Wood used in construction includes products such as glued laminated timber (glulam), laminated veneer lumber (LVL), parallam and I-joists. On the one hand these allow the use of smaller pieces, and on the other hand allow bigger spans. They may also be selected for specific projects such as public swimming pools or ice rinks where the wood will not deteriorate in the presence of certain chemicals. These engineered wood products prove to be more environmentally friendly, and sometimes cheaper, than building materials such as steel or concrete.
Wood unsuitable for construction in its native form may be broken down mechanically (into fibres or chips) or chemically (into cellulose) and used as a raw material for other building materials such as chipboard, engineered wood, hardboard, medium-density fibreboard (MDF), oriented strand board (OSB). …
