Wood is a material that has always been part of the world building tradition, just think that the first concept of a house (other than caves) was born in the Neolithic age and included the use of this spectacular material. Over time, however, it has undergone various processes to reach the level of technology known today.
But what are the types of trusses that can be purchased on the market today?
The various types
First of all, we must differentiate the two big product families, within which we find multiple types regardless of the wood species, namely: solid wood beams and composite wood beams.
What substantial difference do we find such as to generate these two macro families?
Solid wood is the “ancient” building material and is obtained from the simple bark removing and cutting of wooden logs. It can be fresh, seasoned or dried and of various shapes, from which the various types derive.
Within this great unit we find:
Uso fiume (Beams with beveled edges): it has a rounded or quadrangular section that is deeply beveled.
Uso Trieste (Beams with beveled edges and conical shape): it is basically a debarked trunk. It maintains the rounded section and is conical in shape. It has almost completely disappeared on the market, in fact, it is used almost exclusively for restoration work.
Solid wood beams: it has a quadrangular or rectangular section and has sharp edges.
But let’s move on to composite beams. This group appears to be much more populated than that of the solid wood. Being the result of various transformations, we find this exclusively dried.
Among the most used commercially, inside we find: Glued laminated timber, Glued solid timber, Solid wood for construction KVH, Laminated veneer lumber.
Glued laminated timber: it is the most used commercially today. These are dried boards (called lamellas) butt-joined with a comb-and-glue joint, while they are glued and pressed in height. For being an artificial material it has various dimensions, both quadrangular and rectangular but it can also have special shapes such as curved and boomerang. It is the most used thanks to its versatility, greater resistance and aesthetic quality (all the boards used in the process are meticulously chosen with a numerical control machine).
Glued solid timber: it has the same manufacturing process as the glued laminated timber, except that in this case the lamellas are placed vertically instead of horizontally, thus resulting in a lower resistance class than the glued laminated timber.
Solid wood for construction KVH: it is dried solid wood and butt-jointed with a comb joint. It is mainly used for the frame structures of wooden buildings.
Laminated veneer lumber: it is made up of very thin sheets of wood pressed and glued together (it looks similar to plywood). It has a very high mechanical strength, which thus allows us to reduce the section dimensions of our beams.
Grosso Legnoarchitetture has the possibility to supply all the typologies mentioned, so now that you know more, what are you waiting for? Choose the material that best suits your wooden structure and contact us!
