Home Grown Timbers

A manual for all without traditional skills who want to build with timber framing.

This is the first book to tackle all the issues relating to timber decay. It presents the facts and explores timber decay problems through case studies. These are illustrated with clear self-explanatory photographs for the reader to use as a diagnostic aid. Section 1 discusses timber as a living material, Section 2 deals with decay organisms and their habitat requirements. Section 3 moves on to the building as an environment for timber and discusses the ways in which wood responds to moisture change. Section 4 ends with an approach to timber decay which integrates knowledge on the decay organism, its requirements and natural predators with appropriate and targeted chemical treatments.

This volume contains the proceedings of the 11th KES International Conference on Sustainability and Energy in Buildings 2019 (SEB19) held in Budapest, 4th -5th July 2019 organised by KES International in partnership with Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales, UK. SEB-19 invited contributions on a range of topics related to sustainable buildings and explored innovative themes regarding sustainable energy systems. The aim of the conference was to bring together researchers, and government and industry professionals to discuss the future of energy in buildings, neighbourhoods and cities from a theoretical, practical, implementation and simulation perspective. The conference formed an exciting chance to present, interact, and learn about the latest research and practical developments on the subject. The conference attracted submissions from around the world. Submissions for the Full-Paper Track were subjected to a blind peer-review process. Only the best of these were selected for presentation at the conference and publication in these proceedings. It is intended that this volume provides a useful and informative snapshot of recent research developments in the important and vibrant area of Sustainability in Energy and Buildings.

This book tells the fascinating story of the policies and projects that resulted in doubling the size of British forests over the past eighty years and of the Acts and actors that played a role in this development. By the end of the century the area of forests in the United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland) had risen to over two and three quarter million hectares and covered eleven per cent of the land area. Three quarters of them consisted of plantations. Few other countries - Ireland and Denmark are two - have achieved a comparable change in the rural landscape in favour of forestry over as short a time. Furthermore, from being in a deplorable state by the end of the First World War, British forests are now well above the European average in terms of productivity (wood yield per hectare). At the same time they are being called upon to meet increasingly heavy social and environmental demands from a dense, largely urbanised society.

McKay offers conservation practitioners an essential understanding of the traditional forms of construction, covering the use of masonry and brickwork, carpentry and joinery, slating, plumbing and drainage. The book includes: the author's extensive, highly detailed drawings to illustrate the text; useful material on traditional craft practice - essential for undertaking repairs; and explanations of terminology and techniques - simply described.