Each season, the suburban construction market is replenished with new housing construction technologies. In the past few years, projects of houses made of glued laminated timber have been very popular among buyers. This is due to the many positive qualities they possess.
Advantages of timber houses
1. Environmental friendliness of the building. The glue used to join wood is safe for humans and the environment. It consists of natural composites. Additionally, the glue acts as an antiseptic that prevents the appearance of pests in the material.
2. Wooden houses from glued beams are built quickly. An experienced working team assembles the building on the finished foundation in 1 month. Thus, the entire construction of the house from the construction of the foundation to the completion of finishing work can take only 3 months.
3. Glued timber is characterized by low thermal conductivity. This helps to reduce the cost of heating the premises from it in the winter. Duringbuilding a house requires only insulation of floors and ceilings.
4. Houses made of glued laminated timber, the owners' reviews of which are mostly positive, are strong and durable. This is due to the peculiarities of the material production technology.
5. Wooden buildings made of timber have stable geometric dimensions, that is, the material does not twist, bend or shrink.
Disadvantages of log houses
1. A wooden house needs special care, only it ensures the preservation of the pleasant color of the outer walls. Every year they need to be covered with special compounds that slow down the aging of the building.
2. Various manufacturers may use special fire impregnations that are not safe for humans. Before buying a material, it is necessary to clarify exactly which compounds were used.
3. The construction of houses from glued beams is sometimes delayed due to the need for additional grinding of the walls. It is a consequence of the fact that during transportation the material gets dirty, and it is impossible to remove dirt from it by rubbing.
Technology for the production of glued beams
For the first time, the technology for the production of glued laminated timber was tested more than thirty years ago. Now the material is very popular.
The raw material for timber is logs. Passing through special equipment, they bloom into boards. They are dried at certain indicators of temperature and humidity in the room. The material is then tested fordefects.
Useable boards are treated with antiseptics and flame retardants, then planed. Only if all these operations are performed, it is possible to proceed to the direct formation of a beam from 2-5 layers. The boards are connected to each other under the influence of the press. A special water-repellent glue is used as an adhesive, which does not prevent the tree from "breathing".
Under the press, the boards are stacked in a certain way. Fibers of different layers are directed in opposite directions. This significantly increases the strength of the produced product. Such a structure protects the tree from resizing under the influence of environmental conditions. Due to its high strength, glued timber can be used as floor beams and rafters in a house under construction.
Owner reviews of glued beam houses
In the Russian market, houses made of glued laminated timber, the reviews of the owners of which will be discussed below, have been known for more than ten years. During this time, building technology has improved slightly. Owners of houses built a long time ago can objectively say about all the real advantages and disadvantages of the considered technology for the production of timber and the construction of residential buildings from it.
Reviews on the real terms of construction of houses
Manufacturers and construction companies claim that it is possible to build houses from profiled glued beams in 1 month. It really is. A box of typical buildings, the projects of which have already been repeatedly applied onpractice, is built very quickly. But then comes the stage of interior finishing work, which can drag on for more than one month or even a year.
When choosing a project, customers need to pay attention to various nuances. For example, the places of holes in the beam for the installation of lamps and pipes. All these small additions will further affect the speed of communication and finishing work.
It should be borne in mind that the standard interiors of houses made of glued laminated timber are created faster than extraordinary ones. As a rule, to fulfill the latter, the owners of the future home hire a designer who takes responsibility for the timing of the order.
It can be concluded that the construction of houses from glued laminated timber takes 3-4 months only if it uses standard solutions for finishing work and installing plumbing. In all other cases, the terms increase several times.
Owners' feedback on maintaining the dimensions of glued laminated timber declared by the manufacturer
Wood tends to dry out under the influence of environmental factors. Glued laminated timber, according to the manufacturers, is not subjected to this, which allows you to start finishing work immediately after assembling the box at home.
In reality, the material may dry out a little and shrink. Also, the formation of small cracks is not excluded. This is especially noticeable at the ends of the house.
Such phenomena should be taken into account when installing frames for windows and doors. Glued laminated timberdoes not require mandatory interior decoration, the special texture of the walls from it in itself creates a unique atmosphere in the house. Some owners specifically choose for themselves projects of houses from glued beams in order to get a semblance of a village hut inside.
In the winter it is relatively dry outside and the outer walls shrink by a few centimeters. The internal logs are in a more humid environment, as people live there who cook, wash clothes and take a shower. The difference in humidity outside and inside leads to the fact that in winter some changes may occur in the box of the house, manifested in the appearance of a distance between the timber. In the spring, this phenomenon will not be so noticeable. This does not affect the safety of being in the building.
Thus, small changes in geometric dimensions are characteristic of glued beams. This should not be neglected during finishing work.
Feedback from glulam house owners about fire-fighting material treatment
In order to comply with fire regulations, glued beams are impregnated with special compounds. During transport and laying of the material, it may touch the ground. As a result, its surface gets dirty. Removing dirt is quite difficult, the most effective method is grinding the damaged area. After it, a whitish spot remains on the log, to smooth which they resort to processing the nearby area. The result is that the protective fire coating is completely removed.
Unscheduled wall sanding can extend the construction time of a house. Depending on the resulting contamination, different times are required for additional processing. In any case, this leads to additional costs.
Houses made of glued laminated timber, the reviews of the owners of which are almost always positive, in any case require additional processing. It is important to ensure that they are not toxic.
Finnish glued timber houses
The concept of "Finnish houses" has long been included in the dictionary of builders. They are called buildings made of glued laminated timber, which have two exits (to the backyard and to the street). Most often, such buildings have only one floor, above which there is an attic. The owners usually use it for bedrooms.
Finnish houses made of glued laminated timber are economical, as their ceiling height is 2.2-2.5 m. This reduces the cost of heating and building materials.
The peculiarity of such houses is that they have a large number of utility rooms. This frees up space in the living room connected to the kitchen. The house must have a sauna. There is no basement usual for private houses in Finnish houses. Their designers think that it is always damp there. The garage in Finnish houses is always built separately for reasons of environmental safety for residents.
Differences between Finnish and Russian beams
1. Price. Foreign material is almost twice as expensive as domestic.
2. All batches of material are homogeneous for allindicators, as raw materials are carefully selected.
3. Large manufacturers known on the Russian market care about their reputation and always offer only high-quality goods.
4. Finnish houses made of glued laminated timber, reviews of which are always excellent, are built only from special types of wood.
5. The guarantee for Finnish timber houses is up to 50 years. Russian producers cannot afford it yet.
Finnish houses: owner reviews
Foreign manufacturers are constantly improving their product release technologies, so their popularity is growing. Plot owners are willing to pay more to get quality materials.
Reviews about real Finnish houses are always positive. Negative ones are extremely rare, most often among customers who have come across a fake.
To build a house from domestic or foreign-made glued laminated timber means to live in an environmentally friendly, comfortable, warm and beautiful building.
