Glued wood panel
A glued wood panel is composed of pieces of wood (bars) glued at their edges and sides. Multilayer panels consist of two outer layers, placed with their fibres in parallel directions and at least one inner layer with a fibre direction at an angle of 90° to the outer layers. These panels are usually used for façades (doors) in cabinet furniture, worktops or the interior facilities of buildings (doors, doorframes and staircases). Panels produced from natural wood have none of the deficiencies typical of wood (knots, gaps, crooked fibre layers, etc.) as these are already cut off when producing the bars.
Panels of natural wood can be single-layered or multi-layered. They are used in dry or humid indoor environments and outdoors, for general purposes and for construction purposes, and can be produced from solid lengthwise or non-solid pieces. The panels can also be unpolished, polished, containing relief surfaces, or decorated (coated, painted, polished, varnished, or impregnated with oils).
Regardless of their thickness, glued timber panels of all types have a symmetrical construction. Also, all pieces of the outer layers (on the face and back sides) have to be made of the same type of wood. No gaps can appear in the formations of the inner layers (both glued and non-glued). The end pieces of single-layer panels, which are made of wooden pieces sawn to length, can be connected with finger joints, closed or otherwise connected at their ends.
Glued laminated timber
Glued laminated timber or glulam is a construction product. It is composed of planed boards glued together in a longitudinal fibre direction. Glulam from sawn wooden boards is usually purposed for the manufacturing of jambs (doorposts) and the frames of windows and doors. Boards can be solid or glued from other pieces joined with finger joints. One layer can consist of one board with a width equal to the width of the timber, or of a few boards.
Plywood
Plywood is sheet structural material composed of an uneven number of veneer layers (most often 3 layers). Its upper (outer) layer, which has a higher quality, is called the face of the plywood, and its bottom layer, with a worse quality – its back side. The inner layers are produced from sliced veneer. If the upper layer is a planed veneer, the plywood is called decorative. In Western Europe, panels glued from many layers of planed beech veneer, in one direction or crosswise, are very popular. They are often called plywood panels. Depending on the type of glue, they are suitable for use in dry or humid premises, or outdoors. According to the surface finishing, they can be non-polished, polished or covered with a film of various materials.
Veneer panels of all types can be used for manufacturing furniture, and can also serve as a universal construction material. According to their thickness and the type of gluing, plywood panels can be designed for construction, decoration or insulation.