ABSTRACT
From the beginning of the 20th century onwards, facades have been finished with various decorative rendering mortars, which were intended to create the illusion of real sandstone masonry or to simulate ornamental stones. Since the restoration industry in Belgium gets more and more involved in the preservation of young heritage, it is important to know more about the share of interwar stone imitations in the existing Belgian Building stock. This chapter aims to establish a reference database in order to recognize and identify simili mortars, as a practical tool for construction history research and conservation practice. Despite the lack of knowledge concerning stone imitations, more and more professionals have to deliberate about a feasible repair strategy. The chapter attempts to divide the finishes in groups, purely based on colour measurements using the reinforced masonry 200 spectrocolorimeter. It describes these groups with a second classification based on the nature of the grains and their position in the mortar surface.
