Abstract

Mankind has always used stone as building material to create monuments and other structures through out history. Long period of time exposure to temperature changes, moisture, salt crystallization, and frost create damages and disintegration in natural stones. Salt deterioration is one of the most important factors causing weathering on porous materials in historical buildings. Since limestone is one of the most common building materials used for so many centuries, because the availability and easy to work on. Limestone nowadays is still used in modern buildings either as main structural material or decorative coating elements. In this study concentration is given to salt effects on limestone and marbe. The purpose of this study is to explain the mechanism of dissoluble salt crystallization in the building stones of the fossiliferous or non-fossiliferous limestones and Marmara white marble. The test method is the durability experiments which have been used for the building material according to Building Research Establishment (BRE) standards. In the experiments, the structural change of the rocks, their visual features and other modifications have been observed and the differentiation in the rock color has been noted. To examine the degree of decomposition, alteration type and the color change in the rocks, the samples, as a whole, are subject to the effect of solutions containing a bulk Na2SO4 and MgSO4 grade of 1.0 to 3.0 percent. The results show that the mass decrease of the limestones is higher than those of the marbles.