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As Mass Timber Takes Off, How Green Is This New Building Material?

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Re: As Mass Timber Takes Off, How Green Is This New Building Material?

#2
The correct term is CLT (cross laminated timber). A big chunk of Katerra’s recent big financing is to pay for CLT factories.

The cool thing about CLT is that it can be “printed” in arbitrary shapes and sizes in a factory setting and shipped to construction sites for rapid assembly. Structurally it can replace steel/concrete in a certain range of structures.

The potential for automation and mass customization is absent from the article and the most exciting aspect of CLT.

Factory prefabrication may also be a way to reduce construction costs and schedules in expensive areas like SF.

Re: As Mass Timber Takes Off, How Green Is This New Building Material?

#3
I would like to know more about the long term stability of the glues involved and how the entire structure as a whole decays / fails over what timeframes under what exposures.

Most other building materials in use today, the actual core structural elements, have withstood the test of centuries of use and are well proven and stable technologies.

Re: As Mass Timber Takes Off, How Green Is This New Building Material?

#4

The correct term is CLT (cross laminated timber). A big chunk of Katerra’s recent big financing is to pay for CLT factories. The cool thing about CLT is that it can be “printed” in arbitrary shapes and sizes in a factory setting and shipped to construction sites for rapid assembly. Structurally it can replace steel/concrete in a certain range of structures. The potential for automation and mass customization is absen…

Im certainly no expert, but as far as terminology, mass timber seems to be a category that includes CLT as well as others:

>Katerra's mass timber product line will include cross laminated timber (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (glulam) at both architectural and industrial appearance grades.

https://www.katerra.com/en/what-we-do/products/mass-timber-p...

> Explore the supply chain for cross-laminated timber (CLT), nail-laminated timber, glulam beams and panels, mass plywood panels, dowel-laminated timber, and laminated veneer lumber; and the opportunities and obstacles for mass timber in global manufacturing and construction.

https://www.masstimberconference.com/

Re: As Mass Timber Takes Off, How Green Is This New Building Material?

#5
post #3

I would like to know more about the long term stability of the glues involved and how the entire structure as a whole decays / fails over what timeframes under what exposures. Most other building materials in use today, the actual core structural elements, have withstood the test of centuries of use and are well proven and stable technologies.

There is a lot of good information here: https://www.swedishwood.com/about_wood/about-glulam/

Re: As Mass Timber Takes Off, How Green Is This New Building Material?

#6

The correct term is CLT (cross laminated timber). A big chunk of Katerra’s recent big financing is to pay for CLT factories. The cool thing about CLT is that it can be “printed” in arbitrary shapes and sizes in a factory setting and shipped to construction sites for rapid assembly. Structurally it can replace steel/concrete in a certain range of structures. The potential for automation and mass customization is absen…

Came here to say this, I've heard it called 'glue lam' also.

Who the hell thought up the mass timber name though?! That just says to me a solid (mass) of unengineered wood.

Re: As Mass Timber Takes Off, How Green Is This New Building Material?

#7
post #3

I would like to know more about the long term stability of the glues involved and how the entire structure as a whole decays / fails over what timeframes under what exposures. Most other building materials in use today, the actual core structural elements, have withstood the test of centuries of use and are well proven and stable technologies.

Centuries? Reinforced concrete is 150 years old, steel frame construction a little less so.

Re: As Mass Timber Takes Off, How Green Is This New Building Material?

#9

The correct term is CLT (cross laminated timber). A big chunk of Katerra’s recent big financing is to pay for CLT factories. The cool thing about CLT is that it can be “printed” in arbitrary shapes and sizes in a factory setting and shipped to construction sites for rapid assembly. Structurally it can replace steel/concrete in a certain range of structures. The potential for automation and mass customization is absen…

Mass timber technique goes beyond engineered wood. It can be simply piles of wood. I saw an architect’s own residence built entirely from sawn timber and pegs. It is also consider a mass timber structure. Engineered wood products may help span large distances and things like that but it seems like the category “mass timber” requires mainly the use of wood where previously one might have used another material, and the use of simply more wood instead of cavities. It is really the opposite of wood frame construction.

Re: As Mass Timber Takes Off, How Green Is This New Building Material?

#10
post #8

Bigger question, how fire inspection ever cleared a wooden highrise?

Wooden houses catch fire relatively easily because they're made of many small pieces of wood. Larger, monolithic pieces of wood are considerably less flammable. (Imagine trying to start a campfire with a single log.)
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