The rounded log is inferior to the glued timber in terms of strength and durability. Glued beam material is almost perfect in its geometry. The glued beams are characterized by aesthetics and impeccable appearance. This rule is not selective, it applies to the entire beam, and is easily achieved through production technology.
Glued beam is made of wood lamellas that have undergone special treatment. Lamellas are glued in such a way that the direction of the wood fiber does not coincide, but alternatesin each subsequent gluing. This guarantees high reliability of glued beams as a building material – in comparison with a log.
Rounded log is made of a solid tree trunk. Mechanical damage and drying may lead to cracking of the log. Because of this, appearance of a crack leads to defect of the whole log.
Wood used for production of glued timber are subjected to a thorough inspection and processing. As a result of several stages, all defects (rot, cracks, deformation) are reduced to “no”. The finished beam does not crack, does not undergo warpage and other negative impacts. Also, the glued beam is protected from harmful insects, damaging other types of building materials made of wood.
To achieve the same high quality in round logs, you need to process wood for a long time with special means. And that is scrupulous labor-intensive work and significant financial expenditure (leading to a rise in the cost of the project).
Glued beam has an impeccable appearance and smooth surface – again, thanks to the preparation of the wood before gluing (all defects are removed, and the blanks are selected according to color and texture). This leads to the fact that the walls of the house from glued beams look perfectly even.
Is it possible to say the same about houses from round logs? No. Even if painstaking fitting of logs has been carried out, the walls have an uneven surface. And this, in turn, significantly complicates finishing work.
Houses made of glued timber have a low level of shrinkage and a high degree of strength. The timber structure perfectly preserves its geometry during operation.
Houses made of round logs have a much greater shrinkage. In addition, they tend to lose shape and violate strict proportions, due to shrinkage distortions.
When building a house from glued beams, you can substantially save on the internal and external finishing of the walls. The very structure of the glued beam allows to emphasize the special, natural texture of the wood. The interior of the glued timber house looks beautiful and aesthetic.
In the case of rounded logs, additional finishing (and additional costs) is required.
In houses from round logs additional work is needed on the laying of the insulation materials; it is necessary to make the insulation around the perimeter, around each crown. This affects the price and reduces the environmental friendliness of the house
Glued beam – more elite, but also more expensive material than a log. This, it might seem, is an immutable truth. But … let’s do the calculations!
Yes, the cost of logs is cheaper than a glued beam. But the amount of material necessary for construction of a house made of rounded logs, 60-70% more than the construction of a house from glued beams!
Due to the circular cross section of the log, the volume is larger than that of the log. Thus it is necessary to mount a larger volume of cylinder logs!
Conclusion: those who want to save on the material (due to the lower cost of the log in comparison with the bar) should be prepared for the construction cost about the same amount! But at the same time glued beam as a material is preferable due to lower construction costs, greater aesthetics, practicality and durability of operation.
Taking into consideration all of the above factors, we come to the conclusion: using glued timber, we win (in comparison with the rounded log) in the overall process.
We reduce the cost of additional materials (insulation and finishing), require less labor and reduce construction time, and get more reliability and durability.