Installation of cross-laminated timber panels in George W. Peavy Forest Science Center, Oregon State University’s new home for the College of Forestry, will resume after a review into a CLT panel in the building became delaminated and fell on March 14.

Since then, the CLT manufacturing processes being used has been evaluated by four entities: the panel manufacturer; APA – The Engineered Wood Association, using the North American CLT manufacturing standards; the project’s general contractor; and an engineering consulting firm hired independently by the university.

The evaluations discovered that during a brief period of time the manufacturer used  pre-heated wood materials – prior to these materials receiving adhesive and being pressed into cross-laminated panels – which caused premature curing of the adhesive and resulted in poor bonding. This resulted in the de-lamination of a portion of one CLT panel.

This practice has been halted. In addition, quality control manufacturing measures, including daily product sampling, have been revised.

Manufacturing of CLT materials for Peavy Hall will begin immediately with initial installation of those panels to begin in about over the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, testing of core samples from CLT panels already installed within Peavy Hall will continue. The testing is anticipated to take two to eight weeks. During that time, work within those zones of Peavy Hall will remain on hold.

The College of Forestry and Oregon State University do not anticipate paying additional costs related to this CLT matter. It is anticipated that the opening of Peavy Hall will be delayed by approximately three months to summer 2019.