Investigations on the influence of different types of restoration of beam ends of the floor in the Alte Schäfflerei Benediktbeuern

The Alte Schäfflerei (Old Cooperage) of Benediktbeuern Monastery houses the Fraunhofer Centre for Conservation and Energy Performance of Historic Buildings. This historical building is renovated as an object of observation in the sense of a “transparent construction site” both from a preservation and an energy point of view. The opening of the wooden beam ceiling of the Alte Schäfflerei showed that almost all wooden beam heads were massively attacked by wood destroying fungi and harmful insects, and therefore had to be replaced. A total of 24 destroyed wooden beam heads were found. This gave us the opportunity to investigate various restoration techniques within a research project. Different renovation variants were used, which differ in the material of insulation, in the type of bearing and in the handling of the cavities around the beam head. The influence of the different measures is shown by means of the measured temporal courses of the wood moisture near the surface and in the core of the beam heads. Additionally, the temperature at the end of some of the beams have been recorded to support the assessment of the different restoration techniques.