GAB Report event briefing

Building Bigger with Light-Frame: Heights, Areas and Critical Details

  • DateDec 8, 2026 · 12:00 pm GMT-0800
  • FormatVirtual

About the event

This regional online seminar examines strategies to maximize the scale and density of light-frame wood structures, highlighting Type III and Type V construction. Participants will review underutilized building code provisions related to allowable heights, floor areas, sprinklers, frontage increases, and podium configurations. The technical session then addresses common design, detailing, and permitting obstacles. Core focus areas include interior and exterior wall assemblies, firewalls, fire barriers, fire partitions, continuous fire resistance, and structural intersections with rated elements. The material provides practical guidance for teams aiming to design compliant, efficient, and higher-density wood buildings.

What you’ll learn

  • Evaluate construction type, occupancy, allowable height and area, and other code considerations that influence the size and configuration of mid-rise light-frame wood buildings that support code compliance.
  • Identify opportunities to maximize building height and area through provisions for sprinklers, frontage, podiums, mezzanines, sloping sites to determine how allowable building height and area can be achieved while maintaining required fire and life safety protections.
  • Distinguish code requirements for common interior and exterior wall conditions, including firewalls, fire barriers, fire partitions, and fire-resistance-rated exterior walls that support occupant safety.
  • Apply fire-resistance and continuity requirements at floor, roof, and structural intersections to develop compliant details that maintain the integrity of required fire-resistance-rated assemblies in light-frame wood buildings.

Attendance notes

WoodWorks will send each attendee a certificate of completion within 2 weeks via email. Attendees must stay for the duration of the event to receive a certificate.


Keep exploring

More events worth your time

Sep 29

Virtual

BECC Webinar

This online session reviews field findings from the Behavior, Energy, Action and Research Hub launched by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. While behavioral scientists propose numerous concepts to encourage climate-friendly decisions, real-world adoption remains limited. Attendees will examine how practical…

Sep 29

Virtual

Early Design Decisions for Mass Timber Success

This regional online seminar from WoodWorks explores the essential early design choices needed to deliver cost-effective mass timber structures. Speaker Hamid Kaboli examines why applying traditional building approaches to non-commodity mass timber often creates unnecessary price premiums. Participants will examine how foundational…

Sep 30

Virtual

Realizing Mass Timber’s Benefits: Key Design Decisions and Carbon Analysis

This WoodWorks technical seminar explores critical early-stage design decisions necessary to avoid price premiums and optimize mass timber building projects. Using completed projects as case studies, the session addresses key considerations including construction types, structural fire ratings, column grids, panel spans, acoustics,…