Building conservation is primarily about materials: about buildings, walls, materials, plaster, mortar, timber etc.
In addition to physical materials, various forms of energies can also affect the wall fabric and the moisture in it. The most common forms of energies used in building conservation are kinetic energy (ventilation) and heat energy (heating).
However, the environment encompasses many other forms of energy, including:
The effect of some of these energies has been either partially explored, or not at all; the effect of some energy forms onto old buildings being completely unknown. The effect of many of these energies onto a damp wall fabric has never been studied.
For e.g. chemical energies or chemical bonding has very important effects onto the movement of water – both on evaporation and bonding. The presence of salts in water, as a catalyst, can significantly decrease the breathability of an old wall fabric. Although some of these effects have been studied in academic circles, they are to large extent unknown to professionals operating “on the field”.
Electrical, magnetic and electromagnetic (EM) energies are other forms of energy of which effects in building conservation have never been studied. Although breakthrough in EM communications have completely transformed our culture during the past decades, giving us modern telecommunications and the internet, the effects of EM waves onto old building structures is a practically unresearched area, offering great potential for future research.
This is a complex research field that requires multi-disciplinary approach. It largely falls outside of everyday building conservation activities, but encompassing other fields of science: surface physics and chemistry, electronics, earth system science (connected sciences that treat Earth as an integrated system) as well as material sciences (building materials).
Our houses and buildings are part of a very complex energetic ecosystem, being surrounded by many types of energy. Hence it is expected that these energies effect an old wall fabric to some extent and indeed it does.
The primary beneficiary of this research is building conservation, particularly old building owners who will undoubtedly benefit of some new technologies.
The magnetic DPC is perhaps the first practical technology that has been developed in this field. It can influence the bonding and movement of moisture in the wall fabric by electrical, magnetic or EM means.
The technology is green, building-friendly, non-invasive and reversible - being an ideal building conservation technology.
Although most technical aspects of the magnetic DPC technology have been clarified, there are still some details that are being researched. Hence, some of the research is still ongoing.
One question that we are being asked is this:
If this is such a good technology, how comes that many professionals don’t know about it? Why isn't this technology used on a wider scale?”
There are 2 parts to this answer:
The technology of the magnetic DPC relates to a completely new area of building conservation; an emerging area that is not yet taught in schools.
Building conservation is primarily about materials, about buildings, walls, materials, plaster, mortar, timber etc. It is also about water and humidity.
The magnetic DPC is about the effects of energy, how electromagnetic energy can be used to affect the movement of water to dry out old buildings. These principles are not taught to builders, architects or conservation specialist. It’s a new area of building conservation. Hence, you'll find relatively few experts. But the technology is valid, it’s sound, it works and the results are easy to prove and measure.
In order for a technology to become widely accepted, especially if a technology is so ground-breaking that it can become a disruptive technology to an industry – a technology with significant innovation that can reshape an entire industry – the following steps need to be completed:
Currently, there is still some research needed on steps 1 and 2. Step 3, third-party accreditation, can’t commence before steps 1 and 2 are completed.
Resistance to change is part of the natural development cycle of a fundamentally new technology. But progress, to a large extent, is driven by customer demand, customers unhappy about their current choices. The existence of only invasive technologies against rising damp, that violate a fundamental requirement of building conservation - the principle of reversibility - creates demand for less invasive, more building-friendly alternatives, which in itself fuels innovation.
Here are some other related pages that you might want to read to broaden your knowledge in this field.
