Revaluation of historical buildings with timber-concrete composite in compliance with fire resistance demands

Abstract

The requirements concerning the guarantee of sufficient fire resistance of structures have significantly changed with time. Hence, when revaluating or reconstructing existing older or even historical buildings a decision about necessary measures for ensuring the demanded fire resistance is needed.Timber-concrete composite is a proven technology for reconstruction and strengthening of existing timber beam ceilings. Timber-concrete composite floors have a high load-bearing capacity and very advantageous building-physical properties like fire resistance and sound insulation. A further essential benefit is the circumstance that the bottom side of the timber beam floors may be unchanged in the reconstruction process. This fact very often is a basic demand for reconstruction of historical buildings.The paper analyses the recent fire protection regulations for reconstruction of historical buildings. It is verified that timber-concrete composite is a profitable solution for improvement of fire protection of existing buildings.