Prefabricated wood i-joist from Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) flange and LVL parallel web / Mariani Mamat

Malaysia is one of the tropical countries with 61% or 20.1 million hectare of the total land area of green cover. It included about 6.2 million hectare are found in peninsular Malaysia, 9.4 million hectare in Sarawak and 4.5 million hectare in Sabah. Recently, the concern about tropical timber especially on common timber tree have grown faster than the other species especially Rubberwood (Hevea brasiliensis), which is the major wood base industry. Rubberwood is a tropical tree and is the principal source of rubber and now, many value products from rubberwood has been produce. The properties such as furniture, gIulam, plywood, laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and other wood based panel. Usually, wood I-joists were made with solid sawn lumber flanges and plywood web. This was follow by I-joists produced from wood products, as if LVL has been use for flanges and plywood for web materials. The advantage of an I-shapes compared to the solid section is higher bending moments and stiffness can be achieved with the minimum use of the material (Breyer, 1993). Moreover, the results of using I-joist make more environmentally friendly building products with a view of flange profile requiring fewer natural resources (Anon, 1998).