First experiences with electrochemical in-situ desalination of bricks in a church vault construction

Deterioration of surfaces on building constructions and especially historical constructions caused by presence of salts is a well known problem in Europe and on other continents as well, however there is still a lack of an efficient desalination method. Salt induced deterioration is especially problematic in relation to church vault constructions with murals as the surface deterioration can result in loss of valuable cultural heritage. An electrochemical method has been investigated with focus on possible use for desalination of salt loaded vault constructions with murals in laboratory scale.
In the present paper all necessary considerations were made and described prior to electrochemical in-situ desalination. Experiences in getting started with experiments on cultural heritage has been obtained, it needs some extra time and should therefore be considered as an extra step during the preparation phase. Salt profiles were made from three different positions in one brick in the church vault construction in Rørby church and satisfying concordance was found between these salt profiles. An area without any original plaster and murals favourable for the construction of a small climate chamber was chosen. Salt profiles from three different bricks within this area clarified two bricks with low ion contents and one with a high ion content which is representative for church vault constructions. The idea of using a climate chamber for dissolution of present salts for minimizing additional water supply during the desalination was theoretically supported and at present only the permission to initiate the electrochemical in-situ desalination is missing.