Glulam Building: Start to Finish – Part Two E

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


Part 2E: Confirmation of Design

Load combination model (dead + 0.75*snow + 0.75*wind), Full Moon Resort

With the basic building layout and design in place, the next step is to confirm all of the elements of the design work. Depending on the complexity of the project, an engineering analysis model of the building is created, with appropriate building loads, geometry, and member sizes. This is used to “finalize” glulam member sizes and connection designs. 

An engineering analysis typically models only the center line of members, so parts are broken into segments to model curves or tapered members. Being up to a few inches off of actual geometry is typically considered acceptable for an engineering model, particularly if any inaccuracies are resulting in a more conservative design check. It is definitely not a substitute for the much more exact detailing modeling that will follow. 

Actual finite element model, Full Moon Resort

After this step is complete, changes to the glulam member sizes are no longer expected – although minor changes are not uncommon during the actual detailing process. When and who performs the confirmation of design will vary from project to project. There are three main categories:


Design by others: All members and connections are designed by the project Engineer of Record (EOR). In this case, the confirmation of the design will occur before drawings are sent to Unalam for pricing. 


Connection design by Unalam: Member sizes are designed by the EOR, but the connection design is delegated to Unalam. In this case, the actual confirmation of design for final glulam sizes would need to include the connection review by Unalam. Sizes may need to increase due to connection capacity requirements. While this is relatively rare, the cost for any member size change due to connection design would the be the customer’s responsibility. 


Design by Unalam: All members and connections are designed by Unalam, so we are responsible for confirming the design. This would happen before pricing is issued (so allow extra time between receipt of drawings and pricing), and any later revisions to member design sizes during detailing would be Unalam’s responsibility. 

Rendered view of model for Full Moon Resort – Design by Unalam