Comparative” diagnostic: an instrument for the durability of interventions.”

An intervention for preserving a historical building, whatever its architectural or artistic value might be, is in general as much appropriate as deeper the knowledge of its following elements is manufacture, up-to-now evolution, materials, building techniques and carrying structure. Therefore, considering a monument as expression of belonging to a defined environment, it is necessary to wonder how to act on it in order to preserve it from any deterioration. The importance of the diagnostic stage cannot be ignored, for both interventions (and not only single procedures) control and global system behaviour, in particular within a long-term building maintenance program aimed to guarantee the durability of intervention itself. Research focuses attention on the necessity of crossing results obtainable from different kinds of test (destructive and not destructive), in order to get data that may be qualitatively and quantitatively correct and extended to the whole building system. The analysis and qualification of monuments building structures points out how much useful this approach is, in order to classify interesting pathological events and implement innovative solutions that could guarantee the durability of the recovery intervention on the building.