A fast procedure for the assessment of historical floor timber beams in presence of pictorial decoration

With the aim of defining a procedure for the rapid and easily reproducible investigation of timber structures, such as historical wooden floors with pictorial decorations, it is intended to present the methodology applied during a test campaign on floor timbers, with some limitations on the investigation. The floors analysed belong to a Baroque aristocratic palace open to the public and used as a museum: the space and time available for the investigation were therefore very limited. Diagnostic instrumental investigations (ambient humidity and resistance drilling) were carried out at selected points, following visual observations of the state of preservation of the wood and paint, wood species identification, construction technique, type of support and geometry, possibly deformed and/or damaged (maximum deflection along the profile), in order to minimise interaction with the historic timberwork. It was possible to take a sample of material from the damaged areas to check for the possible presence of pathogenic micro-organisms. The intention is to be able to calibrate an operational method that allows the comparison of as many similar structures as possible, knowing that, for various reasons, it will not always be possible to carry out exhaustive and extensive surveys on all of them, as would be preferable. However, these investigations must be able to provide sufficient data for structural evaluation, but also for their correct maintenance and conservation, both within the same building and in similar timber structures