Masonry Magazine August 2001 Page. 27
When water penetrates deeply enough to reach structural metal, you've got safety as well as appearance and service-life problems. There are cleaners and conservation treatments which address these problems. But protecting the masonry from water damage to begin with is your best bet.
HOW THEY DID IT IN "THE OLD DAYS"
In the past, architects built to control water penetration and damage. There are three basic stages in the history of wall design. Here's how each dealt with water penetration.
In stage one, thick, load-bearing masonry walls could absorb water. That's because the walls were too thick for water to penetrate all the way through to the building interior. What did penetrate usually evaporated out harmlessly. The masonry could "breathe."
As architects built higher, walls had to become lighter and thinner-no longer load-bearing. Still concerned over water penetration, architects designed cavities behind the masonry facade (stage 2).
Water, penetrating through the cladding, could collect in the cavities to be discharged and dispersed through flashing and weepholes. This design and the previous one both enhanced the masonry's best feature - its natural durability.
Today's rising construction costs force many architects to design more economically. Contemporary barrier-wall design doesn't take water penetration into account (stage 3).
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Film-formers cover the masonry pores, blocking water vapor transmission, while penetrants line the pores, letting masonry "breathe." Illustration courtesy of PROSOCO
MASONRY AUGUST, 2001 27