Friday 14 October 2011

Gluelams

This has been an exciting week in the construction of the branch, with the addition of the beautiful gluelams - the long (100 feet long!), curved wood pieces that are the main architecural feature of the second floor. 

The gluelams were manufactured by Structurlam in Okanagan Falls. The photo below was taken at their facility in late August and shows the flat glued pieces being pressed, before the sanding, drilling and finishing processes.
The gluelams were shipped here to Vernon by truck, and made an impressive sight on the highway, indeed! The photos below were taken during the installation process on the library site, late last week:





 Now that the gluelams are in place, the decking can now be added, in preparation for the installation of the curved roof.  This photo, taken just this morning, shows this process.  Very impressive, I'm sure you'd agree!