What could be better and more practical at home from a bar? Only a house made of glued beams. You yourself will understand how true this is after reading our article.
Pros and cons or let's reason sensibly
Let's start with the benefits. There are really a lot of them, and each deserves a separate place in the list:
- The increased durability. Glued beams are much stronger than solid wood. When gluing lamellas, the glue penetrates deep into the wood pores. This does not interfere with air exchange, but provides maximum strength.
- Lack of wood tension. The prefabricated glued beam technology prevents cracking and warping of products. When the finished boards are connected, the cuts are arranged so that the fibers are directed in different directions. In the future, this technique provides geometric stability to the beam.
- Improved thermal insulation, glued timber does not freeze. The thermal insulation index exceeds the characteristics of a solid wood.
- Possibility of producing structures of large length (up to 60 meters).
- Uniformity of structure. Selection of the best layers of wood eliminates the presence of knots, cracks and other defects inside the building material.
- Excellent chemical resistance. Glued laminated timber houses can even be used for storage of mineral fertilizers.
- Increased fire resistance. Compared to ordinary wood, glued beams better resist fires and are characterized by a low carbonization rate.
- Perfect for building houses for permanent residence.
- The shrinkage of the house from glued beams is minimal (no more than 1%), this allows you to start finishing work almost immediately after completion of construction. Due to minimal shrinkage, the turnkey construction time is much less than the construction time from a traditional timber.
Disadvantages
- The high price in comparison with the pro-thinned-out bar.
- Cons, mainly manifested in poor manufacturing. The dependence of the properties of glued beams on the quality of glue and feedstock. The use of low-grade components nullifies all the positive properties of the material.
- Lack of reliable information about the durability of glued beams. This technology is less than 50 years old, so we can only find out real numbers after half a century.
Which material is better: larch, cedar or pine?
In the production of the material can be used wood species:
- Pine;
- spruce;
- larch;
- cedar;
- fir.
The strength of the finished material depends on the type of wood: larch and cedar are distinguished by their elite quality, spruce is strong, but pine surpasses it, especially northern. Siberian cedar is the highest quality material for the production of glued beams in Russia, but its cost is significantly higher than pine products.
The most common is the production of pine glued beams, as it is available in many regions of Russia and is cheaper than from other types of wood.
Finnish beam - a recognized standard of quality
This is a very high quality material. In its production, the technological process always meets the highest requirements. When buying a Finnish glued beam, you can be sure that:
- For the manufacture of quality wood is selected. Any lot of building materials always has the same characteristics.
- Gluing is carried out in workshops where the required temperature and humidity are maintained all year round.
- Modern high-precision equipment is used. Sawing and milling are performed by automated lines.
- The technology is constantly being improved. Over the years, Finnish manufacturers have accumulated rich experience, which they successfully apply in practice.
Production
In the production of glued building timber, only specially selected logs are used. Bonding allowed middle layers. In the manufacturing process:
- dry boards (lamellas);
- reject and trim individual sections;
- glue the lamellas along the length until the desired size is obtained;
- apply a very thin layer of glue along the entire length of the workpieces and press them into the finished beam;
- plan and mill the products received.
What do they depend on prices?
Prices for glued timber are always higher than its usual counterpart (traditional timber) by about 50%. This is logical for several reasons:
- using only high-quality wood as a feedstock;
- the increased complexity of the process compared to traditional production;
- many times better quality characteristics of the material obtained.
On the Russian market, the cost of glued beams ranges from 18 to 25,000 rubles per cubic meter. The price of Finnish material is 20-30% higher.
When buying finished material, pay attention to:
- thickness and height, products with a higher height are more expensive, but have a more presentable appearance;
- absence of external defects on the surface (knots and cracks);
- grade of wood.
Summarize
Glue beam:
- strength comparable to stone and concrete;
- ideal for homes for year-round use;
- reduces turnkey construction time to 2 months.
- betrays the geometric stability of the structure;
- has low thermal conductivity.
All of the above indicates that glued beams are one of the best building materials for walling. The choice is yours - the result is obvious!
We offer to watch a video plot with an overview of the properties of the material: