International Acceptance of Manufacture, Marking and Control of Finger-Jointed Structural Timber

Summary

The first part of the paper deals with the principles of quality control of structural timber. Control may be differentiated with respect to grading and jointing but a system based on integrated product responsibility and marking is advocated. The concept of joint efficiency is discussed with regard to performance requirements.

Classification and marking of the timber is dealt with in the second part with respect to the needs of the designer, the builder and the supervising control authority. Starting from the ECE recommendations for marking codes for grade and for joints, a simplified code for the total product — structural timber — is suggested.

In the last part, international co-operation on approval, certification and control is discussed, with reference to the work within the Working Party on Building of the ECE/RBP Committee.