The restoration of Castel Thun in Trentino
Impertek’s pedestals for the protection of cultural heritage.
Castel Thun is a wonderful Medieval building in Val di Non, Trentino Alto Adige, with an history that began in 1267 and maximum shine reached by Thun counts in the XVI century. It’s one of the best-preserved castles in that area, a majestic but extremely elegant building, which overlooks a spectacular valley, with views on forests, large lawns and far peaks. Today, acquired by the autonomous province of Trento, it has been finally opened to the public and, from austere sentinel of the valley, became a museum with more than 400 original pieces among furniture and artworks, location of many cultural-historical and theatrical events, as well as location of ventures for entertaining families.
The Architect Adriano Conci, the person in charge of Castel Thun’s restructuring measures, explained how the significant rebuilding work made in these years was aimed to spaces’ protection, to redevelop complying with the fire regulations and relating to cultural and museum goods, and of course, to adapt the building to the new uses. Among the most impressive renovation works, there is certainly the one regarding the room called “il Cantinone”, which was once the stable for Thun Counts’ horses, and which will soon accommodate the extraordinary collection of 15 family’s carriages dating back to the period between 1700-1800. In view of the vehicles’ historical importance and of the finishes which will decorate the room, the space had been the object of a series of important upgrading renovation works, involving qualified technicians and specialized companies.
The greatest obstacle to get through in “Il Cantinone” was certainly the moisture one. The presence of water was due to two causes: the filtering of meteoric water from the rock surfacing the wall, properly deflected, and the moisture such as condensation on the floor. To resolve the problem, it was chosen to realize a raised floor over the original one, so that carriages have been insulated from the moisture. The underlaying concrete floor, made in the 50’s, was smoothed to become the laying surface. Successively the surface has been insulated and pedestals installed to support the new walking floor. A double advantage in the raised flooring realization has been obtained creating an air circulating system under the wood boards, dehumidifying the area between the two floors. Because of the very irregular surface it was necessary to take action with specific products, able to level in an easy and fast way the various heights of the installation surface, while maintaining the underlaying floor always accessible, both for historic preservation and wiring maintenance. For this project were selected the PEDESTAL LINE supports of Impertek’s range, a system of adjustable and self-levelling pedestals, extensions, levellers and specific heads, designed for laying raised floors with any kind of top finish even for very problematic laying installations (irregular ground, water surfaces, gravel, membranes, etc).
The supports PEDESTAL LINE, 100% made in Italy with recycled and recyclable materials, have a millimetric heights adjustment from 10 to 1020 mms and are equipped with specific tabs for tile floorings and decking, usable also with joists and sliding heads to lay big format tiles or mixed floorings. Each pedestal loads up to 1000 kg, guaranteeing a very light structure, but extremely resistant. Moreover, heads of Balance supports are self-levelling and allow a perfect and automatic slope adjustment of the installation surface with a slope up to 5%.
Generally used for outdoor floorings, in “Il Cantinone” restoration, with an area of 334 sqm, were employed about 800 supports in indoor space. Firefighters authorized their use because they were distantly placed not contiguous, therefore fully suitable from the point of view of fire safety.