Building a House with LVL Beams
Laminated Veneer Lumber for Stronger, Straighter, Longer-Span Timber Homes
Product
LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber) is an engineered wood beam produced by bonding rotary-peeled veneers 3 mm thick with water-proof adhesives under heat and pressure.
Available in standard depths 90–120mm, lengths up to 9 m, and any thickness (35 mm, 45 mm, 63 mm or built-up plies).
Parallel-grain construction gives LVL a bending strength up to 2.5× that of sawn timber of the same cross-section.
Kiln-dried to 8–12 % moisture, it stays dimensionally stable—no twisting, bowing or checking on site.Available in standard depths 90–120mm, lengths up to 9 m, and any thickness (35 mm, 45 mm, 63 mm or built-up plies).
Why use it in house building
- Long clear spans (up to 8 m single-piece headers, 12 m ridge beams) allow open-plan living, vaulted ceilings and wide patio doors without intermediate posts.
- Predictable strength (E 13 000–14 500 MPa, Fb 35–45 MPa) makes engineering calculations simple and code-compliant.
- Lighter than steel or glulam—two workers can handle a 6 m beam, speeding up framing and saving crane costs.
- Sustainably sourced from plantation pine; PEFC / FSC and CARB P2 certification available.
Typical residential applications
- Door & window headers / lintels
- Ridge, hip and valley beams for timber or truss roofs
- Floor beams and joists for suspended slabs or pole-homes
- Garage-door headers carrying roof & upper-floor loads
- Cantilevered balconies, verandah beams, stair stringers
Installation highlights
- Cut, drill and nail with ordinary carpentry tools; use 0.9 mm nail-plates or M12 through-bolts for heavy plied beams.
- Protect cut ends and notches with an approved end-seal in high-humidity zones.
- Store off the ground, under cover; stack on 600 mm centres to prevent sag before erection.
Compliance & service
Manufactured to AS/NZS 4357 or ASTM D5456; supplied with span tables, PS1 producer statements and third-party test certificates on request. Custom camber, pre-drilling and pre-priming available for volume orders.
Specify LVL beams when you need steel-like load capacity, timber-light weight and the clean, modern lines demanded by today’s timber-frame houses.