WHY ENGINEERED TIMBER?
The engineering of timber structures is well understood. Engineered Wood Products (EWP) such as Wesbeam LVL offer many of the benefits or steel and/or concrete without many of their constraints.
EWP is a suite of products including LVL, Glulam and Cross Laminated Timber (CLT). EWPs are the products of our generation. They are sustainably sourced, assuring a continual regenerating supply chain, and the sequestering of carbon for the life of the product. EWPs require little maintenance and perform better than concrete and steel under some key structural scenarios. EWPs fire characteristics are understood and are addressed by product depth and thickness - more material to allow for charring.
The added durability of being an EWP means LVL is less prone to shrinking or warping. LVL can also support heavier loads and span longer distances than standard sawn timber.
Wesbeam LVL Section sizes are cut from 1200 mm wide sheets or “billets”. The ability to cut different shapes from the LVL billets allows for structural innovation using angular and curved shapes.
Wesbeam LVL is a cost-effective and sustainable building material, delivering high structural reliability and strength.
The proposed design by fitzpatrick+partners protects the majority of the LVL beams, locating them behind or below the membrane skin. As such, only occasional wetting would occur through vertical driven rain under the roof canopy, and cleaning.
The exposed “feet” of the structure have the potential to be over-clad with a sacrificial timber veneer composite skin - with an appropriately warranted finish.
As the leading supplier of LVL in Australia, Wesbeam recommended that a penetrating sealer be applied to the product prior to delivery to site. The maintenance and recoating of this sealer would match the recommended recoat periods for a steel structure - 5-10 years.
The general maintenance regime is similar to that of a coated steel solution - with recommendations f