Life-cycle assessment of a single-family timber house

Abstract

This paper aims to produce a “cradle-to-cradle” life-cycle assessment for a singlefamily timber house, prefabricated in northern Portugal, to be assembled in Paris area, France. The three-story building has concrete foundations and basement. Above ground level, all the structure is made of solid wood and OSB panels, with gypsum board finishing on the inside and red cedar wood on the outside. All the thermal insulation is made of rockwool. The tool used for the life-cycle assessment was GaBi software and extensive databases from several sources, including data supported directly from the building manufacturer. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is performed in order to identify the most influent parameters in the life cycle analysis.