Much is made of the breakthroughs in new kinds of lumber to put up new home with bigger spaces and fancy benefits for homeowners, but there are still some unsung materials used in homebuilding — sheet goods and the metal which keeps everything together.

While lumber, both engineered and dimensional is used for the skeleton of a new home, sheet goods provide the important skin that keeps the frame secure. The two important types of sheet goods are oriented strand board (OSB) and plywood. Each can help keep down the shrinking and swelling of the home and are versatile enough to be used on the exterior of the home, the sub floor and the interior walls.

“I pay a lot of attention to lateral movement,” says home building expert Tom Silva. “On a windy day, I don’t want a house to even creak once.”

Tying it all together, the muscle on the bone is metal. Where homebuilders really want to add strength to an area, they put in metal connectors, very often in tight spaces where wood is meeting wood. With a metal connector in place, wood’s power to hold up a load on a house is dramatically increased.

When space is a premium, for instance, a ½-inch piece of steel between two pieces of wood can hold more of a load than the wood alone. This is called a flitch beam. As Silva says, “Sometimes every inch counts.”

There are other smaller connectors that are just as important for pulling the framing of a house together. Pieces like joist hangers, rafter ties, and flat connectors can turn the spots where wood meets into tight, strong joints. For some homes in certain areas of the country this has become a necessity.

Many local building codes require that homebuilders use hurricane-rated ties to protect a homeowner’s property against high winds and such. But that extra precaution, no matter where it is used, can be a benefit. Because if high-tech ties are used with high quality framing materials, the result will be a home any builder or owner can be proud of, as it’s going to hold up for years and years to come.