Effects of moisture ingress and egress on the performance and service life of mass timber products in buildings: a review

Abstract

This paper summarises the existing literature on water ingress and egress concerns in mass timber products. The main emphasis of this review paper is to identify and present the existing gap in knowledge regarding mass timber products’ water absorption and desorption characteristics in comparison with the information available for solid wood. The paper also focuses on highlighting the need for further studies on climate effects on mass timber products, particularly in relation to hotter and more humid environments. The paper concludes that existing knowledge in this field mainly concentrates on wood species from North America and Europe under temperate conditions, while major climate differences in Australia and other similar climatic regions, could have dissimilar effects on the in-service performance of mass timber products. This review includes details of testing experiments and techniques used to model and monitor water gain in mass timber products and identifies an existing gap in unified methods for testing and sampling. The review also outlines a plan for defining water ingress and egress characteristics of mass timber products in the Australian climate. This review is a part of a larger project focusing on water ingress and egress issues in mass timber buildings in tropical and sub-tropical climates of Australia as part of the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life (NCTDDL) research program.