Moisture assessment by fast and non-destructive in situ measurements

Kurt Kielsgaard Hansen, Eva B. Møller, Ernst Jan de Place Hansen, Erik Brandt

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    Abstract

    A building inspection report is made in connection with the resale of 90% of all single-family houses in Denmark. The building inspection is visual with the option of using simple hand-held instruments but with no destructive measures allowed. However, many construction components have a high moisture content, which is not revealed by this inspection. The moisture content may become a problem for the buyers. This problem might have been avoided if the moisture content of the Building materials was measured on inspection. This is easily done in wood-based materials but for example in concrete and brick the moisture content is difficult to determine within a short period time. There is political pressure to include moisture measurements in the report if it does not increase the cost of the inspection significantly. Therefore, a moisture-measuring method is needed that is non-destructive, fast to use, easily applicable and suitable for most porous building materials. Furthermore, the measurements must be reliable at the high end of the hygroscopic area and describe absolute moisture content or corresponding relative humidity. The existing methods for moisture measuring cannot meet these requirements, and those who come close are very expensive. This paper describes a method under development; with simple means and within a few hours, the method can measure the absolute moisture content or the corresponding relative humidity in constructions in a non-destructive way. The method is based on measurements of the relative humidity of the air in a small hood placed tightly and sealed to the surface of the construction. Results with aerated concrete covered with acrylic paint are presented.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of the 10th Nordic Symposium on Building Physics: Nsb 2014
    EditorsJesper Arfvidsson, Lars-Erik Harderup, Anders Kumlin, Bitte Rosencrantz
    PublisherLund University
    Publication date2014
    Pages1124-1131
    Article number140
    ISBN (Print)978-91-88722-51-5
    Publication statusPublished - 2014
    Event10th Nordic Symposium on Building Physics - Lund, Sweden
    Duration: 15 Jun 201419 Jun 2014
    Conference number: 10
    http://www.nsb2014.se/

    Conference

    Conference10th Nordic Symposium on Building Physics
    Number10
    Country/TerritorySweden
    CityLund
    Period15/06/201419/06/2014
    Internet address

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