For all of glulam’s virtues (looks, carbon storage, strength for its weight) it does some things poorly. A GL24 spruce member is relatively soft, so a rigid connection needs metal.
A well-made kit ships with the steel already designed: brackets, plates, dowels, and screws engineered for the specific structure, some off the shelf and some laser-cut by a fabricator straight from the building information model. Integrating those connections into the prefabricated elements is what makes clear-span portal frames and cantilevers practical.
One reminder for multistory work: steel is non-combustible, but it needs fire protection in ways timber may not. Ask the engineer to design for it.
Steel solves the rigid joint. Lateral load, from wind and earthquakes, needs its own answer.
Adapted with permission from a note by our colleagues at Red Falls Timber Co.
