The glued beam popular today (KB) is characterized as the best material for the construction of a wooden house. Many companies specializing in this type of construction recommend that KB is preferred over other materials, motivating this choice with its high environmental friendliness, good strength and other mechanical characteristics.
Building a house is not cheap. A mistake made when choosing a material can be fatal. Therefore, before proceeding with the construction of the house, it is worth figuring out whether the design bureau is really good?
Resistance to cracking
It is believed that KB is a material not subject to cracking. This belief can only partially be agreed. Yes, the lamella pack assembled with perfect accuracy will not crack. However, the assembly process itself is not automated and is performed manually. That is why it is sometimes not necessary to talk about the quality of the material, and, accordingly, its resistance to cracking.
A pack of lamellas, assembled with the slightest deviation, is under the action of internal forces bending the wood. Therefore, you won’t have to wait long - in a short time, the praised design bureau will certainly crack.
Shrinkage house isn’t afraid of shrinkage
"Specialists" of wooden construction say that glued-beam houses do not settle over time. It is not true. Houses from design bureaus give significant shrinkage - about two centimeters per meter of construction in height per year for the first two years after completion of work.
If the average height of a one-story house is about 4 meters, then in two years the shrinkage of the house in height will be 16 centimeters! The language cannot be called insignificant and not worthy of attention.
High environmental friendliness KB
It is not necessary to doubt the environmental safety of wood. However, the adhesives that are used in the production process of KB are so saturated with formaldehydes that there can be no talk of any environmental friendliness of this material.
Harmless adhesives and impregnations still exist, but the cost of construction using a truly environmentally friendly design bureau will increase at times and become unreasonably expensive.
For these reasons, you should not use KB in the bathroom. When repairing an apartment, building mosaic is ideal for designing a bathroom.
Houses from KB "breathe"
The most arrogant myth about KB. The air exchange that the design bureau can provide can be compared with the air exchange in a house with the best plastic windows. This effect is obtained due to the presence in the package of lamellas of several adhesive layers that are not able to pass air.
Walls do not require additional compaction
Such an encouraging, but so harmful myth! There are no seamless joints, no matter how high quality the material is and no matter how accurate the calculations are.
In addition, changes in geometry, provoked by weather conditions, have not been canceled. Therefore, in wet, but warm weather, the seams will be “closed”, and in dry frosty - “open”. Here in these "open" not warmed joints and heat will leave the house. But for high-quality wall insulation, you will have to use a special kind of insulation - self-expanding tapes.
KB durability
The latest myth about KB says: "KB is many times more durable than whole logs." In fact, the term “KB durability” should be understood as the quality of the adhesive used. It is he who determines the life of the design bureau.
As for the buildings made of solid logs, even without proper care they can stand for several hundred years. And if you maintain a good condition of the house from whole logs, protecting the wood from damage, moisture and pests, then you should not worry about its durability.
Here it is - the whole truth about KB. Do you need such a house? The choice is yours.
