Durability considerations of refurbished external walls

The paper present results of the European project Sustainable Refurbishment of Building Facades and External Walls. The objective of the research was to analyse the durability of refurbished outdoor walls on the bases of building-physical analyses and estimate the benefits of refurbishment on concrete facade. All analyses were made for concrete walls in Nordic conditions when an exterior insulation layer is added. The major part of building envelope failures was caused by excessive moisture content of building materials. This topic has a high industrial relevance and the results can be utilised as recommendations for refurbishment projects. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.