Natural durability and performance of Eucalyptus globulus single family house in Spain after 17 years exposure

IRG/WP 19-40873

D Lorenzo, M Touza, J Fernandez-GolfĂ­n, A Lozano, J Benito

From last century, in the country side in Spain is common to find wooden houses. The reason is mainly due the improvements in glues, materials, design by computer and processing in factories. All these technological advances have facilitated the development industrialized systems cheaper. However, the variety of row materials, designs and construction systems, combined with some hard climates, could have as result in some cases pathological problems associated to wood destroying fungi, insects an aesthetics. The wood species selected and the design details are fundamentals for performance and durability of the timber houses. The wood degradation depends on firstly on the wood specie selected but also depends on driven rain and winds, design details, joints and maintenance. This paper presents the performance of an Eucalyptus globulus single family house built in 2002 in north Spain, using entirely sawn and glued laminated Eucalytus globulus heartwood in all elements of the house: Structure, flooring, stairs, windows, galleries, roofing, carpentries, etc., without using preservatives and it was designed considering very well detail designs as well as maintenance during its service life. After more than 17 years, the performance of all wood elements of this single family house is very good, without pathological problems and continues to serve their original purpose. This house constituting a prime example of the versatility of this wood in structural and decorative wood elements. It is worth pointing out that all joins between structural components have been assembled with traditional techniques and without using metallic elements.


Keywords: wood, Eucalyptus, performance, design, buildings

Conference: 19-05-12/16 Quebec City, Canada


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