For new residential and commercial building owners, having an economical, easy to install timber floor system creates many more design options.
This research project has developed a practical lightweight timber ground-floor system that includes prefabricated timber floor panels and the ‘stumps,’ that is the floor support to the footings.
The system was tested in the laboratory and in the field to ensure it has excellent thermal performance, copes with realistic building site conditions and is straightforward to install.
The floor panels are made in a factory by an established Frame and Truss manufacturer, and use either F17 timber, engineered I-Beams, parallel chord trusses, or Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) with sheet material decking such as plywood or particle board. The panels have their bearers and joists incorporated within them, and can be constructed so that bearers run either the length or width of the panel between supports.
The system will be especially useful for sites where reactive clay soils move with changing moisture content, on sloping sites to avoid unnecessary cut and fill and where there is the possibility of flooding.
If 5% of the residential housing market changes to use the system it would generate an additional $40M (approx) worth of retail sales to the timber industry each year.
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Reference Number:
Project PNA244-1112
