Degradação biológica de fachadas com sistemas de isolamento térmico pelo exterior devida ao desempenho higrotérmico

Abstract

External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems - ETICS are nowdays often used in Europe. Despite its thermal advantages, low cost and ease of application, this system has serious problems of microbiological growth, causing the cladding defacement. Although no changes occur in the thermal and mechanical performance of the system, biological defacement has an enormous aesthetic impact, which gathers the building's dwellers disapproval and restricts the full implementation of this technology. The most important goals of this study were to assess the hygrothermal behaviour of façades covered with ETICS as the main cause of biological growth and develop a methodology to estimate the risk of defacement, allowing the influence of location on the Portuguese territory to be known and providing a decision support tool to evaluate the specific conditions of use. In summary, this work constitutes an original contribution to quantify the risk of façades defacement due to biological growth, as a result of hygrothermal demands. KEY-WORDS: ETICS, Hygrothermal behaviour, Numerical simulation, In situ test campaign, Risk assessment.