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J UNE 2019 | 23 PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY STRUCTURECRAFT BUILDERS PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY BC WOOD WORKS! Engineered Wood Products Engineered wood products provide greater versatility in design by LAURIE JONES A s engineers, designers, and technology embrace the latest options in engineered wood products, stunning structures are defying traditional construction boundaries and creating wow factors across the country. StructureCraft Builders, a design-build subcontractor out of Abbotsford, B.C., is manufacturing Dowel Laminated Timber (DLT or DowelLam). "DLT is a one-way spanning panel that is made up from multiple laminations of dimensional lumber fastened together face-to- face," explains Gerald Epp Jr., business development engineer. "It's manufactured in a fast, mechanized process in which the boards are first milled then com- pressed together by a machine prior to dowelling. The moisture content differential between the softwood lumber and hardwood dowels will equilibrate over time, causing the already tight-fit dowels to expand and create a strong mechanical bond." Unique to DLT as a mass timber product, a wide variety of profiles can be inte- grated inexpensively into the bottom surface of the panel. "Each finger-jointed board goes through a moulder, allowing a limitless range of different profiles to be explored and exposed in the bottom of a panel, including high-performing acoustic profiles with insulation to absorb sound," says Epp. "Profiles are fully customizable to suit the performance and esthetic requirements of each project." No End To Creativity He adds that structurally, DLT is very efficient for floors and roofs since all the wood fibre runs in the primary span direction. "DLT panels can be produced up to 60-feet long and are typically eight-feet wide, although wider panels are available upon request." The Canadian Wood Council's program Wood WORKS! BC has been assist- ing with a number of projects that use engineered wood products, including cross-laminated timber (CLT) produced in B.C. "This access to engineered wood products has been a motivator for designing taller multi-unit residential wood buildings [mid-rise] as well as new building types in wood such as the three-storey Whistler Community Services Society building in B.C.," states Lynn Embury-Williams, executive director of Wood WORKS! BC. As the first retail building of its type in Canada, it features retail on the first floor, storage on the second floor, and offices on the third floor. "The CLT is all exposed, which makes for a warm environment. The building itself, being constructed with vertical CLT panels and a glulam post-and-beam interior frame, went up very quickly and the components are prefabricated off-site, so they are ready to go on arrival. I think this illustrates the potential of mass timber in a new building type and applications for this type of building system, which is highly repeatable, cost competitive, and have the added benefit of enhanced environmental performance." Askew's Foods, Salmon Arm, B.C. Whistler Community Services Society, Whistler, B.C. Dowel Laminated Timber one-way spanning panel. 9:07 AM

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