Mass timber meets modern innovation

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn how VaproShield is supporting sustainable construction with their SlopeShield Plus membrane. 

In a recent episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Aaron Gould, the director of mass timber and sustainability at VaproShield, stopped by The Coffee Shops™ to talk about mass timber construction. Today, mass timber construction is a category of wood product that is characterized by multiple solid wood pieces nailed or glued together. Aaron shared, “Historically mass timber would've included log homes and log structures transitioning to wood joinery and timber framing.” A lot of buildings three to four hundred years ago in the U.S. used mass timber products and techniques, which were brought over from Europe.  

However, about a century ago, we began to see versions of mass timber, such as glue laminated timber (GLT) and nail laminated timber (NLT), growing more popular in areas such as the Pacific Northwest. Aaron pointed to an example of this, explaining, “The University of Toronto right now has a sizable high-rise going up with a 10-story cantilever. It's very complex structurally made of GLT." Today, there are  even more modern versions of mass timber being used. Aaron highlighted the fact that these new uses of mass timber play an essential role in today’s built environment and bringing the industry into popularity again.  

In order to help support this new revival of the mass timber industry and its benefits (which include sustainability and durability), VaproShield has developed their SlopeShield Plus Self-Adhered membrane. This is permanently installed on top of mass timber decks and protects the wood from water intrusion while also drying it through moisture diffusion. This is incredibly important, as moisture is one of the most damaging factors for mass timber as it can cause rot, warping, mold, decay and other structural damage. Aaron gave an example of the efficacy of SlopeShield at controlling this, “Let's say the wood is saturated with 35-40% moisture content. We did some testing with RDH Building Sciences up in Waterloo on this and we discovered that at roughly 30 perms that this membrane will allow that saturated wood to dry at roughly the same rate as if it were not covered at all, in addition to blocking further saturation.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the episode for more about VaproShield’s products and work with mass timber construction!