Light steel framing for residential buildings

Building systems with light steel members, gypsum plasterboards and mineral wool have a wide spread use in the US, Australia and Japan and are gaining market in some European countries. The systems have often load-bearing walls and the floors may be of lightweight steel profiles or concrete. Such systems are suited for industrial production and can contribute to a more efficient building process. Examples of components and systems are given in the paper. For low and medium rise buildings it is natural to use the walls as stabilising for horizontal loads from wind and imperfections. In Sweden and Finland this has been common practice for single-family timber houses since the 1970s. The paper describes the traditional design model for walls with single-layer gypsum plasterboards and an extension to double layers, which are needed for fire protection in multi-storey buildings.