Glued laminated timber - technology for the production and construction of houses

How well this technology is developed, from production with a closed cycle of services up to turnkey construction, depends on such important parameters for the client as price-quality ratio of products, durability buildings, warranty and maintenance, ecology and appearance of the building, as well as the time of receipt of the finished set of parts and their assembly on the construction site. About what you should pay attention to in this construction technology when choosing a manufacturer and a contractor company - later in the article ...

Technology for the manufacture of glued beams

The technology for the production of glued laminated timber is approximately the same for all manufacturing companies, a little later we will get acquainted with our scheme, but for now we will just say that there are several very important nuances on which a lot depends.

Five nuances of glued laminated timber technology that affect quality

1. Quality, grade, type of wood. Too heterogeneous lamellas should not be found in one beam, otherwise this will lead to internal stress and, as a result, either deformation of the beam or cracks.
2. The direction of the annual rings in the lamellas should alternate and their density should be approximately the same.
3. Adhesives to be used – Adhesive substrates must comply with the current applicable Euro standards and the adhesive manufacturer must have a certificate of conformity to these standards.
4. Beam profile, types of cups, and the presence of gaskets. The shape of the profile of the wall beam and the cutting of the cup of the corner joint is a kind of visiting card of each manufacturer and is one of the most important "chips" in the technology of manufacturing glued laminated timber. The higher the quality of the timber, the less need for additional spacers between them. An exception is corner joints, where natural linen gaskets are used, since some nodes of a wooden structure must have a certain technological mobility (remember that the tree "breathes") without compromising the density of the joints ...
5. Thickness and number of lamellas. The size of the lamellas depends on the desired cross-section of the beam, the larger the cross-section of the beam, the larger the geometry of the lamella. The number of lamellas depends on the size of the section, they can be from 2 to 10. Their size should not be too small or disproportionate. For example, for sections 180x200mm and 200x200mm, their number usually does not exceed 5.

These statements may cause controversy among professional experienced production technologists, especially in the case of large sections (from 230-270mm), where the number of lamellas can reach 10 pieces, but the main principle is the more the number of lamellas and the smaller their size, the lower timber grade - remains true!

Do you know that: in order to get high-quality glued beams, a solid board is used for the outer lamellas, and only the inner ones are allowed to be glued, and the lamellas are glued together so that the annual rings are directed in different directions. This avoids the deformation that may be present due to the internal stress of the fibers, increasing the strength and moisture resistance of the entire part.

Summary of our manufacturing process.

Company "Modern Wooden Houses" uses coniferous wood (mainly Smereka spruce). At the enterprise, the process of production of glued laminated timber begins with sawing the logs into boards, and the boards are sawn into lamellas (beams). then the defective places found in natural wood are removed. Areas with blue and mold are also considered defective. After that, the lumber is loaded into the dryer. As soon as the wood dries up to a certain moisture content of 10-12%, it is sorted again, removing drying defects (cracks, knots, etc.). Dry lamellas are planed to the technological size, glued together and placed under a hydraulic press. After gluing, the timber is calibrated to the desired section and a profile is formed, and then cups are cut out on high-precision equipment according to the project. You can learn more about the production of glued laminated timberhere

The company "Modern Wooden Houses" offers a typical wall beam with a height of 160 mm, 180 mm, 200 mm (special order up to 270 mm), thickness from 100 mm to 200 mm, (special order 230-270 mm. Standard length 3 m, 4.5 m and 6 meters (over 6m special order)

Laminated timber practically does not need additional finishing, almost does not shrink, the speed and accuracy of assembly reaches a high level (cups are cut with an accuracy of 1 mm).

Laminated timber - construction technology, traditions against innovations...

Production of a high-quality house set from glued laminated timber is only half the battle! Speaking of house kits…

Everything changed with the advent of the era of computerization, when CAD-programs appeared compatible with the software of industrial woodworking equipment, capable of calculating the optimal log for any design solution. Now, the design section of the design documentation (wooden structures) could contain not only wooden load-bearing beams, a floor plan, a roof structure, but also a plan for laying logs for the whole house. Being able to lay out the wall into the number of logs, as well as take into account the places of window and door openings, a special program forms a set of parts for the cutting machine.

Photo of the stages of work from the preliminary design to the finished house of the company "Modern Wooden Houses"

This was a real breakthrough for the "glulam" building technology of our time, as it allowed not only to increase the speed of production and assembly of houses, but also to reduce the price of services by getting rid of unnecessary high-cost steps, while reducing the waste of expensive technological wood.

Today, the construction technology "glulam" is automated to the maximum. There is no longer a need to assemble a wooden house kit in production, as the machine cuts the parts according to a given project with high accuracy, and workers complete them along the walls. At the construction site, it remains only ONCE to assemble the structure, and the house is almost ready. All work on the assembly of wooden structures takes 1 month (sometimes it depends on the area and volume of the house), after which the roof is covered.

It is thanks to the development of this technology that a house made of glued laminated timber by Modern Wooden Houses has such advantages as:

• stable shape and geometry with minimal shrinkage (3-5% is real and not advertising figure...),
• minimal finishing (sanding and painting),
• glulam immunity to natural wood diseases (as well as full high-quality antiseptic treatment),
• the maximum possible environmental friendliness of all building materials (including the latest generation of adhesives and antiseptics used),
• - Possibility to move in IMMEDIATELY after the completion of construction without gaps for shrinkage and shrinkage as in houses of other wooden technologies.