Low-carbon materials
Glued Laminated Timber (Glulam)
An engineered structural wood product made by bonding stress-graded timber laminations with durable adhesives, widely used in mass-timber construction as a low-carbon alternative to steel and concrete.
Definition
Glued laminated timber is an engineered structural wood product composed of multiple layers of dimension lumber bonded together with durable, moisture-resistant adhesives under controlled conditions, with the grain of all laminations running parallel to the member's length. One of the oldest mass timber products, it is used for beams, columns, trusses, arches, and bridges, and can be manufactured in straight, curved, and tapered forms of almost any span.
References
definition and applications
product characteristics
Overview
What it means
Laminating smaller, kiln-dried pieces produces members stronger and more dimensionally stable than solid sawn timber, allows defects to be distributed, and makes efficient use of forest resources. In sustainability terms, glulam stores biogenic carbon, substitutes for emissions-intensive steel and concrete, and enables prefabricated, lower-waste construction.
How it is used
Engineers specify glulam to standards such as CSA O122 and EN 14080 in long-span roofs, halls, bridges, and hybrid mass-timber buildings; it is a staple of low-embodied-carbon structural design.
Why it matters
Structural materials dominate building embodied carbon; mass timber products like glulam are among the few scalable, code-recognised routes to deep cuts.
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