Monitoring of water contents and temperatures of historical Walls with interior Insulation in Switzerland

Energetic refurbishments of walls in historical buildings with interior heat insulation show higher risks of damage caused by high moisture contents in the construction. Therefore, the robustness with regard to moisture protection of the construction is predicted by numerical programs, calculating the moisture content of the construction layers. Exterior walls of three historical buildings in Switzerland were refurbished with interior heat insulation. The insulation materials glass wool, stone wool and cellulose fiber were used. The moisture contents and temperatures of the material layers in these reconstructed walls were measured onsite during a time period of two years. The water contents of different layers of the reconstructed walls were calculated by using a numerical program for transient coupled heat and moisture transport. By comparison of the measurement values with the calculated ones the reliability of the prediction calculation was detected. The predicted values of the simulation program reproduce the measured values of moisture content and temperature in the construction layers within a small error margin. They could be used as a safety margin for future prediction calculations of moisture content in the construction elements of reconstructed walls with interior insulation.