Advantages of using raw materials in ancient and recent buildings

Abstract

Many of the existing buildings constructed mostly with natural raw materials, in European sites, are frequently lacking proper maintenance and, therefore, a high degree of degradation is verified in these buildings compromising their integrity and reducing their lifetime probability. Often in the rehabilitation or reconstruction of old buildings the solution adopted is the partial or integral demolition and substitution of several building components. The aims of this study are to describe the most common constructive solutions in Portuguese buildings constructed with raw natural materials, to specify the principal problems that affect each building component, and to present possible solutions to correct each defect. This study is focused on the principal elements that compose the building structures in Portugal, including load-bearing walls, wooden floor and roof structures. The architecture solution, the structure solution, the building material’s identification/ characterization, the sequence of structural failures and the main pathologies identification/characterization related to an early XX century Portuguese watermill were described and detailed. It may be considered as a real scale experimental model which may contribute to the rehabilitation and conservation fields of traditional Portuguese buildings. The structural failure sequence was analyzed, the corrective solutions presented and studied privileges the adoption of materials and techniques similar and most compatible with the original ones. It’s also presented the structural solution savings of energy consumption and CO2 emission. The results of this study were found to be easily extrapolated to the repairing of the Portuguese traditional buildings which are in general environmental friendly.