A woodworking tradition interpreted in a modern way

In Kapellen-Drusweiler in the Südliche Weinstraße district, Alexander Wissing is the third generation to run the carpentry and sawmill business of the same name. The consistent commitment to timber construction is reflected here not only in the customer projects but also in the company's own production hall.

Traditional Craftsmanship

An expert project of Zimmergeschäft & Sägewerk Wissing Gmbh

Pfleiderer in conversation with Mr. Alexander Wissing

PFLEIDERER: Mr. Wissing, wouldn't it be much easier to build the production hall with prefabricated steel elements?

Alexander Wissing: That was completely out of the question for us as a company. I also doubt whether it is really easier in the end. Our carpentry business was founded here in 1886, and the sawmill was added in 1948, up until my grandfather's business was shut down in 1987. However, I was always fascinated by the subject, so I started a mobile sawmill again as a sideline in 2004. In 2009 - when I obtained my master craftsman's certificate - I founded the carpentry business & sawmill Wissing GmbH. With a clear focus on timber construction in timber frame construction. We built our office and exhibition building in this way back in 2012. Since 2014, we have been a member of the ZimmerMeisterHaus association, an association of around 100 regional, independently operating manufacturers. In 2016, the panel warehouse was added and since 2018 we have owned the adjacent plot of land on which the hall has now been built. We now have 11 employees and 3 permanent freelancers.

PFLEIDERER: Quite a success story! What is your strategy?

Alexander Wissing: We have already optimised the topic of timber construction to a very high degree - and thanks to precise planning and high production quality, we can generally implement our projects exactly as our customers have commissioned them. Our new production hall is the best illustration of this. Here, we can explain the construction method to our clients and demonstrate how good the result will look on a live object. Incidentally, the same also applies to our office building, which we naturally also built according to our philosophy.

PFLEIDERER: But your focus is on classic detached houses, isn't it?

Alexander Wissing: We develop and design residential and business premises as well as usable space - in new builds and through extensions, conversions or renovations. In addition to residential buildings, this also includes commercial properties, e.g. halls for local winegrowers or even a daycare center in the region. Especially when it comes to healthy living and energy efficiency, timber construction is hard to beat. We have developed a wall construction that perfectly harmonises building physics requirements, fast production times and cost-effectiveness: LivingBoard face contiprotect P5 with a thickness of 15 mm is used as the interior cladding, which is mounted on a stud frame with a thickness of 20 or 24 cm. In the past, we used OSB3, but the higher requirements for healthy living in public tenders - e.g. for the aforementioned daycare centre - led us to the 100% formaldehyde-free glued LivingBoard. With Cradle to Cradle Silver certification and the Blue Angel, we meet even the most demanding requirements. In addition, the workability is optimal for us. On the outside, the wall construction is finished with a pre-plastered wood fibre insulation board 60 mm thick, which is already equipped with the required reinforcing mesh. In between, we use blown-in insulation from Isocell. This allows us to achieve excellent thermal insulation values, good sound insulation and a diffusion-open, moisture-regulating wall structure with sustainable materials.

PFLEIDERER: In addition to the LivingBoard, you also use StyleBoard MDF.RWH, right?

Alexander Wissing: Yes, as underlayment in the roof and also as part of the exterior wall construction if our customers want a rear-ventilated façade. StyleBoard MDF.RWH is ideal for this as a diffusion-open panel. We plan around two thirds of our single-family homes with this very attractive façade construction. In practice, we then implement it in around half of all houses because the costs are ultimately too high for many clients. However, individual sections, such as around the entrance, are often designed accordingly.

PFLEIDERER: How far do you accompany your customers to the turnkey house?

Alexander Wissing: Relatively wide. We call this "closed facade". We develop and plan our customers' houses with two external timber construction engineers and a civil engineer. As soon as the floor slab or basement is finished, our work begins. Naturally, we carry out all the timber construction work ourselves. The trades that are carried out by our specialist partners are coordinated by us. This includes window construction and the roof. Roller shutters and venetian blinds are already integrated into our wall modules. We also carry out the plastering of the exterior walls ourselves, as we have employees who are also skilled in other trades. For the cross-laminated timber suspended ceilings, we work with a supplier who delivers directly to the construction site ready for processing, which is easy for us to plan. Since 100% of our new buildings are now equipped with low-temperature heating systems - most of them with underfloor heating - we usually commission a heating contractor to lay the anhydride screed, including the heat distribution system, on the suspended ceilings in a timely manner.

PFLEIDERER: This means that some work is still being carried out on the construction site - but also a lot of prefabrication in the factory. Is the new hall already in operation?

Alexander Wissing: It has been used as storage space since July 2023, and the machines are moved in winter when the order situation allows. Incidentally, the hall is supplied with heat via a wood chip heating system using concrete core activation. We have already been using the heating system for a few years as a small district heating network to heat the residential buildings and offices on the site. During construction, it was already clear that the hall would be added one day, so we sized the heating system accordingly. In other words, this is another example of systematic, energy-efficient construction!

PFLEIDERER: Mr. Wissing, thank you for the interview!

PROFILE ALEXANDER WISSING

ProfessionMaster carpenter & managing director
MottoWood has a future...

The facts about the project

Project: New production hall
Product:

LivingBoard Face Contiprotect P5

StyleBoard MDF.RHW

Application Areas:

Roof & cladding

Timber frame walls

Execution:

Zimmergeschäft & Sägewerk Wissing GmbH

Obere Hauptstr. 37

76889 Kapellen-Drusweiler

Building owner:         Naturbaustoffe Wissing
Obere Haupstr. 35
76889 Kapellen-Drusweiler

Completion of

shell construction:

Summer 2023

Products used

INDIVIDUAL ADVICE

Kontakt

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Product inquiries and sales.

+49 (0) 9181 28-480

sales[at]pfleiderer[dot]com

 

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