Sustainable use of timber in construction - specification, detailing, maintenance and repair for extended life

Abstract

Timber is highly interesting from the point of view of sustainable construction and, besides most traditional uses it has received increasing attention in modern building industry. However, both the timber material and timber structures require particular attention, care and adequate strategies concern in materials specification, design, detailing, maintenance and repair for extended life. Specific to timber as a raw material are its great variability, anisotropy, hygroscopic nature and the risk of biological degradation in adverse exposure conditions. Highly important or the performance and safety of timber structures are also the detailing of timber joints, dimensional variations and tensile stresses perpendicular to the wood grain, that often converge to cause malfunctions.