Nail-Laminated Timber (NLT) and box beam are efficient and economical engineered wood products. Although NLT has been used in North America for more than a century, only in recent years it has gained renewed interests as they have been seen as the most economical panel products used in mass timber buildings. Box beams, on the other hand, are lightweight and generally possess higher strength and stiffness than comparable-sized solid timber and are more efficient than solid timber for large spans and loads.
In this report, existing design provisions and their limitations for the design and construction of NLT and box beam in Canadian standards are reviewed. For NLT, there is a general lack of information related to manufacturing, design and construction to ensure consistent manufacturing and installation practices. Therefore, it is difficult to research and document with confidence the full range of performance that can be achieved with NLT. It is therefore recommended that a North American product standard and design information on structural performance, floor vibration, fire resistance, acoustic performance, and construction risk mitigation measures (e.g. moisture and fire) be developed.
In CSA O86, design methods are limited to box beams with flanges and webs bonded with glue. As the flanges and webs of a box beam can be assembled by either glue or mechanical fasteners, it is recommended that design provisions for box beam with mechanical joints be also developed. With the information in Eurocode 5 and relevant supporting research papers, it is ready to be implemented.