The moisture issue affecting the historical buildings in the Po valley: A case study approach

This paper deals with the climate related risks associated with the conservation of historical buildings in Po Valley. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the influence of the seasonal/daily variations in the outdoor climate on the indoor microclimate of historical buildings. Seven case studies were identified to monitor and analyze the thermo-hydrometrical variation of air T °C and RH%, followed by a thorough assessment of the buildings regarding their state of conservation, materials and building techniques, presence of rising damp, and intervention for its reduction. The analysis is composed of visual inspections, microcli- mate monitoring using psychrometry and monitoring probes, Infra-Red (IR) Thermography and weighing tests. The result of the study evaluates the factors affecting the distribution of Water Content (WC) and explores the correlation with factors pertaining to building materials and construction techniques. Curves describing the daily mean values of T °C and RH% for a period of one year have been defined by the authors for each of the historical buildings. The temperature profiles showed similarities with regard to spells of annual peak and plateau across all the case studies. However, the RH% profiles resulted less similar; it has been able to identify some microclimatic characteristics of the Po valley region, which can lead to further research.