The trend toward using more wood framing in mid-rise buildings has been enabled by a recent movement to relax or change building codes to permit wood framing at heights above the typical four-story limits, and driven by a pursuit of what builders believe are cheaper construction methods and materials.
Now with the growing body of evidence of significantly higher risks associated with this type of construction, it’s time for the construction industry to take a closer look at building codes, which until 2008 would have required buildings six stories or higher to have non-combustible exterior walls from top to bottom.