Glulam construction has quickly become the industry standard in cabin features such as energy efficiency, durability and weather resistance. Stricter green building standards in many nations have led more and more builders to opt for this material over concrete construction.
To avoid damage when handling glulam bundles, it’s essential to use the appropriate equipment and to lift from their centre rather than their ends.
Glulam Beams
Glulam timber is an engineered wood product consisting of several separate pieces of lumber bonded together using strong adhesives, creating an adaptable structural design material. Architects and builders appreciate its flexibility for building assignments as it allows them to craft unique structures while remaining visually appealing – which explains its widespread utilization in construction projects.
Glulam structures are popular with architects and builders due to their dimensional precision, making them fast and cost-efficient at creating high-quality buildings quickly with minimal effort. When compared with other building materials, glulam provides superior strength and durability as well as energy-efficiency, producing less waste in its production compared to others making glulam an eco-friendly choice suitable for sustainable building assignments.
Engineering professionals and manufacturers can use glulam manufacturing to quickly produce long, structural members with optimal sectional profiles. Unlike concrete columns that require reinforcing bars for strength criteria, glulam columns can be designed based on strength criteria alone and quickly assembled on site for faster construction times and reduced labor costs.
A key advantage of glulam is its resilience against various types of stresses, surpassing concrete columns in this regard. More specifically, glulam can withstand compression, shear force, bending and twisting without failing. As with all materials however, glulam must be carefully handled in order to preserve its integrity for structural use.
Gulam columns should be stored away from direct sunlight and kept out of direct contact with the ground, and stored in a dry and cool area until they’re time to be installed.
Preservative treatment and drying before installation are also key in prolonging their longevity and preventing structural defects caused by fluctuations in moisture content.
When selecting a glulam supplier, it is crucial to take into account their experience and number of completed projects. Furthermore, their reputation should include quality products with superior customer service, as well as providing detailed drawings and specifications for each project. This will allow clients to better understand how construction happens while also helping prevent errors during installation phase.
Structural Beams
Glulam (cross-laminated timber, CLT or X-lam) is an engineered wood product designed specifically to bear weight. Glulam is commonly seen in public buildings and halls as well as more specialist uses like bridges; its usage in high-rise apartment blocks and other forms of commercial buildings has seen an exponential increase.
Glulam beams are typically produced by cutting lengths of sawn spruce or pine (Pinus sylvestris) timber and bonding them using a water-resistant phenolic adhesive such as melamine-urea-formaldehyde glue to bind them together under high pressure and temperature, leaving an extremely strong and stiff beam as a result.
Due to its nature, glulam may pose the possibility of having some laminates with reduced strength – typically those at the edges where stresses are highest.
Risk can also be mitigated through industrial production and stringent quality control measures that ensure all elements manufactured meet industry specifications, with preservative treatment prior to shipment to site.
Unfortunately, despite rigorous manufacturing processes, issues may still arise on site. According to Hyne Laminated Timber Projects’ business development manager Robert Mansell, these typically arise when not following the detailed storage and handling instructions in their technical data sheets supplied by their glulam supplier. Notching of beam bottom edge edges; incorrect end support fixings which cause splitting; cutting holes for services are among some of the more frequent issues experienced during onsite construction projects.
Avoiding such issues requires carefully following the storage and installation instructions provided with a glulam. These must always be strictly observed to minimise damage and ensure it is installed correctly.
Problems associated with glulam can also arise from improper selection of fasteners and anchorage points, leading to stress concentrations on connection plates which could ultimately lead to its collapse. Therefore, it is crucial that compatible fasteners be carefully tested to ensure compatibility with specific structural applications by an experienced check engineer.
Structural Columns
Glulam can be utilized for numerous structural applications in construction due to its strength and flexibility. Pre-cambering helps counteract dead load deflections in timber structures, and thin laminations allow architects to design complex forms. Furthermore, metal components may also be utilized together with Glulam to form ultralight high performance structures.
One important best installation practice for glulam columns is to ensure they are correctly located on site, with primary wind loads acting in a direction toward their strong axis rather than forcing force towards its weak axis. Failure to do this may reduce their bending capacity significantly and it is also essential that they are appropriately sized to handle design loads, and treated appropriately preservative treatments are applied as required.
One key best practice for glulam columns is protecting them from adverse weather conditions. Covering them and wrapping them until installation in the building can decrease the risk of checking or moisture movement, and reduce jobsite storage needs. Furthermore, scheduling delivery schedules to reduce jobsite storage needs further while limiting direct exposure of glulam members to hot/dry/winter climates that might accelerate or delay changes to moisture content in wood members.
If a structure requires precision in aligning and plumbing glulam columns, tools like laser levels or tape measures can help installers ensure that columns are perfectly positioned and left the appropriate distance away from bearing walls of buildings. By using laser levels for verification purposes during assembly, any errors made can be avoided and potentially save cost and time-intensive consequences during their erection process.
In this study, two load-bearing columns built using different building materials – glulam and concrete – are compared. The comparison takes into account structural dimensions, cost estimates and greenhouse gas emission factors.
Structural Posts
Glulam columns are a crucial element of timber frame construction. They provide stability to a building while withstanding significant loads without suffering damage or compromise to their integrity. As such, proper installation of these glulam columns must be carried out for their safety and durability; there are various best practices that can assist with this goal.
Idealistically, glulam columns should be installed with concrete footings to support their weight, especially larger glulam columns that may require larger load-bearing capacities. Furthermore, concrete footings provide moisture and insect protection and tend to be cheaper than steel or wooden options.
Assembling a glulam column requires using specific tools and techniques. Doing so can reduce risk to product and improve its overall quality; for instance, having a laser level on hand for precise measurements such as aligning columns to wall lines or verifying plumbness of columns is extremely useful.
Eurodita uses glued laminated timber (Glulam) in their log cabin construction, providing numerous benefits. Glulam wood is an eco-friendly choice and can be recycled again and again; moreover, Eurodita’s commitment to using ethically harvested forests ensures this commitment.
Thus, their cabins are not only eye-catching in appearance but also offer superior strength, insulation, and can endure harsh weather conditions such as snowfall or sunlight – making them the ideal solution for creating multipurpose spaces.
Eurodita’s wooden buildings use premium materials as well as modern finishes and insulation systems that adapt to meet modern living’s ever-evolving demands, such as increased storage needs or the integration of greener elements. All these elements combine to ensure Eurodita wooden buildings can remain flexible to adapt with changing lifestyle needs in modern living.
