Overview
Glue-laminated timber (GLT) and nail-laminated timber (NLT) floor and wall assemblies have been used for more than a century. Both long-lived buildings such as the nine-storey Landing Building (1905) in Vancouver and contemporary structures like UBC's Centre for Interactive Research in Sustainability use diaphragms of dimension lumber-on-edge for their floor assemblies. In addition to being used in floors, decks and roofs, nail-lam or glulam mass timber panels are now used for the timber elevator and stair shafts in BC's six-storey, light-wood frame residential mid-rise apartment buildings. The product also offers the advantage of being fabricated in controlled environments based on certified manufacturing standards.
Our GLT Procurement Process
We procure GLT from several North American producers, coordinating volume and quality requirements for each project. Machining and milling of holes is sometimes performed at the producer's plant based on our carefully detailed fabrication drawings and CNC machine files, and the product is shipped straight to site. Other times the panels are shipped to our shop for further fitting of steel connections to speed up site erection.
Our involvement
StructureCraft procures GLT from North American producers and coordinates machining, connection fitting, delivery, and erection requirements.
Advantages
- Structural performance - similar to NLT
- High quality surface finishes can be pre-applied
Considerations
- Limited in panel width (max 4’ wide from NA suppliers)
- Requires more labour on site
- Less dimensionally stable
- Contains adhesives
- Requires plywood diaphragm
