How to Navigate the AWI Quality Standards

The AWI Standards are a set of best practices in the architectural woodworking industry. These standards are published by the Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI) to ensure that woodworkers, design professionals, tradespeople, and general contractors maintain quality across all projects.

AWI’s Quality Certification Program (QCP) uses these woodwork industry standards, as well as the updates that AWI has made to these standards in line with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), to establish expectations and quality assurance tools for industries and professionals associated with interior architectural woodwork projects. The current set of new AWI Standards include: AWI 100, AWI 200, AWI 300, ANSI/AWI 0621 and ANSI/AWI 0641 (more on each of these standards below). They cover various aspects of professional woodworking, such as quality of materials, finish carpentry, and architectural wood casework.

How to Use the Standards

AWI is transitioning their standards from the Architectural Woodwork Standards (AWS) to these new standards as they complete the required ANSI process). The Quality Certification Program (QCP) enforces these standards in woodworking projects around the world. The new standards as whole are referenced as the “AWI Standards”

The AWI Standards are primarily based on the Architectural Woodwork Standards (AWS), and are enforced by the AWI Quality Certification Program (QCP) in woodworking projects around the world. and cover standards related to submittals, storage, materials, finish, carpentry, casework, and millwork. The importance of the AWI Standards is that they set a minimum quality baseline for woodwork projects. This baseline also serves as the reference for a woodworking firm to earn a QCP license.

To help you understand how the AWI Standards evolved from AWS, the standards are transitioning, we’ve created a standards roadmap that explains the journey. from the AWS to the AWI current AWI Standards.

Purpose of Each AWI Standard

AWI 100 – Submittal: Provides common ground or standards for shop drawings to provide consistent communication of various aspects of the project, like shop drawings and material data and construction methods.
AWI 200 – Care & Storage: Provides standards on how to best protect architectural woodwork and interior finishes in regard to environmental conditions . It also has post-delivery standards, such as humidity requirements.
AWI 300 – Materials: Provides a well-defined level of control on the quality of materials and workmanship, including defining the level of natural characteristics permitted, which has bearing on the performance and appearance of the final products.
ANSI/AWI 0400 – Factory Finishing: Provides standardized objective criteria for the evaluation of the performance and aesthetic attributes of finish technologies applied to architectural woodwork and related interior products.
ANSI/AWI 0620 – Finish Carpentry/Installation: Provides a basis for the quality of the field installation of architectural woodwork and other related interior finishes.
ANSI/AWI 0641 – Architectural Wood Casework: Specifies the minimum aesthetics and performance requirements for casework projects. It also delineates the degree of control regarding the quality of materials and workmanship
ANSI/AWI SMA 0643 – Wood Stair, Handrail, and Guard Systems: Establishes minimum aesthetic and performance requirements intended to provide a well-defined degree of control over a project’s quality of materials and workmanship for the manufacture of wood stair, handrail, and guard systems.
ANSI/AWI 1232 – Manufactured Wood Casework: Establishes minimum aesthetic and performance requirements intended to provide a well-defined degree of control over a project’s quality of materials and workmanship for Manufactured Wood Casework.
ANSI/AWI 1236 – Countertops: Establishes minimum aesthetic and performance requirements intended to provide a well-defined degree of control over a project’s quality of materials and workmanship for the manufacture of countertops.

Scope

AWI 100 – Submittal: Mainly covers the requirements for shop drawings, such as material listing, construction details including veneer layout.
AWI 200 – Care & Storage: Primarily covers the environmental conditions for installation and what should be maintained following install and project completion.
AWI 300 – Materials: Covers specifications on lumber, panel cores, and panel surfaces, as well as other related materials.
ANSI/AWI 0400 – Factory Finishing: Covers factory application of finish technologies to architectural woodwork and related interior finishes.
ANSI/AWI 0620 – Finish Carpentry/Installation: Addresses installation of wood trim, paneling, casework, integrated door systems, countertops, and other related interior finishes
ANSI/AWI 0641 – Architectural Wood Casework: Covers the aesthetic and performance standards for casework products that are designed for specific construction projects., but excludes installation.
ANSI/AWI SMA 0643 – Wood Stair, Handrail, and Guard Systems: Provides aesthetic and performance standards for the manufacture and installation of interior wood stair, handrail, and guard systems for residential and commercial applications, including guard in-fill system components of metal, glass, and cable.
ANSI/AWI 1232 – Manufactured Wood Casework: Provides aesthetic and performance standards for Product designed and manufactured/supplied for specific construction projects. Such casework is typically produced in stock incremental measurements and typically available by manufacturer/supplier’s product line catalog.
ANSI/AWI 1236 – Countertops: Provides aesthetic and performance standards for various countertop materials including but not limited to plastic-laminate clad (decorative laminate/HPDL), solid surface, epoxy resin, natural and engineered stone, solid and veneered wood, and solid phenolic.

Requirements

AWI 100 – Submittal: The drawings shall provide information to fully convey the provider’s intent for materials, construction and installation to meet the project requirements. The original contract and architectural drawings serve as the basis for compliance verification.
AWI 200 – Care & Storage: These standards provide architectural woodworking professionals with the requirements for environmental controls to ensure the longevity of the final products.
AWI 300 – Materials: The requirements here are mainly material rules that are required to meet the required aesthetic grades of premium, custom, and economy.
ANSI/AWI 0400 – Factory Finishing: The main requirements are related to aesthetic performance.
ANSI/AWI 0620 – Finish Carpentry/Installation: Specifies the requirements for installation in terms of documented instructions or lack thereof, color and grain matching, and tolerances for gaps, flushness and alignment.
ANSI/AWI 0641 – Architectural Wood Casework: The main requirements are related to performance duty levels and aesthetic performance.
ANSI/AWI SMA 0643 – Wood Stair, Handrail, and Guard Systems: The requirements for this standard cover performance duty levels and aesthetic performance, as well as approaches to fabrication and installation.
ANSI/AWI 1232 – Manufactured Wood Casework: Specifies requirements for performance duty level and aesthetic performance.
ANSI/AWI 1236 – Countertops: The main requirements are related to performance duty levels and aesthetic performance across a wide range of countertop materials.