Understanding the science of historic buildings
What is a historic building? Historic buildings are structures built years ago, ranging from few decades to many hundred years. They are typically constructed using naturally occurring or locally made rather than large-scale manufactured materials. Therefore they behave differently (for instance how they bear their own weight and that of the building's users: read our blog on this) compared to contemporary buildings which are built using industrial grade materials like steel, cement, and concrete. In the short term using modern materials on a historic building may not seem problematic but over time their usage would substantially reduce the lifespan of a historic building. This is because the composition and properties of both are completely different. For example, historic buildings would have walls of stone, brick, or even mud and not concrete or breeze blocks. They would have lime as both mortar (material binding wall components) and plaster (finishing material for walls)