Unique Purlins

 Most of the purlins we manufacture are pretty straight forward. They are glued like standard beams and receive an angled cut on the top to match the slope of the roof, like the ones stacked below.

Occasionally we make a rather odd shaped purlin. The one shown below requires a few extra steps.

First, it has a non-standard width of 12", which requires a combination layup. We use 2x6 and 2x8 material to achieve an even 12". Once the beam is glued and planed we need to plug between the plies on the exposed face of the purlin.

A gap  is routed out between the plies and a clear wooden plug is inserted. This helps the beam look like it was made from wider lam stock, rather than 2 different sizes.

Once the plug is glued and set we plane it down to match the finished depth of the rest of the beam. In the photo on the left you can see the green stripe running down the beam, that's the plug. This ensures that we don't miss one! 

After the plug is finished it is time to fabricate. In order to cut the shape we need from this billet we used very large circular saws. This allows us to get the angle we need to match the roof pitch in order for the decking to lay flat. The more narrow top of the beam will be used to support skylight framing.