Cladding and tiling battens are not structural timber, but they sometimes need to be designed to ensure correct performance for criteria such as strength, deflection, fire and fastener holding capacity. Currently, the design in UK and Ireland is a combination of standard spans and cross-sections based on historical practice and visual grading rules in standards. There is no formal reason why these battens cannot be produced under the harmonised standard for structural timber, EN14081, but there are few current options due to their small dimensions, and this may be unnecessarily complicated and expensive for typical use.
This paper summarises the results from testing 878 British spruce battens. Knots, slope of grain and ring width were measured prior to testing to obtain bending strength, stiffness and density. It addresses the questions: ‘is British spruce suitable for cladding and tiling battens?’ and ‘are the current rules within the standards appropriate and effective?’
Keywords: testing, ring width, standards, visual grading, claddings
Authors
Dan Ridley-Ellis
National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
Thibault Feltrin
Stefan Lehneke
Steven Adams
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