Review of Codes and Standards

The chapter deals with a review of the international codes and standard related to the in situ evaluation of timber structures. The ISO 13822:2001 (Bases for design of structures – Assessment of existing structures) standard is the only one at international level on this field, but it’s only partially applicable to the topic, because it deals with all the building materials, not only with wood, and because the principal aim is not the conservation criteria, but the structural safety obtained with cost saving. At national level there are two Italian standards the UNI 11119:2004 (Cultural Heritage – wooden artefacts – Load bearing structures of buildings – On site inspections for the diagnosis of timber members) and the UNI 11138:2004 (Cultural heritage – Load bearing structures of buildings – Criteria for the preliminary evaluation, design and execution of works). Both the standards are strictly related to the cultural heritage, then having as first goal the protection and conservation of the artefacts. The main part of the chapter rapidly describes the first of these two standards, aimed to define the mechanical performances of each structural member at the moment of the diagnostic inspection. The steps of the diagnostic path start from the identification of the species, pass through the description of the existing conditions through an accurate constructive survey and the inspection procedures, going finally to the inspection report that describes the results.