Rising moisture, salts and electrokinetic effects in ancient masonries: From laboratory testing to on-site monitoring

The investigation of capillary water rise mechanisms in old masonries is of great practical interest, as well as the investigation of the electrical effects accompanying such phenomenon. In fact, moisture presence facilitates all the decay processes in porous building materials and strongly threatens the preservation of materials in architectural heritage. Previous papers have shown that performing a correct and accurate measurement of spontaneous electric potential in masonries is very challenging due to several variables influencing these phenomena, such as materials microstructure, soluble salts nature and amount. In this paper, the influence of mortar joints on the capillary water rise and on the related electrokinetic effects was investigated on laboratory assemblies; then, the same measuring procedure was applied on site to a real XVI Cent. masonry building affected by rising damp.