Soiling and cleaning of building façades : report of Technical Committee 62 SCF, RILEM (the International Union of Testing and Research Laboratories for Materials and Structures)

197 Pages·1988·3.872 MB·English

by  L G W Verhoef, International Union of Testing and Research Laboratories for Materials and Structures. Technical Committee 62 SCF

Soiling and Cleaning of
Building Fa~ades
Soiling and Cleaning of
Building Fa~ades
Report ofTechnical Committee 62 SCF
RILEM
(TheInternationalUnionofTestingandResearchLaboratories
for Materials andStructures)
Editedby
L.G.W. Verhoef

@
Taylor& Francis
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Firstpublishedin1988by
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BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Soilingandcleaningofbuildingfa<;ades.
1.Buildings.Exteriors.Cleaning
I.Verhoef,L.G.W.(LeoG.W.)
690'.24
ISBN0-412-30670-0
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
InternationalUnionofTestingandResearch
LaboratoriesforMaterialsandStructures.
TechnicalCommittee62SCF.
Soilingandcleaningofbuildingfacades :
reportoftheTechnicalCommittee62SCF,
RILEM(theInternationalUnionofTesting
andResearchLaboratoriesforMaterials
andStructures)/ editedbyL.G.W.Verhoef.
p. cm.
Bibliography:p.
Includesindex.
ISBN0-412-30670-0
1. Exteriorwalls-Cleaning. 2. Weatheringof
buildings. 3. Buildingmaterials
Cleaning. I. Verhoef,L.G.W. II. Title.
TH2235.I581988
648'.5-dcI9 88-11823
Contents
MembersofTechnicalCommittee62 Vll
Acknowledgements IX
Introduction xi
1 Theskinofthefacade 1
1.1 Theskinofconcrete 2
1.2 Theskinofstonesandbricks 8
1.3 Theskinofwood 10
1.4 Theskinofglass 12
1.5 Theskinofplasticbuildingcomponents 14
1.6 Theskinofmetals 15
2 Changesintheappearanceoftheskinofthefacade 18
2.1 Introduction 18
2.2 Changescausedbyatmosph ericconstituents 18
2.3 Changesofaspectsoffacadesduetoparticularsubstances
presentinbuildingmaterials 49
2.4 Facadealterationscausedbyadjacentandadditionalmaterials 51
2.5 Changesbysoiling 58
3 Non-biologicalsoiling 65
3.1 Airborneparticulatematteranditsmeasurementrelevant
tothesoilingoffacades 65
3.2 Transferenceofatmosphericpollutiontothefacade 83
3.3 Attachmentofparticlestothefacade 92
3.4 Rainfallrun-off 98
4 Biologicalsoiling 111
4.1 Introduction 111
4.2 Viableparticlesintheair 112
4.3 Conditionsformicroorganismdevelopment 115
4.4 Effectsofmicroorganismsonsubstrates 117
v
5 Cleaningofsoiledfa~ades 124
5.1 Introduction 124
5.2 Somephysicalprinciplesofcleaning 126
5.3 Cleaningmethods 127
5.4 Problemsinvolvedinthetreatmentofsoilingofbiological
origin 132
6 Recommendationsfordesignofbuildingfa~ades 136
6.1 Introduction 136
6.2 Thesituation(location) 136
6.3 Fa~adematerial 138
6.4 Theprofilingoftheform andthedetailingofbuildings 140
Appendix 1 Thesandblasttestasamethodtojudgetheproperties
ofthesurface 155
Appendix2 Testresultsofthe'soft'sandblastmethod 157
Appendix3 Amethodfordeterminingthesoilingcapacityofair 162
Appendix4 Testresultsofthereflectancemeasurements 165
Appendix5 Testmethodsonbiologicalsoiling 172
Appendix6 Outdoorexposuretestsofatmosphericsoiling 174
Appendix7 Waterabsorptiontest 178

Index 185
vi
Members of
Technical Committee 62
Soiling and Cleaning of
Building Fa~ades
ThelateProfessorE.M.Theissing
(Chairman)
F. HawesDipArchRIBA
SeniorAdvisoryArchitect
CementandConcreteAssociation
Slough
UnitedKingdom
].M.Estoup

IngenieurCNAM
Centred'EtudesetdeRecherchesdel'industrieduBetonManufacture
(CERIB)
Epernon
France
A. Perrichet
DocteurIngenieur
LaboratoiredeGeomechaniqueThermiqueetMateriaux
InstitutNationaldesSciencesAppliquees
RennesCedex
France
UlrichTriib
ArbeitsleiterTechnischForschungsundBeratungsstellederSchweizCement
Industrie
Wildegg
Switzerland
Vll
K.L.Pwa
(SecretaryuntilSeptember 1985)
SeniorLecturer
GroupMaterialsandConstructions
DepartmentofCivilEngineering
TechnicalUniversityDelft
TheNetherlands
C.A. Kortland
(Secretaryfrom September 1985)
SeniorResearchEngineer
CentralLaboratoryBredero
Maarssen
TheNetherlands
L.G.W. Verhoef
SeniorLecturerinRenovationandMaintenanceTechniques
DepartmentofArchitecture
TechnicalUniversityDelft
TheNetherlands

VIll
Acknowledgements
Contributions have also been received from specialists outside the committee
andtheir assistance isgratefully acknowledged:
o. Beyer Msc., Project Leader ofthe Cement-Och-Betong-Instituet, Stock
holm, providedthe sections onrainfall run-off.
Dr R.D. Degeimbre, Senior Lecturer of the Liege University in Belgium,
providedthe sections onthe skin andweatheringofplastic.
Dr P. Rossi-Doria, CNR Centro 'Conservazione Opere d'Arte', Italy,
providedthe sections onthe skin andweatheringofstones andbricks.
Dr ].F. van de Vaate, Scientific Director of the Dutch Energy Research
Foundation, provided the section on airborne particulate matter and its
measurements relevantto the soilingoffa~ades.

M.W. Verver, ofthe Materials and Constructions Group, Delft University of
Technology, providedthe sectionsonthe skin andweatheringofwood.
Professor H. de Waal and N. van Santen, ofthe Institute ofApplied Physics
TNO-TH glass department provided the sections on the skin and weathering
ofglass.
Professor ].H.W. de Wit, Delft University of Technology, provided the
sectionsonthe skin andweatheringofmetals.
Mrs Willy Harkema-Louw and Mrs Martha Betten-Venhuizen of Bouw
centrumTechnology, Maarssen, preparedthefinal typescript.
The help of Dr Sjef Schoorl from the applied linguistics department, Delft
University of Technology, is acknowledged for his valiant attempts at
bridging the larger gaps between the language used in the manuscript and
standard English. Thanks are also due to Mr Michael Dunn, Ms Madeleine
Metcalfe andthe editorialandproductionstaffofChapmanandHallfor their
assistance.
IX
Introduction
Rilem Technical Committee 62 SCF was formed under the chairmanship of
the late Professor Eric Theissing to study the soiling and cleaning ofbuilding
fa~ades. In order to make useful recommendations for suitable methods of
cleaning, itwasnecessarytoinvestigatethe complexsystembywhichsurfaces
are changedbythe natural and unnaturalelementsinthe environment. Some
ofthese changes are physical and others superficial but all need to be under
stood. Itis necessaryto studythewaysinwhichpollutioninthe atmosphereis
transportedto buildings and adheresto surfaces, andthemannerinwhichthe
dirt can subsequently be redistributed by water on the fa~ade. This redistri
bution of the dirt is normal.1y responsible for the most noticeable visual
changes, so the movement ofwind around buildings and its influence on the
quantities ofrain which hit different parts ofthe various fa~ades also forms
part ofthe study.
Dirt affects fa~ades in a number of ways. Some types of soiling can
physically damage certain types ofsurface but in many cases there is only a
visual change. Some materials, because oftheir colour or texture, can look
acceptable in spite ofbeing dirty w hile others only look right when they are
clean. However, visual changes are sometimes so great as to have an adverse
effect on the value ofa building. These phenomena are therefore worthy of
study so that they can be anticipated by the architect and taken into account
at the time thatthe buildingis designed.
Buildings can be designed to minimize dirtying, but the study ofrain and
wind movements around buildings shows that in most cases it is impossible to
ensure that all parts of all fa~ades receive enough rainwater to keep them
clean unless the building can be designed in a form resembling a pyramid. It
would be quite absurd to suggest that all large buildings should be pyramid
shapedsowe areforced to acceptthat some parts ofsuchbuildingswillnotbe
naturally cleaned.
The architect may decide, by choice ofmaterials and by providing access,
to make these parts ofthe building easy to clean, but there is another option.
This is to accept that these areas will remain dirty and, by careful choice of
materials and details, the architectcan attemptto ensurethatthebuildingcan
carry this dirt without being physically or visually harmed. Many ofthe old
buildings in our towns and cities are in this state ofbeing partly clean and
Xl