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Material-efficient timber construction with Kerto® LVL

In the construction sector, the growing scarcity of raw materials is increasingly leading to supply bottlenecks. At the same time, the climate crisis forces to find more sustainable solutions. For this reason, wood and wood hybrid construction are often taking over from classical construction methods. However, to promote environmentally friendly wood products, it is important to use raw materials as efficiently as possible.
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Kerto LVL laminated veneer lumber makes an important contribution to sustainable construction, and it lends itself to efficient prefabrication production. Thanks to its structure, significantly more material-efficient designs are possible making it even more resource-efficient.

Material-efficient construction requires high-quality and high-performance timber products, especially when long spans and thinner cross-sections are needed. Kerto LVL from Metsä Wood is light in weight, but highly durable with low deformation. The smart design of the adhered laminated veneer lumber enables the implementation of high-performance wood and hybrid structures with high load-bearing capacities and long spans – while using less wood material.

Kerto LVL is available in different strength classes and it can be used for beams, planks, or panels in a wide variety of construction projects. During the entire planning phase, special pre-design tables for Kerto LVL help you find the most optimal cross-section for the structures of your project.  

Solid with great cross-section stability

The resource-efficient Kerto LVL is produced from 3 mm thick rotary-peeled strength graded softwood veneers. The veneers are bonded with weather- and boil-resistant phenol formaldehyde adhesive to form a continuous billet. Then the billet is cut to length and sawn into LVL beams, planks or panels according  to customer´s requirements. Kerto panels are available in various thicknesses – with widths of up to 2.5 metres and lengths of up to 20 metres. A narrower, 1.8 metre-wide panel variant is also available, in lengths of up to 25 metres. For the greatest possible time savings, The Kerto LVL panels can be further processed to make various construction elements.

Processing and further use of LVL products is as simple as possible and requires only standard woodworking tools. In addition to the standard elements, rib and box elements can also be assembled. Floor and roof elements prefabricated in accordance with Kerto-Ripa technology enable construction of support-free spans of up to 20 metres, and ensure that up to 1,000 square metres can be installed in a day. The visible wood surface of the beams and panels makes a big contribution to pleasant interior design. 

Sustainability is at the core

The logs used for production of Kerto LVL are generally spruce that comes from sustainably managed and certified northern forests. The sustainable approach of is clear not just from the resource-efficient design of Kerto products, but also across the entire production chain for Metsä Wood’s products.  Everything Metsä Wood does involves sustainability – from the forest all the way to the products, all around the company. Metsä Wood aims to be the global forerunner in sustainable construction through its innovative wood products, resource efficiency across the value chain and effective use of renewable material. 

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