First North American-style wood frame construction house in Mysuru

The first North American-style wood frame construction (WFC) house of India, made of Canadian wood, was inaugurated in the city, on Wednesday.

Forestry Innovation Consulting India (FII), popularly known as Canadian Wood, has executed the project in collaboration with Pyramid Timber Associates (PTA) on the premises of PTA in Yelwal on Hunsur Road.

Chief executive officer of PTA Ali Asgar M Vagh said, “It is the first of its kind WFC house, made of five species of Canadian wood — Western hemlock, Spruce-pine-fir, Western red cedar, Yellow cedar and Douglas fir — in India.

New trend

Ajay Pimple, director, business development, FII, said, “The traditional art of building cozy homes with wood is long-forgotten in India, due to various reasons. Availability of hard wood in India is limited. Import of wood from Myanmar is banned. FII is in India since five years, mainly to popularise sustainable wood. Of late, there is a trend to build houses with wood in India.”

“There is a growing awareness of the relationship between human health and environment. But, most of them are temporary structures, mostly in the holiday and hospitality sectors. Thus, we saw a potential in building permanent houses using wood,” he said.

Peter Bradfield, technical advisor, FII, said, “We partnered with PTA in manufacturing furniture a couple of years ago. We found a worthy partner in PTA, when we planned WFC houses. Our focus is quality — both finishing and durability. Our houses will last 60 to 100 years, depending on the maintenance. Except for the base, made of concrete, the entire house is built of wood. Steel is used only in fittings.”

Eco-responsible wood

Nirmala Thomas, market development, FII, said, “FII is a crown agency of the government of British Columbia (BC) in Canada. Its mandate is to promote wood products from BC and to position it as a global supplier of quality, environmentally responsible wood products from sustainably managed forests, by creating awareness, spreading education through information and technical support on the variety of timber products available from BC. Its brand ‘Canadian Wood’ was established in 2013.”

“Wood framing is based on optimising building materials to produce wood framed buildings with lower material and labour costs. The house is adaptable to all climates, ranging from hot and humid to extremely cold climates. It is able to meet or exceed code-established levels of fire safety and sound control. It can withstand extreme wind and earthquake loads,” said Peter Bradfield.

India Wood Show

Vagh said, “The present WFC house took four months to build as it was a pilot project. It cost around Rs 4,250 per square feet. The construction time might come down to 10 weeks soon. We are training our artisans, carpenters and technicians to execute more similar projects. We are almost done with a similar house to be exhibited in India Wood Show, scheduled to be held from February 27 to March 2 at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre on Tumkur Road in Bengaluru".