Journal Article

Author

Margetts, Lloyd

Title

The Conservation of Large Timber Structures

In

Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering

Imprint

vol. 6, no. 1, 2008, pp. 45-52

Url

https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.167094207266568

Description

Paper presented at the National Engineering Heritage Conference (14th: 2007 : Perth).

Abstract

Much of the early development of Australia utilised timber infrastructure, such as bridges, jetties and large buildings. While many of those early structures have disappeared forever, enough interesting ones remain to pose the question of what to do about them. The maintenance of timber is not widely understood, and conservation of significant old timber structures is usually seen as an expensive, short-term 'fix', generally involving considerable replacement of the original elements. Fortunately, over the past 20 years there has been considerable development of preservation technology and assessment methodology for timber road bridges by Main Roads Western Australia - and these techniques are applicable to the majority of timber structures. In keeping with modern environmental concerns, the timber preservation methods have been chosen for minimum environmental impact and simplicity of application. This paper outlines the principles of timber preservation and details the application of the current bridge management methods to large timber structures generally. The author has been intimately involved in both the establishment of the preservation methods, as well as their use in large bridge refurbishment projects.

Related Published resources

isPartOf

• '14th National Engineering Heritage Conference - Selected Papers (2007 : Perth)', Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering, 6 (1) (2008), 128, https://search.informit.org/toc/ajmde/6/1. Details