FUTURE DEMAND FOR TIMBER 



381 



Table 214. — New wood-frame nonfarm dwelling units started in first quarter of 1954, as percent of total 

 units started, by kind of exterior wall-facing material and selling-price class 



Selling-price class (dollars) 



Total, 

 all facing 

 materials 



Facing material 



Wood 



Wood and 

 brick 



Brick 



Asbestos 

 shingle 



Other 



Under 7,000 



7,000-9,999 



10,000-11,999. _ 

 12,000-14,999- _ 

 15,000-19,999__ 

 20,000 and over 

 Price unknown. 



Total- __ 



Percent 

 10.4 



14. 9 

 20. 9 

 26.3 



15. 1 

 8. 9 

 3.5 



Percent 

 5. 8 



7. 3 



8. 7 

 6.7 

 5. 

 3.4 

 1.5 



Percent 



(') 



0. 1 



. 6 



2. 1 



1.7 



1.0 



. 1 



Percent 



0. 1 



1. 5 

 4.0 

 8. 8 

 5. 

 3. 5 

 1. 1 



Percent 

 4. 3 

 4. 5 

 3. 5 

 2. 6 

 1. 6 

 . 1 

 . 4 



100.0 



38. 4 



5. 6 



24.0 



17. 



Percent 



0. 2 



1. 5 

 4. 1 

 6. 1 

 1. 8 



. 9 

 . 4 



15. 



' Less than 0.05 percent. 



Source: U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 



Characteristics 



of New Housing — First Quarter, 195 4- 

 December 1954. (Mimeographed.) 



Washington, D. C. 



bility — are beginning to appear. Further develop- 

 ment along these lines is to be expected. 



Other developments are taking place in pre- 

 fabrication; about 6.3 percent of the nonfarm 

 dwelling units built in 1954 were prefabricated 

 houses.^* For example, several of the systems 

 of prefabricated housing utilize "stressed-skin" 

 panels ^^ for exterior walls, for inside partitions, 

 and for other components. While the volume of 

 lumber used per house for stressed-skin panel walls 

 is less than for conventional studding, the import- 

 ant feature is that p"refabricated housing, so far, 

 has been made almost wholly of timber products. 



Another architectural innovation which has 

 reduced lumber use in some new housing is the 

 concrete slab. Instead of wall or pillar founda- 

 tions, about 16 percent of the single-family houses 

 started in the first quarter of 1955 were set on 

 concrete slabs.^® In this type of construction, 

 girders, main -floor joists, and heavy sills are 

 eliminated. Floors are usually of asphalt tile laid 

 directly on the slab, eliminating both wood flooring 

 and subflooring. Whether this trend toward use 

 of the concrete slab will continue is difficult to 

 judge. It certainly has the advantage of lower 

 cost of installation. But it has some critical 

 disadvantages. Unless heating elements are 

 imbedded in the slab, the floor is apt to be un- 

 comfortably cold. If heating conduits are im- 



°* Estimates of the Prefabricated Home Manufacturers 

 Institute. 



'5 Such panels are composed of a light frame of dimension 

 lumber to which a cover of plywood or hardboard is glued. 

 The cover, or skin, thus becomes integral with the frame 

 and carries a large part of the stress that may be put 

 upon it. 



" U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

 Characteristics of New Housing, First Quarter 1955. No- 

 vember 15, 1955. (Mimeographed.) 



bedded in the slab, any repairs or changes which 

 may later be required are troublesome and costly. 

 Furthermore, most persons have a strong prefer- 

 ence for hardwood flooring in living rooms and 

 bedrooms. It may, of course, be feasible to provide 

 such floors on concrete slab by use of wood flooring 

 specially treated to give high dimensional sta- 

 bility. 



In some of the housing now being erected on 

 basement foundations, steel beams are being sub- 

 stituted for wooden girders to provide more 

 rigidity and eliminate the need for supporting posts 

 in the basement. It is not improbable that this 

 trend will continue. 



While wood floor joists and ceiling joists have 

 no serious competition, there has been extensive 

 substitution of plywood and hardboard for 

 lumber. These sheet materials have no special 

 advantage so far as price is concerned, but they 

 can be laid with much less labor. The same 

 advantage would attach to glued lumber panels 

 mentioned above. If the latter come into use as 

 subflooring materials, lumber might hold its 

 position or even recapture some lost ground in 

 the subflooring field. 



Sheet materials of various kinds are being used 

 extensively for exterior wall sheathing. Saving 

 of labor at construction site is the chief advantage. 

 Ply-wood provides an excellent base for exterior 

 coverings of all kinds, but the various building 

 fiberboards have some disadvantages. If lumber 

 siding is used as covering, the joints can occur 

 only at studs because the fiberboards have lim- 

 ited nail-holding power. If wooden or asbestos 

 shingles are used for covering, wood strips usually 

 must be provided, or the builder must use "shingle 

 backer construction" with special nails to attach 

 the shingles. 



