LAUSR

Abstract Air cavities have quite often been used to reduce underground capillary humidity in buildings of heritage value. The design of these cavities is not supported by objective criteria which ensure they work properly. This study aims to present a method for on-site evaluation so as to understand the workings and evaluate the efficiency of the different kinds of cavities found in the Iberian Peninsula. It is a qualitative and semi-quantitative method, which has been specifically designed, based on the formal, construction and performance aspects of such systems. This process is supported by basic instrumentation and a highly accessible tool for calculation, and has been used on-site in more than eight cavities with satisfactory results. Analysis of the data collected has enabled an approach to the air dynamic in the cavities and the evaporation capacity. On the basis of a classification of types (which did not exist before), the simple method for research proposed here allows the evaluation of the functioning of air cavities on-site. A new and basic instrumentation is used which includes evaporimeters to calculate the cavities’ capacity of evaporation.