EGGER Wood Products Particleboard Production Building

Instead of using steel or concrete, the more traditional choice for industrial facilities, EGGER Wood Products chose a mass timber system designed for long spans and heavy loads to construct a portion of their new particleboard production facility. Their decision to use mass timber reflects the company’s dedication to the wood industry and commitment to innovative plant design. EGGER and their design team chose a unique mass timber configuration that uses glulam beams manufactured with a special end-joint system that can be field-spliced and glued together onsite to create members with the long spans needed for industrial applications like EGGER’s. Each of the 36 girders needed for the facility was manufactured in five pieces (three beam portions and two tension wedges), then packed in containers for easy shipment. Once assembled onsite, these huge beams, the largest of which were about 10 inches wide and 7 feet tall, had a clear span of approximately 100 feet. Mass timber’s natural fire resistance was one of the reasons EGGER chose wood; aesthetics also played a role because they wanted to signal their commitment to wood as a valuable material.

See the WoodWorks technical case study on this project.