Glulam Building: Start to Finish – Part Ten

 Welcome to our “Glulam Building: Start to Finish” series. Our goal is to provide and overview – from idea to completion – of a glulam buildings, from the perspective of a glulam manufacturer and designer.

Part 10: Shipping

With all the glulam and steel components complete, it’s time to get them to the jobsite!

Part 10A: Loading

With all of the work that has gone into designing, detailing, and fabricating a glulam project – it is now crucial to get all of those parts to the jobsite safely. It can cause a lot of heartache if a part misses the trip or is damaged en route.

We have developed procedures and checklists to make sure every part is accounted for while loading a truck. Every glulam member and steel component has a tag for identification during loading and at the jobsite, and shipping lists are signed off. 

Wrapped pre-assembled inverted trusses waiting in one of our loading bays to be loaded and shipped.

Where does the loading happen? We are lucky enough to have three independent loading bays at the end of our plant. Trucks, including full tractor trailers, can enter and park indoors. This area is covered by our over head hoists systems, which is used to arrange the parts on the trailer bed.

Fully assembled pedestrian bridge being loaded via over head hoists onto a flat-bed truck.

Most projects are delivered on our own flat-bed trucks, some by specialty haulers on flat-beds, and occasionally by common carriers. We limit the use of common carriers to small, distant projects where the cost of a dedicated shipment is excessive and outweighs the risk of shipping damage. 

Wrapped arches loaded on one of our flat-bed trucks