Salt crystallization damage: How realistic are existing ageing tests?

Salt crystallization is a major cause of damage in porous building materials. Notwithstanding the extensive research in this field, the complexity of the problem has hindered the use of mathematical models for forecasting ageing and damage due to salt crystallization. Nowadays, the durability of materials with respect to salt crystallization is...

Petrographic characterization of renders from the Lucchesian Villas

Around the Tuscan city of Lucca, a complex system of about 300 villa has developed between 15th and 19th centuries in a ring of territory called the Six Miles District. Nowadays, many of the buildings inside the villas enclosures are damaged and their materials – in particular renders -­ need to be restored. A research program was developed...

Evaluation of Spreading and Effectiveness of Injection Products against Rising Damp in Mortar/Brick Combinations

Rising damp is one of the most recurrent and well-known hazards to existing buildings and monuments. Several types of intervention exist to tackle the problem. Among these, the creation of a damp-proof course against capillary rise by means of injection of chemical products is one of the most diffused methods, thanks to the relatively easy and...