[Greenbuilding] Oak

[Lawrence Lile]

A guy was asking me offlist about using oak for beams cut onsite in
houses.  I seem to remember something on the list about problems with
beetles eating up the wood.  What about those oak log homes that
Gastineau and others make? Is this a real problem, and how is it dealt
with?  Is it a regional problem? Or just a wrongheaded code official
causing trouble?

I know of houses built 100+ years ago with rough sawn oak framing, they
are the only ones still standing, despite having foundations that are
just rocks set on the ground.  The pine-framed houses from the era all
died of termites already.  
 
 
Lawrence Lile, P.E., LEED AP