Basic physical, mechanical and hygric properties of renders suitable for historical buildings

Abstract

Several renders suitable for historical buildings were designed and their basic physical, mechanical and hygric properties were tested. Lime was used as the main binder, three different pozzolanic materials, namely metakaolin and metashale as commercially produced admixtures and brick dust as a waste material from precise brick blocks manufacturing, were utilized as secondary binders instead of cement. Metakaolin and metashale showed a very good performance, as for the mechanical and water transport properties of renders, significantly increasing the compressive strength and decreasing the water absorption coefficient. On the other hand, brick dust was not found effective in that respect.