{"id":31487,"date":"2025-07-23T19:03:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T02:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/mass-timber-could-combat-germs-in-hospital-settings\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T19:03:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T02:03:57","slug":"mass-timber-could-combat-germs-in-hospital-settings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/mass-timber-could-combat-germs-in-hospital-settings\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass timber could combat germs in hospital settings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?500116090725\" alt=\"-\"><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">3 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dmgi9movl\/video\/upload\/q_1\/v1753278588\/news\/text_to_speech\/mass-timber-could-combat-germs-in-hospital-settings_wf9qwa.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"standard-heading\"><span><span><span><span><span>Dive Brief:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/news.uoregon.edu\/content\/using-mass-timber-could-elevate-wood-hospital-construction\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Mass timber may have antimicrobial<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> benefits that could make it useful for hospital construction, according to a recent study from the University of Oregon.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>The research team found that when wood was exposed to a brief wetting, it tested lower for levels of bacterial abundance than an empty plastic enclosure used as a control.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cPeople generally think of wood as unhygienic in a medical setting,\u201d said Mark Fretz, assistant professor, co-director of the University of Oregon\u2019s Institute for Health in the Built Environment and principal investigator for the study. \u201cBut wood actually transfers microbes at a lower rate than other less porous materials such as stainless steel.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"standard-heading\"><span><span><span><span><span>Dive Insight:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The experiments are the first to explore relationships between microbial communities on the surfaces of cross-laminated timber, a key mass timber component, and the emission of volatile organic compounds under dry and wetted conditions, said Gwynne Mhuireach, a University of Oregon research assistant professor, in the news release.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cWe wanted to explore how mass timber would stand up to the everyday rigors of healthcare settings,\u201d said Mhuireach in the release. \u201cIn hospitals and clinics, germs are always present and surfaces occasionally get wet.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The study \u2014 which also incorporated researchers from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego \u2014 sealed blocks of CLT in disinfected plastic boxes to create a microenvironment with carefully controlled temperature and humidity, according to the news release. To simulate a healthcare setting, air was filtered and exchanged at rates similar to hospital codes.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The team sprayed the blocks with tap water under three types of events \u2014 just once, every day for a week and daily over four weeks \u2014 and inoculated them with a cocktail of microbes commonly found in hospitals, according to the news release. They used an empty plastic box as control, and took samples over a four-month period.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The results of the study, which was supported by a Wood Innovations grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, indicated wood is effective at inhibiting bacteria and revealed clues about wetting that will inform future research and development, Mhuireach said in the news release.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Additionally, the empty plastic control box had greater viable microbial abundance than the wood samples, excluding the first 14 days after inoculation, per the news release.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Wood can release compounds called terpenes, many of which smell pleasant and inhibit microbial growth, per the release. Its ability to inhibit the spread of pathogens may also stem from pores that trap bacteria or antimicrobial chemical compounds that occur naturally, said Fretz.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The emissions of VOCs \u2014 chemicals that spread quickly in the air and are responsible for diverse odors \u2014 also plateaued after wetting, Mhuireach said, which the team interpreted as a slight increase compared to an overall downward trend.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Already, mass timber is being put to use on a hospital build in Canada. The new Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital in Picton, Ontario, will be North America\u2019s first un-encapsulated mass timber hospital once it\u2019s complete, according to a <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pecmhf.ca\/rooted-in-care-mass-timber-construction-takes-centre-stage-in-new-prince-edward-county-memorial-hospital-build\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>news release from Quinte Health<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, the hospital network of which PECMH is a part.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>That example aside, exposed wood is rarely used in healthcare facilities, Fretz said, due in part to strict building codes that are slow to evolve. Another reason is widespread misperceptions about wood and pathogens, an aspect the researchers hope to change.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/mass-timber-hospital-germs-university-oregon\/753806\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Dive &#8230; <a title=\"Mass timber could combat germs in hospital settings\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/mass-timber-could-combat-germs-in-hospital-settings\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Mass timber could combat germs in hospital settings\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}