The environmental control of timber decay

Abstract

Points to the decline of “craftsmanship” as a factor leading to the demise of the ability to control timber decay in an environmentally‐friendly fashion. Considers pesticides and other chemical‐based treatments as a lower‐cost, relatively recent, but often unsuccessful remedy to timber decay. Outlines major timber‐decay problems: dry rot, wet rot and woodboring insects, and their detection techniques. Includes diagrams and detailed discussion on remedial treatments. Concludes that timber decay cannot be effectively treated without an understanding of the interaction of the external environment, building materials, design and content, and the activities within and occupants of a building, and that manipulation of a single variable (timber decay organisms) is bound to be unsuccessful without such understanding.

Citation

Hutton, T.C., Lloyd, H. and Singh, J. (1992), "The environmental control of timber decay", Structural Survey, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 5-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/02630809210031672