11–20 of 83 posts
Bigger question, how fire inspection ever cleared a wooden highrise?
Bigger question, how fire inspection ever cleared a wooden highrise?
Also sprinklers.
Bigger question, how fire inspection ever cleared a wooden highrise?
A friend of mine lives in one of these (Treet in Bergen, built using glu-lam), from what I remember it’s covered in fire-retardant coating, and has lots of sensors and sprinklers. And pretty strict rules (no BBQ of any kind on the roof terrace, etc).
Edit: have a look here, google translated (sorry) https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&...
> - When glulam structures begin to burn, a layer of coal is formed on the outside of the wood and the fire goes out. All wood surfaces are painted with fire paint and there are outlets for extinguishing water on each floor. There is sprinkling in apartments, in corridors, on balconies, over the ceiling and in the garage facility. The apartments are also approved in fire class EI90, says Kleppe.
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.
Laminated plywood has been used for a long time (70's?), and has been used as cross bracing on timber framed houses. There's also all the sorts of chipboard which although aren't structural are glued. So I suppose there's a fairly long history there with glued timbers. Its the usage as multi storey buildings that is new I guess.
Edit: apparently plywood was first made in 1797 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plywood, wow
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.
Apparently CLT and gluelam are different methods of engineering wood: in CLT the boards are laminated in cross-frames (so one layer is laid north-south and the next is east-west) to improve structural resistance across non-longitudinal orientations; while for gluelam all layers have the same orientation so the end-result is closer in behaviour to regular sold timber.
In favor of this regardless. Wood is so much more pleasant on the eyes, and creating an incentive for huge sustainable forests is an awesome thing any way you look at it. But unless I'm missing something, framing this as something that could effectively mitigate against increasing emissions seems to be misleading.
Would this not be just another form of kicking the can? In particular once these buildings are demolished and replaced with new ones, I don't imagine that the old wood would (or even could) be reused. Instead it'd be sent to a landfill and decay at which point its stored carbon would be released. In favor of this regardless. Wood is so much more pleasant on the eyes, and creating an incentive for huge sustainable for…
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), nai…
CLT is the engineered product taking taking most of the limelight right now. It is only differentiated from glulam (glue laminated timber) by the layering. In CLT layers are perpendicular where glulam they are parallel. Glulam has been around a little longer and is more suited to posts and beams due to its linear nature where CLT is used for structural panels also.
There are also plenty of other less glamorous engineered timber products that have had a major impact in construction including timber I beams and OSB (Oriented Strand Board) panels.
If anyone is really interested in timber from forestry to bulding products I recommend looking at the Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture which is the only institution i know of that runs the gamut of forestry, environmental education, craft and furniture making, and wooden architecture
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.
I grew up in a cottage a couple of hundred years old, with thick walls built from stone and mortar. It's not unusual to live in a house that's over a century old in Europe.
I've also lived in a wooden house - more of a three room + toilet chalet, really. Biggest irritations were all the noises from thermal expansion in the summer, and the fact rats could eat their way in. I think it's a bit more effort to actively maintain wood and be sure it's in good condition than brick and concrete construction.
That cottage, btw - the roof had a wood frame, but it wasn't the original - that had burned down along with the thatch at least once, and been replaced some time before we moved in.