Glued laminated timber: main advantages and disadvantages

Many families dream of living in an eco-friendly wooden house. The modern market offers three types of timber buildings: frame houses; log cabins; houses from glued or profiled timber. Each technology has its own pros and cons. Frameworks receive the most complaints and there are many reasons for this phenomenon: from non-compliance with technology to the use of low-quality materials. Profiled beams are criticized because they are cold. Log buildings seem to be the most reliable in the eyes of the layman. But what about glued beams, how does it stand out from this series? Let's take a look at this material.

Briefly about technology

The technology for the production of laminated veneer lumber provides for forced drying of wood to the optimum moisture content of 12%. This is followed by leveling the surface of the board, which reveals the hidden defects of the wood. After that, the extraction of obvious defects is carried out: knots, voids, rot, cracked sections of the board. And after sorting, the defect-free boards are glued together. At the final stage, the spliced lamellas are ground.

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Why was glued laminated timber created?

Each material does not appear spontaneously, but has a clear purpose. Here and glued laminated timber is endowed with its mission, which is to minimize the disadvantages inherent in wood. That is, it can be called an ideal tree.

Benefits

Glued laminated timber is a multi-component material. It is the multicomponent composition that compensates for the main disadvantages of wood. The main advantage is minimal deformation, which should provide the house with a slight shrinkage. And this is really so: the walls of houses made of laminated veneer lumber do not walk and do not breathe, as, for example, the walls of a log house. After all, forced-dried wood is more stable.

Another achievement is the minimization of cold bridges, which are obtained when cracks occur. Simply put: the crack will not become a through gap and if it appears in one board, then the bridge of cold that has arisen for this reason will rest against another, whole board. This factor significantly improves the thermal performance of the material.

It is worth highlighting the fast erection of houses from a bar, as well as a thorn-groove system, which does not require complex insulation work, as it should be done with the same log house. And there is also no need to wait for the shrinkage of the structure: after the construction of the building, you can immediately proceed to finishing work.

The aesthetics of the material cannot be ignored: the glued laminated timber has a smooth surface and an attractive structure. It can be simply covered with transparent protective compounds both inside and outside - it pleases the eye and warms the soul, because the look of natural wood is associated with the purity of nature.

May raise doubts

Although glued laminated timber is natural wood, there is glue in it. Naturally, manufacturers assure that it is completely safe, and if they use adhesives in the production according to GOST 33122-2014, it is. If the manufacturer uses some other adhesives to reduce the cost of production, they can emit toxic substances. And such, believe me, there are.

There are compounds for gluing wood:

safe - FC0;
potentially dangerous - FC1;
dangerous - FC2.

The latter type is strictly prohibited for use in residential premises. Here you can't guess what the manufacturer is using.

disadvantages

The global disadvantage of this material is its low thermal insulation qualities. This defect is inherent in any wood, not only laminated veneer lumber. In general, talk about warm wooden houses can be attributed to the category of bearded tales. The wood is cold and even though glued laminated timber is a tree with a minimum set of disadvantages, it does not add heat to the house.

An exception in wooden housing construction can be a frame. But it should be understood that this is not a completely wooden house and its walls to increase the thermal insulation qualities are filled with insulation, on top of which there is wind and moisture protection, and from the inside is installed vapor barrier.

It can't be cheap

To make a house made of laminated veneer lumber warm, you need to make the walls thicker, and the thicker the wall, the more expensive it is. If you make the wall thinner, you should be prepared for high heating bills. Glued laminated timber, for all its apparent simplicity, can safely claim the proud title of premium material. The math is simple: the production of one cubic meter of timber takes one and a half cubic meters of board, and it still needs to be dried, processed and glued with an expensive glue.

A house made of this material cannot be economical; this should be understood when deciding to buy a cheap home. If there are proposals on the market in style: warm, beautiful, environmentally friendly and inexpensive - they should be avoided. This also applies to profiled beams.

How do you feel about laminated veneer lumber? Write in the comments!

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