William Pitcher Farmstead HSR

FINDINGS
The RILEM tests showed that poorly fired brick, of the kind commonly used in nonstructural
applications like nogging, absorbs more water. The nogging brick (107)
absorbed more than three times the water than the chimney brick (207) did.
Experiment 10: Penetration of Water confirmed the results of the RILEM tests, with the
quick deterioration of the nogging brick (105), as opposed to the relative stability of
the chimney brick (105). Given how poorly each of the nogging bricks performed when
exposed to water shows, however, that water has not been able to get into the walls
of Rooms 105 and 107. If the building envelope had been compromised, there would
have been significant damage and undeniable failure of the infill.
The Mortar Analysis showed that the chimney mortar (105) is a lime-based mortar with
a high percentage of very fine sand and silt, while the wall nogging mortar is clay-based
also, with a high-percentage of very fine sand and even more silt. This finding suggests
that lime would have been saved for use in structural applications.
The modified Mortar Analysis used for twelve plaster samples produced these findings:
1. The rooms downstairs (102, 103, 105 and to a lesser extent 107) all have a
brown coat of plaster that is similar in color, texture and hardness and contains
a large amount of red animal hair (ox?).
2. Rooms 105 and 107 have a gray coat of plaster on top of the brown, which is
radically different. The gray plasters have a much higher percentage of coarser
sand.
3. The rooms upstairs (201, 202, 203, 207) have plasters that are very similar in
color, texture, and hardness. All of the samples have a thick layer, or as many
as seven layers, of whitewash. The notable absence is the relatively bare
surface of 203 NE. The upstairs samples contain no animal hair, except for a
few stray fibers in the sample from 206.