This course aims to give an introduction to historic building materials, weathering processes, decay factors and diagnostic techniques to assess the condition and problems of building materials with regards to their conservation. By the end of the course, students from different backgrounds will have a basic understanding of:

• building materials and their performance characteristics;
• factors affecting the compatibility and durability of historic building materials;
• weathering forms and processes;
• methods used for diagnosis and control of material decay in historic building materials;
• conservation techniques in relation to deterioration problems, environmental conditions, microclimatic characteristics, past conservation interventions, components and/or systems of historic buildings and monuments.