The Proper Prep for Mass Timber Construction Success

Are you a builder gearing up for your next big project? If you're considering mass timber construction, you're already on the right track. Mass timber is gaining popularity in the construction industry for good reason. It's not only sustainable and eco-friendly but also offers numerous benefits in terms of speed, aesthetics, and structural performance. To ensure your mass timber building project goes off without a hitch, let's explore some essential steps to set you up for success.

While we’re at it, we’re also going to explore the patented LignoLoc® Wooden Nail System from BECK, which you can rely on as a sustainable way to fasten and secure mass timber building components.

Assemble the Right Team

No successful project is a one-person show. Surround yourself with a team of experts who specialize in mass timber construction. Often, you’ll discover that this team will look a lot different than a team assembled with traditional building methods in mind. Whereas traditional building requires experts in things like masonry, work with steel, and so on, on a mass timber construction project, you’ll need people who can design cross-laminated timber (CLT) and LignoLoc® Cross Laminated Timber (LCLT) products, people who can create an assembly plan for pre-constructed CLT and LCLT panels, and so on.

Architects, engineers, and contractors involved in the project will need to be able to determine fire resistance ratings and other key aspects just as they would for any other build—only using mass timber materials, instead.

Know Your Timber—and Choose Accordingly

There are two big factors to account for when choosing mass timber components. First is the construction style, and second is the species. Among mass timber manufacturing, there are various methods, like cross-laminated timber, and glue-laminated timber (Glulam). Both have different specifications in terms of strength, durability, and more—and to create a solid building system, you’ll need to know the differences so that you can choose appropriate products.

You’ll also need to consider things like fasteners. This is where LignoLoc® proves invaluable. This fastening system relies on collated wooden nails that meet not only strength and durability requirements but also sustainability requirements.

Knowing a bit about the various species of lumber is important as well—and it’s not only so that you can select species with the right structural properties for the job. Mass timber construction is most often meant to be showcased and exposed, which means that the “show sides” of panels and other building components need to be attractive. Oak, walnut, pine, mahogany—different species all have different aesthetics, and you’ll need to be able to choose an aesthetic that looks great as part of the finished build.

Timber Sourcing and Quality Assurance

The quality of your timber is non-negotiable, and sustainability is the name of the game. Partner with reputable suppliers who source their wood responsibly, sustainably, and meet industry standards. Part of your preparations should be a rigorous quality check to make sure your timber components check each of these boxes.

Choosing the Right Fasteners for Your Project

When you’re working with mass timber components, fastening systems will be a key part of the building process—and to keep things sustainable and eco-friendly, you won’t be able to rely on traditional fastening systems.

That’s where the LignoLoc® system comes in. It consists of a FASCO® (a Beck member) coil nailer and compressed beech wood nails with a length of 38 to 90 mm in diameters of 3.7, 4.7 and 5.3 mm. With LignoLoc®, you can make the job easier and more efficient with the same benefits of coil nailers that you’d use on more conventional builds.

On top of that, this system relies on wooden nails, which is a requirement to meet most mass timber construction standards. They’ll give you all the strength and durability needed while avoiding the use of metal fasteners throughout the build.

Want to learn more about the LignoLoc® lineup? Click the button below for additional details.