ABSTRACT
The climate in south-west Iceland is wet and windy, therefore driving-rain is very common. Most of all outer walls are made with hygroscopic, poorly frost-resistant concrete with cement rendering on the outside, and usually the moisture content of these walls is high. To dry-out these walls it is more and more common to apply claddings on the outside, with or without insulating materials in between. It is known from earlier experiments that the concrete walls will dry out somewhat, but it is not known exactly what the effects of cladding are on the wall or what the microclimate is inside the cladding system. To evaluate the effect of climate, built in moisture and moisture diffusion from inside-out on the micro climate in the wall, continuous measurements are carried out on the relative humidity, temperature, time of wetness and the differential air pressure over the cladding. Some of these factors have been measured continuously with one hours intervals for more than 12 months, other measurements have just started. The paper describes how the measurements are performed and the initial results.
