Wooden construction is the oldest type of construction not only in Poland, but also in other countries, which were rich in forests and building timber. The wide use of wood as a building material in these countries was determined not only by the availability of this material, but also many other advantages, what are the buildings and wooden structures. The main advantages are: speed of execution, bad dough, easy transportation, simplicity of prefabrication, nice look, favorable heat transfer and accumulation coefficient, favorable mechanical and strength characteristics, etc.. In addition, research has shown, that wood does not show radioactivity harmful to humans and animals.
In the last few decades, less and less wooden buildings have been constructed. This is mainly due to the limited resources of wood as a building material, increasing demand for durable fireproof construction, wide use of wood in building finishing elements and in the furniture industry.
Due to the method of solving structural systems and their implementation, timber construction can be broadly divided into two groups:
- traditional construction based on carpentry solutions,
- modern construction called engineering structures based on theoretical foundations with the use of others, than carpentry, connection types.
In buildings and wooden structures erected up to the 20th century. only carpentry solutions were used according to generally applicable rules established on the basis of experience gained from the implementation of wooden structures over many centuries. The carpentry constructions were made of large-section beams and square timber. The dimensions of the sections have been established and are passed down from generation to generation by carpenters. Carpentry joints were used to connect the structural elements, which include all kinds of locks, overlays, notches, tenons and seats. Wooden dowels and dowels were used as fasteners. Only in the 19th century. steel connectors were used in carpentry joints: pins, buckles, stirrups and nails.