380 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



Table 212. — Estimates oj average square Jeet oj 

 floor space per dwelling unit, specified years 





Average floor space per unit 



Year 



All types ' 



Single- 

 family 

 houses 

 only 2 



All 

 nonfarm 

 housing 2 



1920 



Sq. ft. 

 1,310 

 1, 130 

 1,080 

 980 

 1,000 



Sq. ft. 



Sq. ft. 



1930 _ 







1940-- - 



1,177 

 983 





1950 





1953 





1954 





1,086 



1955 - -_ 







I, 115 











' Includes farm as well as nonfarm housing. Stanford 

 Research Institute. America's Demand for Wood, 1929- 

 1975, p. 32. Weyerhaeuser Timber Co., Tacoma, Wash. 

 1954. 



2 Housing and Home Finance Agency. The Materials 

 Use Survey, p. 4. Government Printing Office, Washington, 

 D. C. 1953. 



' Bureau of Labor Statistics. Characteristics of New 

 Housing — First Quarter, 1954, and Characteristics of New 

 Housing — First Quarter, 1955 (mimeographed releiises) 

 December 30, 1954, and November 15, 1955. Weighted 

 average for single-family and multi-family housing. 



slope of roofs but an increase in the overhang at 

 ends and sides. Insofar as rafters atid roof joists 

 are concerned, lumber has had no serious competi- 

 tion. But economies in rafter material have been 

 accomplished through the use of truss design. 

 With regard to roof sheathing, lumber has been 

 displaced to a large extent by plywood and hard- 

 board. Some further displacement is anticipated. 



With regard to exterior-wall structure, lumber 

 holds a prominent position. About 82 percent of 

 the single-family imits built in the first quarter of 

 1954 were wood-frame houses and another 3 per- 

 cent were modifications of the wood-frame type 

 (table 213). These wood-frame structures were 

 normally distributed throughout the fall price 

 range of new, nonfarm, single houses, with moder- 

 ate bias in favor of the lower-price brackets. The 

 distribution of brick and brick-faced masonry 

 houses was biased in favor of the higher-price 

 brackets. Concrete-block and other masonry con- 

 struction has a foothold in the lower-price field, but 

 so far it does not have a strong hold in any price 

 bracket of single-family housing. 



The heavier inroads made by nonwood materials 

 against lumber have been in the exterior covering 

 of wood-frame houses (table 214). During the 

 first quarter of 1954, wood-frame houses faced 

 with brick were more likely to sell for $12,000 and 

 up; those faced with asbestos shingles were more 

 likely to sell for less than $12,000. Houses faced 

 with wood were normally distributed throughout 

 the full range of selling prices, with moderate bias 

 in favor of the lower-price field. Thus, it seems 

 that asbestos shingles compete strongly with wood 

 siding in low-priced, single-family housing, and 

 brick, or brick and wood in combination, are 

 strong competitors in the higher-priced field. 

 Therefore, the preference for brick must be due to 

 factors other than the price of installed material. 



To reduce the labor costs of installing lumber in 

 bousing, large lumber sheathing panels made up 

 of edge-glued boards are beginning to enter the 

 market. And paper plastic overlays applied to 

 low-grade lumber siding — to hide defects, improve 

 paintability, and provide more dimensional sta- 



Table 213. — New nonfarm single-family dwelling units started in first quarter of 1954, os percent of total 

 units started, by type of exterior-wall construction and selling-price class 



Selling-price class (dollars) 



Total 

 all types 



Wood-frame and other non- 

 masonry construction 



Total 



Wood 

 frame ' 



Other in- 

 cluding 

 some pre- 

 fabricated 



Masonry construction 



Total 



Brick 



and 



brick 



facing 



Concrete 

 block 

 and 

 other 



Type 

 unknown 



Under 7,000 



7,000-9,999 



10,000-1 1,999_ _ 

 12,000-14,999-- 

 15,000-19,999- . 

 20,000 and over 

 Price unknown. 



Total 



Percent 

 10. 6 

 14. 8 

 20. 

 24. 

 16. 5 

 9.7 

 4. 4 



Percent 



9.7 



12. 6 



17.4 



21. 7 



12. 7 



7.4 



3.0 



Percent 



8.5 



12. 2 



17. 1 



21. 4 



12.5 



7. 1 



2.9 



Percent 

 1. 2 

 . 4 

 . 3 

 . 3 

 . 2 

 .3 

 . 1 



Percent 

 0. 9 

 2. 2 

 2. 4 



2. 1 



3. 6 

 2. 1 



. 3 



Percent 



0. 2 



1. 2 

 1. 6 

 1. 7 

 3. ] 

 1. 7 



. 1 



Pei^cent 



0. 7 



1. 

 . 8 

 . 4 

 . 5 

 . 4 



'> 



Percent 



0. 2 

 . 2 

 .2 

 . 2 



1. 1 



100. 



84. 5 



n.7 



13. 6 



9. 6 



4. 



1. 9 



' Prefabricated units of wall-panel construction are in 

 both of these classes. 

 2 Less than 0.05 percent. 



Source: U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Characteristics 

 of New Housing — First Quarter, 1954. Washington, D. C. 

 December 1954. (Mimeographed.) 



