IRG Documents Database and Compendium


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Your search resulted in 113 documents. Displaying 25 entries per page.


Evaluation of exposure conditions for wooden facades and decking
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20408
During their functional life, building components are exposed to moisture and other environment stress conditions in numerous ways. This is a fact that should be taken into account during manufacture, product development, designing and work execution of building components. For wood material, moisture stress and biological factors like mould and decay fungi are often critical in cladding and decki...
H Viitanen, T Toratti, R Peuhkuri, T Ojanen, L Makkonen


Detection and Assessment Healthy Situation of Poulus Euphratica Oliv. with Stress Wave
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20415
The defects of tree trunk of Poulus euphratica Oliv were inspected by stress wave method and diagnosed with transmission time and velocity. The reference values of transmission time of unit length and velocity from stress wave were used to assess the healthy situation of tree trunk. The goal is provide fast inspecting technology and assessment method for the historic trees in China. The results sh...
Shanqing Liang, Nana Hu, Lanying Lin, Feng Fu


Estimating the age of subterranean termite attack and damage in buildings
2010 - IRG/WP 10-10727
This paper describes physical and experimental methods and a mathematical model (Rotramel 2003) to assist in estimating the age of subterranean termite attack and damage to building structures. Timber, building and termite management industries have to develop new strategies to assess and estimate termite attack and damage in the current climate of global warming. A case study will be used as an e...
J R J French, B M Ahmed Shiday, J Thorpe


Termite legislation in France: Termite control measures and prevention rules in building construction
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20448
Reticulitermes subterranean termites are considered as urban pests in France because they are harmful for wood-based in the South and the southwestern quarter of the country. Since November 2006 new protective measures of building construction have been introduced by the French parliament which must be applied across the country and in overseas territories to prevent termite infestations. All new ...
M Kutnik, M Jequel, I Paulmier, D Ansard


Drying Rates and Mold Growth on Various Building Materials under Different Environmental Conditions
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20454
Mold growth on building materials is a major problem for homeowners. The most suitable method to control mold growth on building materials is to utilize design features, construction tools and practices that prevent moisture accumulation, and keep the wood as dry as possible. In order to achieve this, engineers and homebuilders have to know the effects of various temperature and moisture conditi...
Dian-Qing Yang


Use of Internal Remedial Treatment to Extend Wood Life at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
2010 - IRG/WP 10-30525
The condition of wood in a reconstructed fur trading fort was assessed over a 30 year period. Poor initial treatment had resulted in the development of extensive early decay. While supplemental treatment with chloropicrin and methylisothiocyanate had arrested the attack, the results suggested that remedial treatments were unable to completely overcome the initial problems associated with treatmen...
C S Love, C Freitag, J J Morrell


Chemical protection of historic timber structures: Results and future needs
2010 - IRG/WP 10-40487
The paper concentrates on the analysis of the effectiveness of chemical protection for timber structures in the Russian State Museums “Kizhi” (Karelia) and “Vitoslavlitsy” (Novgorod). The condition of historic timber was tested at the monuments treated with PCP, borax, potassium carbonate, boric acid, Pinotex chemicals in the 1970-80. Long-term analysis revealed that in many cases the...
M Kisternaya, V Kozlov


Increased sustainability for wood construction by recycling
2011 - IRG/WP 10-50275
Wood is the only renewable and certified industrially available construction material that has also unique opportunities as carbon storing, energy-independent and generally approved resource. However, if burning into energy is not counted, there are only few viable and competitive solutions for re-use or recycling of various wood products. The biggest challenge related to recycling of wood product...
H Heräjärvi, I Pirhonen, T Räty, P Saukkola


Growth conditions for fungal decay in wooden constructions – practical experience versus literature
2011 - IRG/WP 11-10758
Data regarding moisture and temperature requirements of decay fungi found in literature have been compared to experience from observations in a large number of Norwegian buildings. A number of selected situations are discussed, among those exposure to high relative humidity, exposure to free water and decay in the supposedly adverse conditions on Svalbard. The moisture content in wood has to be at...
M Sand Sivertsen, J Mattsson


Cobblestone Church in Gross Gievietz: Historic Wooden Construction and Potential for Conservation and Use
2011 - IRG/WP 11-10760
A majority of cobblestone churches situated in the German Federal State Mecklenburg-Vorpommern demonstrates immense construction deficiencies and are threatened by decay. The historic cobblestone church located in Groß Gievitz, built in the 13th century, is one such church in which the roof beam constructions have degraded considerably due to deficiencies in reconstruction measures. This paper d...
A Schulze, W Unger


Improving our understanding of moisture and other durability-related properties of wood in building envelope performance prediction
2011 - IRG/WP 11-20468
Building science has become an increasingly important field in recent years with rapid changes in construction methods, building materials and consumer expectations. The field has also been brought to prominence by a few large-scale premature building envelope failures in a few regions across the world. Considerable effort has been put into developing hygrothermal models to simulate heat, air, vap...
Jieying Wang, P Morris


Termite resistance of timber envelope treated with imidacloprid then modified by typical building site operations
2011 - IRG/WP 11-30570
Imidacloprid is a new envelope insecticide approved by Australian regulatory authorities for framing timber. It is a non repellent insecticide. Results are reported for timber envelope treated with imidacloprid and altered post treatment with typical building site operations to expose untreated surfaces. These modifications included, cutting, notching and drilling. Pinus radiata timber samples w...
K Day, A Siraa, P Lobb


Effectiveness of Water Based Bentonite-Borate Slurry for In-situ Remedial Protection of Historic Wooden Piles: The Eurobor Protocol, Part 2
2011 - IRG/WP 11-30574
The study of the biocide product Eurobor®, water mixture of boric acid, borax and sodium bentonite, aimed to verify previous findings regarding borates penetration from a clay-water mixture of foundation timber. The product was applied on samples from 100 year old timber foundation from the city of Göteborg. Although in ground for this long the timber was in acceptable god condition due to groun...
M. Theorin, K. Fimmerstad, K-M. Bandh


In-situ experimental treatment and consolidation of degraded timber elements from a XIX century building
2012 - IRG/WP 12-10767
This paper presents the in situ experimental conservation work performed on three timber structural elements from a XIX century building: two floor beams and one roof beam. The palace was built in 1877 in the centre of Lisbon initially with residential purposes. It has four floors, with timber structural horizontal elements, stairs and roof beams (generally of Pinus sylvestris L.). The exterior wa...
D F Henriques, J de Brito, L Nunes


Durability of wooden shop-name signage coated with Urushi lacquer and gold leaf attached to the facade of building in Japan
2012 - IRG/WP 12-20493
Wooden shop-name signage plated with gold leaf is one of the characteristics of newly developed westernized commercial buildings appeared after the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 in Japan. The signage still remains mainly in old districts. The signage with independent letters (Chinese character) shows off the name of the shop with golden colour on the façade of building. The number of these shops...
K Yamamoto, M Kiguchi


Wood-leather panels – A biological, fire retardant building material
2012 - IRG/WP 12-40615
The poor flame retardant properties of wood-based products are among the severest obstacles, hindering its use in the commercial building sector. Recently, some attempts to improve the fire properties, relying on inflammable salts or reactive halogen compounds, have been presented, although they either cause problems with machining or embody harmful compounds (halogen derivates). In this paper, ...
S Wieland, U Stöckl, T Grünewald, S Ostrowski, A Petutschnigg


Communities of mold fungi on flooded building materials
2013 - IRG/WP 13-10799
A small building built to residential code was flooded using farmland pond water to a depth of two feet at Tuskegee University. The building was drained and left enclosed for an additional three weeks. A total of 168 material samples were removed either immediately after opening (wet) or seven months after flooding (dry). Wall materials sampled included fiberglass batt insulation, gypsum wallboard...
F Skrobot III, H Aglan, S V Diehl


Method for determining the critical moisture level for mould growth on building materials
2013 - IRG/WP 13-20530
The natural conditions of relative humidity (RH) and temperature (T) in different parts of a building is rarely constant over time. Instead, RH and T often vary cyclically and may pose a risk of mould growth as these conditions are the two key environmental parameters that controls mould growth. Consideration to both humidity and temperature conditions and the susceptibility to mould in a material...
A Ekstrand-Tobin, P Johansson, G Bok


Durability and Wood Protection for Historic Covered Bridges in the United States
2014 - IRG/WP 14-10829
A majority of the covered wooden bridges in United States were built in the mid -1800’s. These structures represent a unique cultural and technological heritage from that era. Over time, these bridges have been deteriorated by microorganisms and insects or damaged by acts of vandalism and arson. The National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation (NHCBP) Program sponsored by the Federal Highway Ad...
V W Yang, C A Clausen


Communities of mold fungi in moisture damaged building materials
2014 - IRG/WP 14-20542
The critical conditions needed for the development of mould and decay fungi have been modelled for different building materials. However, current knowledge of indoor microbes growing on building materials relies on culture-based methods and more advanced molecular biological techniques should be employed to study the complex microbial communities in building materials. In this paper molecular biol...
E Sohlberg, H Viitanen


The development of accelerated test systems to evaluate the durability of framing timber
2014 - IRG /WP 14-20547
Various accelerated decay resistance trials including small simulated wall units, samples exposed in enclosed tanks and ‘I’ samples in stacks have been explored and used to test the durability of treated and untreated radiata pine framing at Scion since 2001. These testing methods have been established to determine the effectiveness of commercial formulations in preventing decay in framing sub...
T Singh, D Page, J van der Waals


On-site remediation treatments for framing timber in leaky buildings
2014 - IRG/WP 14-20549
Weathertightness failures in New Zealand buildings due to the combined effects of cladding choices, design and construction faults and the use of untreated framing timber has led to the so called ‘leaky building syndrome’. The latest estimated cost of the leaky building crisis in New Zealand is about NZ$11 billion. This research was conducted to provide a better understanding of the option...
T Singh, D Page, A Bennett


Applicability of wood durability testing methods to bio-based building materials
2015 - IRG/WP 15-20561
It is well known that organic materials may be susceptible to attack from a range of fungal organisms and any bio-based material used in locations where there is the possibility of microbiological activity must be expected to be able to withstand or prevent such attack. There are a wide range of test methods and standards in place to test susceptibility although most of these test individual compo...
S F Curling, B K Stefanowski, E Mansour, G A Ormondroyd


Performance of bio-based building materials – viewpoints from the first year of COST Action FP1303
2015 - IRG/WP 15-20572
Maintaining and expanding the market potential for bio-based building products in indoor and outdoor construction uses remains a key activity for industries in the forestry and biotechnological sector, particularly in Europe. Whilst there are ongoing activities within IRG for collecting and populating a database on performance on wood, the performance data for many other (i.e. non-wood) "environme...
D Jones


Building solid foundations to support market growth of preserved wood in the UK – treatment quality, product approval and the largest national field trial of preservative treated wood in 50 years
2015 - IRG/WP 15-30662
The Wood Protection Association (WPA) has just commissioned Britain’s largest ever durability trial of home grown timber, having contracted Building Research Establishment (BRE) to conduct a long term controlled field trial of sawn and pressure treated British Softwood posts at two sites with differing soil conditions. This large scale Field Trial is the last of an innovative and substantial thr...
E Suttie, G Ewbank


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