CLT/Xlam
Thanks to the CLT/Xlam technology by Essepi, it is possible to create wonderful architectures, synonymous with sustainability and living well-being. Exceeding the highest standards is a mission for us. By integrating CLT/Xlam and Windows in a single construction system, we have created a unique product with high engineering and environmental performance. This is what we love to do.
The high quality panel
CLT/Xlam panels are not all the same and those produced by Essepi are distinguished by the quality with which they are made:
All the boards are classified C24, come from PEFC forests and are not only planed but also calibrated at the entrance. This means that all the CLT/Xlam panels produced by Essepi are of the highest visual and substantial quality. Since the CLT/Xlam panels are used to make structures, which are then covered and covered with coats, plasterboard and finishing materials, this beauty and quality are lost from sight, but aesthetic beauty and 360-degree quality are in our nature. We like to know that our customers' buildings have substance under the skin.
Sustainability
PEFC/18-31-143
Chain of Custody Certification Scheme for Forest Products
As a manufacturer, Essepi plays an important role in promoting sustainable forest and plantation management worldwide, as responsible sourcing creates demand for certified sustainable material, providing a financial incentive to maintain the forest as such and not use that land for other purposes. When the PEFC mark is present, it means that the wood-based material contained in the product comes from a PEFC certified forest. The material that Essepi uses has PEFC certification no. DNVSE-PEFC-COC-401 for the production of sawn timber, beams, buildings and their parts; marketing of glued laminated wood, engineered panels, PEFC certified insulating panels (fir, larch, pine, chestnut, oak).
The European Technical Assessment ETA specifies the use of class C24 wood according to EN 33813. The extremely high quality of Essepi CLT/Xlam panels is linked to the choice to use exclusively resistance class C24 in both the external and internal layers of the panel: Essepi never uses lower classes such as C18 or C16. The classification responds to precise tabular performance values of materials for tensile, compressive and shear resistance, for characteristic modulus of elasticity parallel to the fibres and for average modulus of elasticity parallel to the fibres, and finally for average shear modulus.
The European Technical Assessment ETA certifies the absence of dangerous substances in Essepi CLT/Xlam panels. Essepi's production process includes:
No use of recycled wood in the production of the solid wood slab;
The use of only non-toxic polyurethane glues (not urea melamine) for gluing the solid wood boards and the finger joints of the individual boards;
No treatment of CLT/Xlam elements with wood paints or flame retardants such as fireproof wood paints;
An authentic concentration of Made in Italy, between wood, technology and vision.
The Essepi CLT/Xlam panel
is the building element
from the future
Building in wood
The CLT/Xlam panel by Essepi is a structural element based on wood, obtained from layers of crossed and glued lamellae (CLT/Xlam) starting from boards classified according to the mechanical resistances UNI EN 14081, which guarantees excellent dimensional stability and mechanical resistance. Essepi uses only solid wood of fir coming from sustainable and certified forest management PEFC, favouring local supply sources such as the woods of Val di Fiemme in Trentino. All Essepi CLT/Xlam panels are composed of 100% of certified fir boards with minimum resistance class C24, joined with mini-finger joints and glued with non-toxic polyurethane glues formaldehyde free. All the processes of the Essepi CLT/Xlam panel are carried out with special machinery, original systems and unique movements in Italy designed by the Essepi team. Thanks to the guaranteed precision operating tools and a fully automated production cycle, Essepi panels have extremely high performance and quality characteristics with very high durability and safety indices. Essepi also ensures a high speed of execution and constant process and quality control in all phases of execution. The Essepi CLT/Xlam panel is the construction element of the future, with a soul as ancient as wood.
The production cycle
Built in 2011 according to the highest energy efficiency standards, it extends over a total surface area of 9000 m2, of which 4000 m2 covered. The three rooms it is composed of are equipped with a system of measurement and control of temperature and humidity relative air quality, as well as heating and humidification systems driven by sensors located near the main production facilities. Perfect insulation ensures a constant internal temperature between 20 and 26 degrees.
All incoming boards are automatically classified and certified thanks to a sophisticated multi-sensor scanner that checks their flatness, density, humidity, number of knots and defects.
It is equipped with a humidification system, for a stable and controlled air humidity between 50% and 60%. The incoming tables – classified, selected and individually subjected to quality control – they are kept in the warehouse for at least seven days, in order to balance and homogenize with the thermo-hygrometric conditions of the plant.
The system, designed for maximum precision, involves the formation of lamellae using structural “finger joints” in the direction of the thickness, so that aesthetically the joint appears as a small horizontal line.
The raw slats are then automatically sent to the precision planing and calibration plant, which regulates their thickness and width up to the final dimensions expected for the layer being processed. The special production process of Essepi CLT/Xlam includes the calibration after planing and is able to create a single phase perfectly flat surface, with a thickness tolerance of less than 5 hundredths of a mm. Neither the slats nor the layers are subjected to preservative treatments before gluing the panel.
This area also includes a fully automated production line. It starts with the formation of the individual layers, both longitudinal and transversal, through two dedicated single-layer presses. The layers thus obtained are subsequently lifted and transported to the gluing table, to then be interleaved and glued according to the specific production scheme of the panels with single-component polyurethane glues. formaldehyde free. The particular method of gluing the layers is further subjected to rigorous tests and according to a precise quality assurance cycle established by the Finnish research centre and certification body EUROFINS. The gluing of the layers takes place via the automated adhesive distribution system. The compaction of the panel is obtained via a high-pressure cold press. The same press guarantees perfect flatness of the panel once unloaded. From the unloading platform the panel is then lifted by a bridge crane and transferred to the raw panel warehouse area, awaiting processing in the cutting centre.
The squaring and sectioning of the panels are carried out using a 5-axis numerical control system, based on the dimensions ordered and the design requirements that characterise the building. Cutting and machining accuracy is ±1 mm.
Each individual element is labeled with a panel code and CE marked, so as to allow unique identification and backward tracking of all production phases, and to make it compatible with structural use in buildings. From the cutting center, the labeled panels are stored in the finished products warehouse, then moved with a bridge crane to the loading platform of the intended means of transport.
If required, Essepi is able to create walls or entire housing modules in CLT/Xlam including Essepi windows and accessories. The insertion of the window in the Essepi CLT/Xlam panel occurs thanks to a milling from the solid of the panel itself. It follows that the assembly phase does not require the use of counterframes, while the quality of theThe panel-window coupling is certified by air and water tightness tests carried out at the CNR-IBE National Research Council – Institute for Bioeconomy.
