{"id":24060,"date":"2025-02-26T10:33:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T00:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=24060"},"modified":"2025-02-26T10:33:37","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T00:33:37","slug":"the-acoustic-timber-panel-that-is-stronger-and-greener-than-clt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/the-acoustic-timber-panel-that-is-stronger-and-greener-than-clt\/","title":{"rendered":"The Acoustic Timber Panel that is Stronger and Greener Than CLT!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The next generation of mass timber panels is being made with wood rather than steel fasteners \u2013 with steel nails, screws and bolts replaced by dowel-shaped joints made from hardwood. That is according to StructureCraft – which, through its newly launched DowelLam division, is ramping up production of acoustic dowel-laminated timber (or ADLT) from its state-of-the-art facility in British Columbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set to debut at the International Mass Timber Conference (IMTC) in Portland next month, where StructureCraft’s Vice President and Head of Engineering Lucas Epp will headline a panel discussion on the new barriers to mass timber adoption – the engineer-builder has used the system in more than 100 projects across North America – from Microsoft to Princeton University, and Hines Real Estate’s T3 portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"DowelLam
DowelLam\u2019s Abbotsford facility, established by StructureCraft in 2017, is a state-of-the-art 50,000-square-foot manufacturing hub designed to produce DLT, the largest such facility in the world. (Photo Credit: DowelLam)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the first all-wood mass timber panel, DLT uses hardwood dowels to bond the edgewise of softwood lumber stands together – allegedly stronger, cheaper and greener than cross-laminated timber and ideal for floors, roofs and walls<\/a>. As the only large-scale supplier of the product in the North American market, Structurecraft said, “ADLT is a high-performance panel that integrates a built-in acoustically absorptive membrane into the underside of the DLT, allowing mass timber to remain exposed while meeting structural and noise reduction demands.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to launch DowelLam – a brand dedicated to the design and supply of dowel laminated timber across North America,” said Derek Autenrieth, DowelLam’s new Sales Manager: “DLT has become a well-established mass timber product over the last eight years, there is no better stage than the IMTC to showcase its broad application and capabilities across all product types.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Click here to register for the IMTC<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Dowel-shaped fasteners can trump steel in wall-to-floor connectors.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Wood Central reported that dowel-shaped connectors were the ideal solution for low-rise and mid-rise construction, with a study published in the Journal of Building Engineering revealing that floor-to-wall, wall-to-wall, and floor-to-floor proved, beyond doubt, that hardwood dowels offer higher strength stiffness compared to traditional screws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to lead researcher Aivars Vilguts, “hardwood dowels have become one of the most popular fasteners for wood-to-wood joints in recent years,” adding that “the most widely used hardwood dowels are Red Oak (in the United States) and Yellow Birch.” Mr Vilguts, who is a postdoctoral associate at Virginia Tech in the United States, added that “experimental testing suggests that hardwood dowel joints have comparable or even superior performance than screws.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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