Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/687429
J UNE 2016 | 39 Engineered Wood Products RENDERINGS COURTESY ACTON OSTRY ARCHITECTS + UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA; STRUCTURLAM PRODUCTS LTD. Laminated products would not be viable without one main component, namely adhesives. Henkel's one-component polyurethane adhesives (LOCTITE HB E-Purbond) helped pioneer Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) in Europe. "Through the use of this adhesive technology, CLT suddenly became a viable product by being able to bond mass wood elements," says Chris Whelan, senior business development manager for North America Henkel Corporation. "It works quickly and efficiently using cold pressing technology, with no formaldehyde or solvents, and produces a ductile bond line that works with the wood." Whelan says Canada was next to embrace the concept of CLT, and to date a num- ber of significant buildings have been constructed in Canada with Loctite-Purbond one-component polyurethane adhesive. "These include the six-storey Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George, B.C., the Ronald McDonald House BC and the 800 residential unit La Cite Verte, Bloc C, in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, as well as a number of other projects throughout Canada and the U.S. It will also be used in the upcoming Brock Commons Student Residence at UBC." Whelan adds that the use of mass wood elements will play an important role in helping reduce carbon dioxide (CO2). "By reducing the use of high CO2-emitting building products, and sequestering large quantities of CO2, new trees can be planted to capture more CO2 in the future." Structurlam Products produces glulam and CLT panels, both of which are now being used extensively in the industry. "Our glulam beams replace steel and our cross-laminated panels replace concrete, so CLT is truly a wooden replacement for concrete," says Bill Downing, president. "We make panels that are up to 40-feet long and up to 10-feet wide, and nine layers [12-inches] thick. A panel in our maximum size [40-by-10-by-9 layers] would weigh five tonnes." Downing says his company is the only one to produce CLT panels in Western Canada. "The best thing about CLT is we pre-fabricate everything in our plants in Penticton and Okanagan Falls, then ship it to site where it is installed very quickly." Structurlam is also participating in the construction of Brock Commons at UBC. "It consists of 18 floors of wood and the plan is to put two floors up per week. It will be very exciting. That building is going to go up in eight weeks. We are also doing the largest wood roof in North America – the Rocky Ridge Recreation Facility in north- west Calgary. It is a massive 300,000-square-foot complex and is going to be a fan- tastic building with a wavy roof design." Another wood product that is being widely used is Nail Laminated Timber (NLT). This mass timber panel system can be used for floor, wall and roof structures. "Nail- lam floor and wall assemblies have been used for more than a century, particularly in warehouses where solid, sturdy floors were required," says Isaac Epp, business development associate for StructureCraft Builders. "Clients often want to have the product exposed to create a unique look, and we are seeing the next generation of office buildings and tall wood buildings using this product extensively. One good example is the T3 Minneapolis office building, developed by Hines – this is a seven- storey, 220,000-square-foot building that uses NLT mass timber panels supported by glulam beams and columns. Our crews recently finished installing the structure in around 10 weeks – that's only 1.5 weeks per 30,000-square-foot floor." Epp explains that NLT is created from dimensional lumber stacked on edge and fastened together with nails. "We often add a plywood sheathing to one top side for a structural diaphragm," says Epp. "This allows it to be used as a wall panel element." NLT is sanctioned by the National Building Code of Canada and the U.S. International Building Code. "Our NLT qualifies as heavy timber as long as it is 'well- spiked together' and the depth is at least 640 millimetres for a roof and 89 milli- metres for a floor." Darren Davis, business development manager at AHC+DERIX, says utilizing cross laminated timber has been going on for a decade in Europe and is just hitting the North American market. "AHC+DERIX, a division of Alfred Horie Construction, has been somewhat of an innovator in the way we go to the market and build," he says. "Our structural walls and roof panels are prefabricated at our facility via CNC machinery. We like to say it is an IKEA package on steroids. We are literally assem- bling rather than building that structure on site, so it is quick and efficient." With the European CLT, the prefabrication includes all cut-outs including win- dows and doors being cut to within a one-millimetre precision. "This means the windows and doors can all be pre-ordered and arrive at the same time as the exte- rior panels," says Davis. "All of the metal connections are pre-embedded into the panels as well. Every screw hole is predrilled at the facility, so ultimately it is a mat- ter of craning the pieces into place with crews just using drills to put the structure together." Davis adds that CLT is a renewable resource, is energy efficient and wood absorbs carbon versus concrete and steel emitting carbon. "It's really a green way of building in today's standards." Kanaka Creek Forest Products Ltd. has carved a unique piece of the timber product market. "One of the things that we do with engineered products is cut old glulam's for countertops," says Pete Polderman, owner. "It's very popular right now with the butcher block look in kitchens. We also do a lot of components for apart- ments like big woods slabs and stumps for side tables. Lately we've been doing a lot of wide slabs for tabletops and other uses. They are up to 30-inches wide and var- nished, and we've just finished doing a couple of pub restorations where they exten- sively used the wide slabs. In the past we have done some high-end jobs with these products in the U.S., including a main dining room table in Palm Springs. Some of these tables cost up to $20,000." A Prefabricated Cross-Laminated Timber assembled onsite by AHC+DERIX. Elevation plans for the upcoming Brock Commons Student Residence at UBC; Rocky Ridge Recreation Facility to be constructed in northwest Calgary, AB. + Nail Laminated Timber panel systems from StructureCraft Builders Inc.