Abstract
To improve the energy performance of restored cultural heritage buildings, it is necessary to know the real values of thermal conductivity of its envelope, mainly of the facades, and to study an intervention strategy that does not interfere with the preservation of their cultural and architectural values. The brick walls with which a large number of these buildings were constructed, usually absorb water, leading to their deterioration, whereas the heat transmission through them is much higher (than when they are dry). This aspect is often not taken into account when making interventions to improve the energy efficiency of these buildings, which makes them ineffective. This article presents the results of an investigation that analyzes thermal behavior buildings of the early 20th century in the city of Zamora, Spain. It has been concluded that avoiding moisture in brick walls not only prevents its deterioration but represents a significant energy saving, especially in buildings that have porous brick masonry walls and with significant thicknesses.
Highlights
There is an important number of buildings built in the last centuries, distributed all over the world, which due to their architectural value are worthy of special protection during the actions that could be carried out in them: restoration, rehabilitation, and even in works of conservation
To get to know the behavior of the facades, several actions have been carried out: characterize the materials, analyze the application of the regulations to the values of thermal conductivity obtained according to the water content, perform a thermal flow test “in situ” [4] on the facade, and to subsequently carry out the simulations with the values obtained in these tests
The water absorption is very similar for the two types of brick while the mortar absorbs a smaller amount of water than the bricks, the porosity is higher, indicating that there is an important number of pores that are accessible for the water
Summary
There is an important number of buildings built in the last centuries, distributed all over the world, which due to their architectural value are worthy of special protection during the actions that could be carried out in them: restoration, rehabilitation, and even in works of conservation. The research focuses on centennial buildings, which do not usually comply with current regulations regarding their thermal behavior. These standards limit energy consumption, as published in this century in the different European Directives [1]. This is a relevant issue since these buildings are the images of these cities, and in many cases, identity symbols, such as it happens to Zamora and many other small inner cities, in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León (Spain)
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