This presentation will provide an overview of mass timber which includes any product currently permitted for use in Type IV (heavy timber) construction such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), structural composite lumber (SCL), glued laminated timber (glulam), mechanically laminated decking (aka nail-laminated timber, NLT), and large section sawn timbers. NLT, glulam, SCL, and solid sawn timbers have been adopted in the International Building Code (IBC) and utilized throughout the world for several decades on a wide variety of buildings. CLT was first incorporated in AWC’s 2015 National Design Specification® (NDS®) for Wood Construction as well as ICC’s 2015 International Building Code (IBC). All mass timber products offer sustainable qualities as they are manufactured from a renewable resource and store carbon. Structural and fire protection characteristics of mass timber will be discussed as well as IBC code provisions that allow their specification in both residential and commercial applications for a wide variety of occupancies.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify code acceptance of mass timber products.
2. Describe technology advances and standards related to mass timber products.
3. Recognize the unique fire resistive characteristics of mass timber as it influences the use of wood in building construction.
4. Describe the application of NDS Chapter 16 which can be utilized to design up to 2-hours of fire-resistance for exposed wood members.

Funding provided in part by the Softwood Lumber Board.