Ends, Faces, and Sides: Wednesday's Word(s) Of The Week

Glulam members can have three distinct types of exposed surfaces and it can be useful to refer to them as Ends, Faces, and Sides. Member ends are typically the smallest surfaces, where a member is cut across the wood grain structure. Growth rings and glue lines both will be clearly visible. Member ends left exposed to view are typically avoided. It is advised to protect ends from weather or other sources of moisture whenever possible, as the end grain is most open to moisture transfer.

Faces refer to member surfaces covered by a single, solid ply. This is the "wide face of laminations." On normally installed beams (with horizontal plies), the top and bottom surfaces of the beam are its faces.

Sides of glulam members refer to surfaces where the edges of laminations and gluelines are both visible. These are literally the sides of normally installed beams. For glulam columns, two of the vertical surfaces will be faces and two will be sides.

*Wednesday's Word Of The Week is a feature on Unalam's Wood Times Blog. Each Wednesday our structural engineer, Rik Vandermeulen, will discuss a new term associated with glulam manufacturing. He will do this until we run out of words. If there is a timber or glulam term that you have heard of and want to know more about, let us know in the comments.