Planning to build your dream house but still looking for a building material that offers strength, durability, cosy aesthetic appeal, and does not harm the environment? Well, look no further! The perfect crossover between the strength and durability of steel, the warm aesthetics of wood, and the sustainability that modern architectures seek is here with CLT.
CLT or Cross Laminated Timber is widely gaining popularity amongst Australians as a building material. This blog will present seven strong reasons why you should invest in a Cross Laminated Timber house this year. We’ll cover everything from what CLT is, to its pros and cons and its building cost.
So, let’s dive in:
What is CLT?
Some of you might be familiar with the term “Super Plywood”, well it’s nothing but a common name of CLT or Cross Laminated Timber. The word “Super” in its name rings true as CLT can be used to build floors, walls, roofs, and even ceilings - kind of an overachiever if you ask us.
The timber is initially kiln-dried to have up to 12% moisture content to ensure its integrity and stability. These are then joined end to end to form boards which are layered perpendicular to each other and cut to the desired size using computers (leaving room for windows, doors, and skylight). These Cross Laminated Timber construction panels are then transported to the site of construction for assembly.
Benefits of Building a CROSS-LAMINATED Timber House
Projects of Timber House Construction in Australia are gaining a lot of traction over the past couple years with sustainability being its top creditor. Using CLT as a building construction material is backed by many other benefits with strength, durability and cost effectiveness to name a few. Let’s go over the merits of CLT house construction in detail:
Sustainability
Unlike its traditional counterparts- steel and concrete, CLT being made of wood has a lower Carbon footprint. As trees absorb Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere, this CO2 remains trapped in the CLT panels throughout the life of the house. Moreover, it requires less energy for production.
Speed and Efficiency of Construction
The panels used for Cross Laminated Timber House construction are fabricated using a CNC (Computer numerical Control), this ensures precision as per the design specifications. Also, as these fabricated pieces are pre-assembled before transportation to site, this reduces the time of construction too.
Strength and Durability
The kiln dried timber pieces are layered perpendicular to each previous layer to ensure structural rigidity and resilience in both directions. This makes CLT strong and durable for generations.
Aesthetic appeal and Design Flexibility
The warm woodsy aesthetics of CTL is its biggest selling point. It allows room for creativity making it a popular choice among architects and designers.
Acoustics
CLT being made of wood has amazing acoustics with its sound absorbing and echo reducing properties. Moreover as the panels are not fabricated on-site, it also makes the construction process less noisy.
Thermal performance
CLT may seem like a fire disaster but in reality that’s far from the truth. The thick CLT panels burn relatively slowly as the top layer of the panel chars, protecting the core. This thereby allows the building to retain its integrity for longer.
Cost-Effective
Although the material cost for CLT house construction is more expensive than the traditional steel and cement, CLT houses are more cost-effective when the cost of the entire project is considered. With less foundation, labour cost and time for construction, the cross laminated timber house cost comes out to be much more reasonable than the initial material cost.
Things to Look Out for!
Using Cross Laminated Timber for house construction offers a lot of merits over the traditional building materials. Needless to say it isn’t without its demerits. Let’s cover a few cross- laminated timber disadvantages or challenges that you may come across when using CTL for house construction in Australia:
Lack of Builders
Although CLT has been used for house construction in Europe for decades, the same is not true for Australia. It is still relatively a new endeavour and it might prove a bit tricky to find a skilled builder. If you do find one, they might have many projects lined up already.
However, the silver lining is that building houses using CLT doesn’t need much special training and your CLT panel provider might help with consultation or recommend a consultant for the technical tasks.
Renovation Challenges
Another aspect that proves to be tricky when it comes to CLT house construction is its renovation, as the panels are pre cut as per the design specification, any changes made will lack the precision and accuracy of a computer.
It is thus important to get everything right the first time necessitating capable designers that design everything as per your specifications. The Rubix offers house design solutions that’s aligned to your vision.
Site Accessibility
When it comes to the construction site, CLT requires huge cranes for assembly. Building houses in inaccessible terrain, or tight situations becomes challenging with CLT.
While planning the house it is important to keep this factor in mind and visit the site with your designer prior to deciding the design and feasibility of using CLT.
Takeaway
Many residents in Australia are considering Cross Laminated Timber for house construction. You not only get the house of your dreams but reap sweet fruits of sustainability, earthy design, fire-proof architecture. It is however important to check out for site accessibility, builder availability, and get a good designer onboard. Leave no room for errors as making changes after project completion isn’t the best option out there with CLT.