Heavy Timber: Wednesday's Word(s) Of The Week

Building codes recognize five general Types of Construction, each with different restrictions on what types of materials can be used to build the structure as well as interior and exterior walls. They also specify how much protection from fire those elements need in various parts of the building. The code imposes limits on the height and size of each construction type. One of them, Type IV, is Heavy Timber Construction.

This building type recognizes the long history of predictable fire performance of buildings constructed of exposed, large wood components. It does not allow concealed spaces where fires could grow or be difficult to fight. As large wood parts are exposed to fire, their outer surface chars and insulates the interior, which maintains much of its original strength. Therefore, Heavy Timber members tend to remain standing during a fire, or give audible and visual warnings before failure.

Glulam structures qualify as Heavy Timber Construction as long as the columns, beams, and decking meet minimum floor and roof size requirements specified in the code. The majority of glulam members we produce meet these minimum size requirements.

*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.