Massive Timber Construction with SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD OSB

Massive timber construction is the gold standard for prefabricated houses. It’s fast and flexible, can be used in any weather and season, and is based on a renewable raw material. SWISS KRONO has developed a product for massive timber construction that is environmentally friendly and sustainable, promotes healthy living and enables fast, economic, on-budget construction with plenty of latitude for implementing architectural ideas. 

For single-family detached homes, multi-storey urban buildings, industrial or commercial facilities: the massive timber construction system based on SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB is just as versatile as the raw material from which it is made, namely wood itself. 

Massive timber construction is typically done with wall, ceiling and roof modules or panels made of glulam or cross-laminated timber. Now, however, there is a powerful alternative: the massive timber construction system based on SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB. Here innovative technology and wood, a renewable natural resource, come together in an easy-to-use, efficiency timber construction system that gives architects enormous flexibility for implementing their creative ideas. 

The SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB system is an officially approved massive timber construction system for building eco-friendly houses that are healthy to live in. It combines the advantages of conventional massive timber and timber-frame construction. Walls, ceilings and entire roof modules can be quickly and easily made with SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB. SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB modules consist of multiple bonded layers of SWISS KRONO OSB/4 boards. You can therefore give free rein to your creativity, as the modules can be prefabricated without the need to follow a prescribed grid or layout. Even highly sophisticated, wildly imaginative ideas can be put into practice, thanks to ultra-precise prefabrication by CNC systems based on digital blueprints. 

Massive Large-Format Timber Modules with Many Benefits

SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB permits fast, cost-effective implementation of both small and large buildings using massive timber construction methods. Our licensees flexibly produce large-format, extremely dimensionally stable modules with excellent loadbearing properties, thermal and acoustic insulation and flame resistance. Measuring up to 18 metres long, they allow the construction of lastingly windtight buildings with a minimum of joints. SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB modules excel with their ease of use and low tendency to swell or shrink. 

When building with SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB, a major role is played by the efficient use of time. It takes somewhat longer to plan such a massive timber house due to the need for very great precision. But actual assembly goes so much faster that the additional effort pays off handsomely. The short on-site construction phase significantly reduces costs for road closures, temporary pedestrian walkways and crane enclosures. Nearby residents are also subjected to far less noise. 

SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB can also be directly finished on site with tiles, wallpaper or plaster. There is no need to install additional boarding or apply plaster or filler like in the case of particleboard, thus reducing costs for materials and labour. 

SWISS KRONO systems also pave the way for massive timber construction when other challenges need to be mastered. SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB can be used for virtually anything, including corrosion-prone structures such as salt stores and flat or gently sloping roofs with a pitch of up to 5°. Even the interior walls of cellars can be made with them. 

Modules made from SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB can be very large indeed: up to 18 metres long, which is sufficient for an entire house wall. This adds to the speed and efficiency of prefabrication and assembly while making it possible to build airtight and windtight timber houses without the need to painstakingly tape over butt joints. This massive timber construction system is suitable both as a complete solution for brand-new buildings and for adding storeys to existing houses, also in combination with other construction methods. The system provides all of the advantages of massive wall, ceiling and roof assembly while offering enormous potential for streamlining work and minimising costs. It is also suitable for taller and subterranean buildings with larger units (building classes 4 and 5 in Germany). 

Massive Timber Construction in SWISS KRONO Quality

The basis for SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB modules is SWISS KRONO OSB/4 boards measuring 18 x 2.8m by 25mm thick. These have been approved for this use by the building authorities in Germany owing to their superb technical properties, which are vastly superior to those of conventional OSB/4 boards as tested according to EN 300. Only formaldehyde-free binders are used to produce these boards. This makes SWISS KRONO OSB/4 ideal for the SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB building system. Licensees stack and bond between three and ten layers of OSB/4 and then cut them into wall, ceiling or roof modules according to specifications. 

High Energy Efficiency with Massive Timber Construction

Massive timber construction with SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB is outstandingly suited for alternative energy saving approaches: passive houses, low-energy houses, zero-energy buildings etc., all of which can be easily implemented with the SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB system. Wood and wood-based materials are naturally blessed with thermally insulating properties. And using them to make relatively thin exterior walls (along with the right insulation) yields excellent thermal and acoustic insulation. 

This innovative system meets all of the prerequisites for eco-friendly construction, and the material’s natural properties facilitate and improve prefabrication and assembly, airtightness and indoor climate, energy efficiency, healthy living and cost-effectiveness. 

For more information: 

SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB 

References for prefabricated timber construction with SWISS KRONO MAGNUMBOARD® OSB