DESCRIPTION:

Technical field of the invention

The invention relates to a method for repairing or reinforcing a wooden pole being at least partly under water, comprising:

- arranging a casing around the pole over a part of the length of the pole that needs to be repaired and / or reinforced, wherein first a casing part open on one side is slid around the pole in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the pole, and then the open side of the casing part is closed with a closing plate, which closing plate is thereby attached to the side edges of the casing part, - sealing the space between the casing and the pole on the underside of the casing, and

filling the space between the casing and said part of the pole with an epoxy (Protek Aqua ®). Background of the invention

Such a method is generally known. In the known method, the casing is pre-fabricated (prefab) and divided along the length and elastically bent apart and arranged around the pile to be treated.

Summary of the invention

An object of the invention is to provide a method of the type described in the preamble for repairing and / or reinforcing a wooden post that is at least partly submerged into water which method is easier to carry out than the known method. To this end the method according to the invention is characterized in that:

first the dimensions of the pole to be repaired or reinforced are measured, then the casing part is made from plate parts in stock, and after that the closing plate is attached to the casing part such that the outer surface of the casing is free of projecting parts.

In the method according to the invention, no complete tailor-made casing has be used for each post, but the casing can be made from universal parts (plates and angle profiles), which can be made to size in a simple manner, while the casing is not or hardly needs to be bent open and can be fitted simply and easily to the pole to be repaired or reinforced. Moreover, by ensuring that the casing is free of projecting parts, ships scrambling against the pole are less or not damaged and no dirt can get caught on the casing.

The part of the pole to be repaired or reinforced may be damaged or - at the location of the part of the pole to be repaired or reinforced - the affected part or the outer layer of the affected part may be removed, or the part of the pole to be repaired or reinforced can consist of two superimposed poles that must be connected to each other.

In order to ensure that the outer surface of the casing is free of projecting parts, the closing plate can for instance be pinned to the casing part. However, preferably, the closing plate is glued to the casing part. After filling the space between the casing and the post with epoxy that adheres to both the post and the casing, the casing part and the closing plate are firmly attached to the post.

An embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that the casing part is manufactured by tailoring and / or bending the plate parts in stock and, if necessary, various tailor-made sheet parts being glued together whether or not via auxiliary profiles.

Preferably, the casing part to be applied is made of a glass fiber- reinforced plastic, for example Vinylester.

A further embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that the casing part is manufactured from three made-to-measure plate parts and two universal angle profiles such that the casing part obtains a U-shaped cross section.

In a further embodiment of the method according to the invention, before the casing is fitted around the pole, first at least a part of the affected part of the pole is removed, wherein at the upper side of the part to be removed a saw cut is arranged extending inwardly inclined upwardly to form an upper boundary wall of the removed part, which upper boundary wall extending inside out in an obliquely downward direction to prevent that, after filling the space, created by the removal, with epoxy, water can seep between the epoxy and the upper boundary wall.

Yet a further embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that, before the casing part is applied to the part of the pole to be repaired or reinforced, spacer elements are first placed against that part of the pole, so that everywhere an equally thick layer of epoxy is applied.

The spacer elements are preferably formed by elongated glass fiber rods and are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the pole.

Preferably, at least two parallel spaced-apart spacer elements are provided against each side of the part to be repaired or reinforced, so that anywhere the walls of the casing will be kept at a distance from the post during the filling of the space between the casing and the post with epoxy.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will be further elucidated below on the basis of drawings. These drawings show an embodiment of the method according to the invention and of a pole repaired by the method according to the invention. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a cross-section of a pole repaired with the method according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a detail of the cross-section shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows the mounting of a casing part around the post;

Figure 4 is a pole repaired with the method according to the invention in longitudinal section;

Figure 5 is a pole repaired with the method according to the invention in side view; and

Figure 6 is a cross-section of another pole repaired with the method according to the invention.

Detailed description of the drawings

Figures 1 and 2 show a pole repaired with the method according to the invention in cross-section, wherein Figure 2 shows a detail of the cross-section shown in Figure 1. It is a hardwood pole 1 against which spacer elements 21 formed by glass fiber rods are screwed and which is surrounded by a casing 5 of a suitable glass fiber reinforced plastic. The casing 5 is composed of plastic plates 13 and 14 and universal plastic comer profiles 15 via which the plates are connected to each other. The plates 13 and 14 can be glued and / or pinned to comer profiles 15. The space 9 between the casing 5 and the post 1 is filled with epoxy 11, for example vinyl ester.

Figure 3 shows the situation during the installation of the casing around the pole. This is done by sliding a U-shaped casing part 5a around the post 1 in a direction 16 transversely of the longitudinal direction of the post and then closing the open side of the casing part with a plate 14. The casing part 5a is formed by three cut- to-size / sawn-to-size plates 13 which are attached to each other via two comer profiles 15. Prior to making the plates to size, the pile 1 was measured to determine the dimensions of the casing to be manufactured. The plate 14 for closing the open side is also made to size and further angle profiles 15 are attached to the plate along its two vertical edges. After sliding the casing part 5a around the post, the plate 14 can be secured with the corner profiles 15 on edges 5b of the casing part 5a bounding the open side.

Figure 4 shows a pole repaired with the method according to the invention in longitudinal section. The pole 1 is partly present under water 3 and is located with an end la in the bottom 23 under the water. The lower part 7 of the post 1 can be damaged by woodworm or is partly rotten. Part 17 of the affected or rotten part 7 has been sawn or milled away. In this case, a saw cut is made on the top side of the part to be removed, which saw cut extends inwards obliquely upwards, in order to form an upper boundary wall 19 of the removed part which extends from the inside outwardly obliquely downwards. The space 9 thus created between the casing 5 and the pole is filled with epoxy 11. The underside 6 of the casing 5 is on the bottom 23 so that the epoxy applied in the liquid state cannot flow out of this space 9 at the bottom. After filling the space created by the removal with epoxy 11, the oblique boundary wall 19 prevents water from seeping between the epoxy and the upper boundary wall 19.

Figure 5 shows a pole 1 repaired with the method according to the invention in side view. The pole is partly present in the water 3 and with an end la in the bottom 23. The underside 6 of casing is located on the bottom 23 and is present around the affected part 7 of the post 1.

Figure 6 shows another pole 31 repaired with the method according to the invention in cross-section. The post 31 has a round shape and the casing part 33 is formed by a curved made-to-measure plate part. The closing plate 35 is also formed by a curved tailor-made plate part which is glued directly to the casing part.

Although the present invention is elucidated above on the basis of the given drawings, it should be noted that this invention is not limited whatsoever to the embodiments shown in the drawings. The invention also extends to all embodiments deviating from the embodiments shown in the drawings within the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims.