ACCESSING THE PROPERTIES AND STRENGHT OF GLULAM AS LOAD BEARING BUILDING MATERIALS IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION IN NIGERIA

The versatility of timber finds wide application in the construction industry spanning from simple framing in housing projects to large scale public facilities. How be it, limitations of span and cross sectional dimension, strength reducing defects and anisotropy limits its engineering application. Mechanical methods of jointing to address the earlier challenge has introduced serious wood fiber failure and increased the embodied energy in timber as a green material. However, developed societies have established in literature the possibility of overcoming these limitations in order to use timber for purposes other than its traditional application in Nigeria, such as the development of engineered wood products such as glued laminated timber (glulam) using their timber species. In contrast, while there is little or no interest in timber as a structural material in Nigeria, many of the limited studies that have been done on the material have focused on solid wood features, leaving its limitations unaddressed. Consequently, its structural capabilities is yet unappreciated. Nevertheless, reconstituting natural timber as glulam is an excellent technique of maximizing this green material for a wide range of structural applications. The major goal of this study is to see if these attributes can be achieved with timber. Finally the study serves as a useful survey which may assist in designing with a sustainable material in the future.