Plywood ... you can bet your life on it!

Leading Brisbane architect Mark Wilson believes in engineered wood products – he’s been designing buildings in plywood for more than 25 years; in fact, he can bet his life on it.

Mr Wilson, principal of architects Black & Wilson Pty Ltd at The Gap, says without the structural security of plywood certified to Australasian standards, he would have been “a goner” after a two massive gum trees fell across his roof during a microburst storm.

“Man, I’m telling you, it was just incredible .. the branches penetrated the roof and ceiling and we ended up with 10 tonnes of tree on top of us and the house didn’t move one millimetre out of vertical thanks to the plywood cladding and ceilings,” Mr Wilson said.

Storm winds reached 150 km/hour and uprooting one 750 mm diameter tree and snapping off another 600 mm diameter tree 2 m above the ground.

“The structural integrity of the engineered plywood bracing was so high the tree branches just snapped over the top plate. Given that the trees hit the highest part of the house more than 8 m high, that’s pretty amazing,” Mr Wilson said.

The architectural firm has been specifying totally PAA plywood structures for more than 25 years in both commercial and domestic projects.

Mr Wilson’s used CHH Shadowclad 15 mm plywood cladding in the building of his home at The Gap. It is a total plywood construction incorporating V-line ceilings and flooring with exposed floor joists.

Exterior cladding that hat forms the 7m high walls is H3 LOSP treated PAA plywood.

“Nothing else matches it in terms of a contemporary look – and structural safety,” Mr Wilson said