Out-of-Plane Strengthening of Existing Timber Floors with Cross Laminated Timber Panels Made of Short Supply Chain Beech

Establishing short supply chains for timber has become important especially in Italy, which is an historically wood-importer country. Timber is an environmentally friendly construction material and a potential mean to reduce carbon footprint produced every year by the building sector. In addition to its sustainability benefits, reversible strengthening interventions can be attained for existing structures. As such, timber can be efficiently used to preserve and protect historical buildings which are, due to architectural and aesthetic values, fundamental components of the Italian cultural heritage. In this study, the use and potential of novel cross-laminated (X-Lam or CLT) timber panels made of Italian hardwood (i.e., beech) for strengthening of existing timber floors is investigated. A quantitative comparison between the mechanical performances of the proposed wood-based product and common retrofitting techniques, such as double-crossed timber planks and reinforced concrete slabs, is carried out in terms of bending stiffness (which is evaluated according to Eurocode 5), influence of weight and reversibility of intervention. It is shown that CLT panels represent a good compromise/alternative for the realisation of reversible and sustainable reinforcing interventions, with rather well promising performances.