A Carbon Footprint (CF) is defined as the total emissions of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, and is a specific type of Environmental Footprint that measures human impact on the environment. Carbon dioxide emissions are a major contributor to anthropogenic greenhouse gases driving climate change. Wood, as a renewable and ecological material, has relatively low carbon emissions. The study aimed to review and analyze the criteria influencing the feasibility of constructing modern zero-carbon wooden buildings. The review was conducted in two phases: (i) a literature review and (ii) an assessment of existing buildings. The preliminary research led to (i) narrowing the focus to the years 2020–2024 and (ii) identifying key criteria for analysis: sustainable material sourcing, carbon sequestration, energy efficiency, life cycle assessment (LCA), and innovative construction practices. The study’s findings indicate that all these criteria play a vital role in the design and construction of new zero-carbon wooden buildings. They highlight the significant potential of wood as a renewable material in achieving zero-carbon buildings (ZCBs), positioning it as a compelling alternative to traditional construction materials. However, the research also underscores that despite wood’s numerous potential benefits, its implementation in ZCBs faces several challenges, including social, regulatory, and financial barriers.

This paper analyzes the resistance to hail of external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS), i.e., external thermal insulation of foamed polystyrene with the same finishing coat and various reinforcing mesh and base coats used to make the reinforced layer. The manuscript presents our own new method for assessing ETICS resistance to hail and test results obtained according to this method. The basic premise of the presented new research methodology is evaluation of the thermal insulation system surface damage and fracture toughness, in the function of hit velocity with a polyamide ball with a standardized diameter and weight. The results of hail resistance tests were compared with the values of hard body impact resistance obtained in the tests done according to ETAG 004. Results obtained by the new method help to evaluate precisely the resistance of thermal insulation sets to damage as a result of impact of heavy objects of permanent shape, with greater accuracy than the hard body impact test. They also confirmed that thermal insulation sets with dispersion adhesive in the reinforcement demonstrate greater resistance to damage as a result of hail impact than the sets with cement-based adhesives and that weight of the reinforcing mesh used in the system is not significant to affect the hail resistance.

This paper analyses the mechanism of the loss of functional properties of water-impermeable products used under ceramic tiles bonded with adhesives. Recorded damages were caused by selected ageing factors and were measured by the loss of adhesion of individual layers of the set. The analyzed phenomenon is found mainly on terraces and balconies located in a mid-European transitional climate, i.e., exposed to temperatures passing through 0 °C for three seasons a year. The tests reflected the action of three main functional factors, i.e., temperatures, water and freeze/thaw cycles. Tested waterproof coatings were grouped into three types, i.e., dispersion, cementitious and reaction resin-based products. Research kits consisted of liquid-applied water-impermeable products laid on a concrete substrate, adhesives and tiles. Comparing the effects of the action of the above-mentioned ageing factors revealed that water has the greatest impact on the reduction of the tensile adhesion strength of such sets. The adhesion of waterproof coatings to the concrete substrate showed higher values than the adhesion between the waterproof coating and the tile adhesive layers, regardless of the coating material. Both for samples not exposed to ageing factors, and for those exposed to such impacts, failure usually occurred in the adhesive layer or between the tile adhesive and the waterproof coating, without damaging the waterproof layer. The loss of adhesion of finishing layers to the substrate was not accompanied by a loss of tightness of the waterproof coating. The impact of negative water ageing was particularly destructive on the adhesion of cement-based tile adhesives to waterproof coatings made of polymer with a water dispersion of absorbability above 7% (V/V). There was no correlation among the results of adhesion of the finishing layers to the waterproofing layer after the action of the three ageing factors, i.e., water contact, elevated temperature and freeze/thaw cycles.

Durability tests against fungi action for wood-plastic composites are carried out in accordance with European standard ENV 12038, but the authors of the manuscript try to prove that the assessment of the results done according to these methods is imprecise and suffers from a significant error. Fungi exposure is always accompanied by high humidity, so the result of tests made by such method is always burdened with the influence of moisture, which can lead to a wrong assessment of the negative effects of action fungus itself. The manuscript has shown a modification of such a method that separates the destructive effect of fungi from moisture accompanying the test’s destructive effect. The functional properties selected to prove the proposed modification are changes in the mass and bending strength after subsequent environmental exposure. It was found that intensive action of moisture measured in the culture chamber of about (70 ± 5)%, i.e., for 16 weeks, at (22 ± 2) °C, which was the fungi culture, which was accompanying period, led to changes in the mass of the wood-plastic composites, amounting to 50% of the final result of the fungi resistance test, and changes in the bending strength amounting to 30–46% of the final test result. As a result of the research, the correction for assessing the durability of wood-polymer composites to biological corrosion has been proposed. The laboratory tests were compared with the products’ test results following three years of exposure to the natural environment.

This paper presents research dealing with the evaluation of the efficiency of concrete repairs with polymer-cement mortars made at low temperatures with two types of cement and modified by copolymer acrylic-styrene. The low temperature used for the tests, of about 8 °C, is representative for Central Europe, and was established based on the analysis of mean temperatures in Poland during the last 45 years. A comparative analysis of the basic properties of the mortar tested, important from the point of view of repair efficiency, was performed, i.e., flexural and compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, adhesion to the substrate, and porosity for mortars applied and cured at 8 °C and 21°, respectively. The studies were conducted using standard methods and supported with an assessment of microscopic images (1000× magnification). It was shown that when the temperature of polymer-cement composite (PCC) mortar application is lowered to values slightly exceeding the minimum film-forming temperature (MFT) temperature of the polymer modifier, the type of cement determines the effectiveness of the repair. Only for PCC mortar with CEM I sulfate-resistant types of cement was it possible to achieve the same strength parameters as at 21 °C, during 28 days of mortar curing, and at a lowered temperature. Starting from day seven of setting at both above-mentioned temperatures, a relation between the values of the flexural and compressive strength expressed as a quotient of these values, amounting to ca. 0.14–0.19, was found.