Esperi Kapteenska assisted living facility

Designed by HMV Architects, the Esperi Kapteenska assisted living facility in Helsinki consists of 15 residential units. This L-shaped building has 16 corners and a low gable roof, which will be built using Metsä Wood’s tongue-and-groove Spruce MouldGuard plywood. Surface-impregnated Spruce MouldGuard plywood is four to five times more resistant to mould than untreated plywood.

Supervisor Jarkko Joonala is in charge of the construction of the Esperi Kapteenska assisted living facility. Metsä Wood’s large plywood sheets are being used as roof decking in the project. According to Joonala, this saves time and significantly reduces costs. Building the roof decking for a 1,000 m² building is a lengthy process if only raw tongue-and-groove planks are used. The size of each plywood sheet is 2,400 × 1,200 mm.

Surface-impregnated spruce plywood is ideal for roof structures

Rakennusliike Olavi Järvinen is responsible for the Esperi Kapteenska project, which is a turnkey contract.
“In this project, the instructions to use 15 mm surface-impregnated spruce plywood came from the structural engineer. Our company took care of the bidding process. Spruce MouldGuard plywood is ideal material for decking, as it is ready for use and does not require any treatments on the construction site,” says Joonala.

The surface of Metsä Wood’s Spruce MouldGuard plywood is impregnated at the factory with a mould-resistant agent, which significantly reduces the risk of mould growth. Spruce MouldGuard plywood is CE-marked and has been tested by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. In the Esperi Kapteenska project, Spruce MouldGuard plywood has been used as roof decking, and also as decking for the metal cladding in the eave structures.

Large plywood sheets mean fewer seams

Sheet products mean fewer seams – and the fewer seams, the better. Tongue-and-groove sheets are easy to adjust to various sizes of area.

Metsä Wood also delivered Kerto® LVL (laminated veneer lumber) beams to be used in the intermediate roof in the Esperi Kapteenska facility. The beams were cut to size at the factory. Elevations of 50–300 mm were built on the construction site to create the low gable roof. The roofing is made from heat-welded bitumen felt.

Surface-impregnated plywood is highly resistant to weather conditions and higher humidity levels. In the Epseri Kapteenska building, all of the plywood will be covered – that is, it will not be visible in the completed building.

“Ready-to-use surfaces save time on construction sites, meaning that the product is perfect for applications such as this,” says Magnus Hindström from Metsä Wood.

When plywood sheets are used in the roof decking, the roof has more torsional stiffness.

“The amount of material needed is the same no matter whether planks or sheets are used. Plywood is lighter, easier to handle and quicker to install – even twice as quick, I would say,” concludes Joonala.