, decreasing interior area of the building

 

  • It is much easier to rout mechanical, electrical, and plumbing equipment throughout wood frames vs. CMU brick walls

Chart 1: Cradle to Grave Impact Comparison of Wood vs. Steel

Table 2: Impacts of Wood vs. CMU and Wood vs. Steel

Wood vs. Other Materials

Chart 2: Environmental Impacts of Wood vs. Other Materials

  • Facebook Basic
  • Twitter Basic
  • Vimeo Basic
bottom of page