Does CLT absorb odour?

The target group (international students) regularly smokes a joint. 

Our client in the north of the country, for whom we are currently designing the CLT shell of a 7-storey residential building, wondered if the smell of weed soaks into the CLT over time. Good question!

 

Now, we know a lot about CLT, but this time we had to shrug off the answer. Further investigation was called for. To this end, we placed a block of CLT in a Haarlem coffee shop. There, during the day and in the evening, many dozens of aficionados enjoy their favourite stuff. After 2.5 weeks, we collected the CLT again. In terms of smoking intensity, this is probably equivalent to several years of blowing by an occupant of a CLT home. 

 

Back at the office, our team, with their noses just above the wood, detected the smell of cigarette smoke, but not the pungent smell of weed. Like smelling a jumper you had on at a party where smoking was going on (remember the old days?).

Each day the smell decreased slightly and after four days there was no recognisable or noticeable smell. In a blind test between the coffee shop CLT and a block of smokeless CLT, the CLT that had been stoned for 2.5 weeks could not be recognised.

Conclusion based on this test: CLT probably does not absorb odour in the longer term.