Glulam or profiled timber

The two walls look similar on a drawing and behave differently for the first two years. The choice is mostly about how much waiting you are prepared to do.

Settlement and time

Profiled timber of natural moisture gives up 7–10 % of wall height as it dries, most of it in the first year. That dictates the whole schedule: sliding frames in openings, compensators under posts, no rigid finishes until the movement stops. Kiln-dried profiled timber cuts this to 3–5 %. Glulam, already at 10–12 % moisture, moves about 1–2 %, which is why finishing follows the roof by weeks instead of a season.

Cracking and appearance

A solid beam cracks as the outer fibres dry faster than the core, and the crack can run the depth of the wall. In glulam the lamellas are thin enough that checking stays shallow and inside one layer. If you want a wall that reads as one plane with tight corners, glulam is the easier path; if you want the look of massive timber and do not mind movement, profiled timber is honest about what it is.

Price and what you get for it

Glulam costs noticeably more per cubic metre, and the gap narrows once you count the waiting year, the second round of sealing and the re-tightening of a timber house. It does not disappear. A reasonable rule near Moscow: if the house is for year-round living and you want to move in within a season, glulam pays for itself in schedule; if it is a seasonal house and the budget is tight, kiln-dried profiled timber is the sensible answer.

Either way the wall is the smaller half of the decision. The roof, the windows and the care taken at the corners decide what the house costs to heat.