Cross Laminted Timber Showing Promising Safety Results

The U.S. Forest Service is partnering with college and research institutions around the world to see if cross-laminated timber has a future as a building material.

Steve Marshall with the USFS said there are promising signs when it comes to safety.

“The material, rather than burning, it actually lasts. We’ve seen tests where the cross-laminated timber, in a very serious fire situation, actually behaves better than steel. Steel at a certain point will melt, but the CLT, once it chars, protects itself.”

There have been also positive results from tests regarding CLT being subjected to blasts in a partnership with the Department of Defense which has led the DOD to build with cross-laminated timber.

Marshall said the U.S. is not the only country learning and beginning to work with cross-laminated timber.

“One of the specific ways that CLT is being used in other countries is in earthquake-prone areas because of the behavior of the material. We’re also working with Clemson University looking at how CLT will behave in high-wind situations. There’s a lot of interest in it.”

The USDA says cross-laminated timber is, “Made from layers of dried lumber boards, stacked in alternating direction at 90-degree angles, glued and pressed to form solid panels.”