Refurbishment of a Traditional Timber Floor with a Reversible Technique: Importance of the Investigation Campaign for Design and Control of the Intervention

The strengthening and stiffening of traditional timber floors with the addition of timber planks and the use of dry connections falls into the category of “traditional” repair methods. Nevertheless, a high degree of innovation and scientific/industrial research is implicit in some modern applications of this type of intervention. If newly developed systems are to be satisfactorily adopted to repair ancient structures, their effectiveness and reliability need to be adequately evaluated. The study highlights the importance of investigation actions for the design, calibration, and control of intervention in the restoration of heritage structures. On the occasion of the adoption of an innovative timber-to-timber strengthening technique for the rehabilitation of a traditional timber floor in a mediaeval castle in Italy, a thorough investigation was carried out. Tests were performed in situ on the structural elements, in both the original and the repaired condition, and the results were compared with those obtained in the laboratory on a dismantled member. Despite some differences between the experimental conditions on site and in the laboratory, the two testing campaigns showed a good agreement of results. In particular, an increase of more than four times the effective bending stiffness was achieved, in both cases, after repair.