Construction of wooden houses doubled last year in the Czech Republic

Brno - Last year, approximately 1500 wooden houses were built in the Czech Republic, which is about twice as many as in 2006. The increased construction of wooden buildings is primarily due to the emergence of younger generations, who are not afraid of unconventional materials when acquiring their own housing. This was stated today at the building fair in Brno by the Executive Director of the Wood for Life Foundation, Jan Řezáč.
    The higher demand for wooden buildings has also been influenced by the increase in VAT rates at the beginning of the year, which last year contributed to greater demand for housing in general. There is also a different approach from banks.
    "Banks have found out that wooden buildings are incredibly simple," said Řezáč. The construction of a wooden house is much faster than that of brick buildings, and according to Řezáč, this means a significant reduction in administration for banks.
     On average, 65 cubic meters of logs are used for one family house. "If we wanted to increase the share of wooden houses in total construction to 20 percent, the necessary wood would grow in the forests in less than a week. And if we wanted to build all family houses from wood, the forests would supply the wood in one month," Jiří Pohloudek from the foundation said at a press conference today.
    However, currently only four to five percent of all family houses are built from wood in the Czech Republic. For example, in Germany, the share of wooden buildings among family homes is seven percent, in Bavaria up to 70 percent, in Austria and Switzerland ten percent, and in the USA 60 percent. In Canada, wooden buildings account for up to 80 percent of housing.