When Timber Age was founded we did not set out to create what we now call TAMBS, it is an ever evolving solution to the problems and goals stated above. The standard panel assembly consists of a 3 inch thick Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) panel, air resistant barrier (ARB), I-Joists, cellulose insulation, and another layer of either ARB, or weather resistant barrier (WRB). 

Panelized Assembly:

"Manufactured", "Pre-Fabricated" and even "Modular" have almost become dirty words in the residential construction industry over the years. While there is absolutely a place for all types of construction, often what we see in manufactured and modular construction is lower quality material that barely meets minimum code requrements and are not desined to last much longer than 20 or 30 years without having major problems arise. TAMBS attempts to take the benefits and efficiency of off-site construction to another level of durability and energy efficiency by using innovative materials typically not found in typical manufacturing settings. Another drawback of the traditional manufactured and modular methods is transportation. When building a volumetric modular structure floors, walls, and roof are at least partially assembled before shipping. The air space inside the buildign module is essentially wasted space on a truck that the customer ultimatley pays for. TAMBS sits in a middle ground between traditional construction and volumetric modular construction by assembling large sections of a building with panels that can be flat packed on a truck and efficiently placed on a foundation on site. This ends up being a much more efficient use of space, and fuel during transportation while still maintaining a very high level of efficency on site when the building is being assembled. *insert photo of powdermill on truck* 

Cross Laminated Timber:

Commonly referd to as CLT, Cross Laminated Timber is a building technology firs developed in Europe over 30 years ago. Traditionally in North America it has been produed at a scale only suited for large scale construction, not single and small multi-family buildings. Timber Age saw an opportunity to downsize the technology and production methods for this material which enabled us to use the massive amount of Poderosa Pine being removed form our local forests for fire mitigation. Ponderosa Pine is not a species typically used for construction in the modern era due to its inherant imperfections. CLT offers to opportunity to spread these imperfections out over the multiple layers and mass of a large panel so it can be used as a structural component in our buildings. By utilizing locally harvested lumber that would otherwise be burned for heat or in wild fire, or sit on the forest floor and rot away we are able to delay the release of that carbon in to the atmosphere for 100 years or more. *photo of CLT assembly process*

I-Joists:

The use of a common engineered bulding material like I-Joists in our assembly solves two problems for us. First it allows us to produce our CLT at a smaller scale that allows us to utilize smaller trees while still ending up with assemblies that are up to 10' by 25' in size. The I-Joists enable us to join multiple CLT panels together creating an incredibly strong assembly capable of clear spanning large distances without support. The second reason is to create a cavity for our desk pack cellulose insulation layer. 

Insulation: