The expansion processes that develop in building stones upon changes of moisture content may be an important contributing factor for their deteriorations. Until recently, few data could be found in the literature concerning this parameter and weathering processes. Moreover, the processes that may be responsible for the moisture related expansion of natural building stones are not yet completely understood. To further elucidate this process, extensive mineralogical, petrophysical and fabric investigations were performed on eight German sandstones in order to obtain more information regarding the weathering process and its dependence on the rock fabric. The analysed sandstones show a wide range of pore size distributions and porosities. A positive correlation with the fabric and the pore space can be found for all studied petrophysical parameters. The intensity of the expansion and related swelling pressure cannot be attributed only to the swelling of clay minerals. The investigations suggest that the micropores and the resulting disjoining pressure during wet/dry cycles also play an important role. The results obtained suggest that the mechanism is related to the presence of liquid water within the porous material.

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Damages to natural building stones induced by the action of frost are considered to be of great importance. Commonly, the frost resistance of building stones is checked by standardised freeze-thaw tests before using. Corresponding tests normally involve 30-50 freeze-thaw action cycles. In order to verify the significance of such measurements, we performed long-term tests on four selected rocks over 1,400 freeze-thaw action cycles. Additionally, numerous petrophysical parameters were analysed to compare the behaviour of rocks in the weathering tests according to the current explanatory models of stress formation by growing ice crystals in the pore space. The long-term tests yield more information about the real frost sensibility of the rocks. A clear deterioration cannot be determined in most cases until 50 weathering cycles have been completed. In the freeze-thaw tests, the samples are also stressed by changing temperature and moisture, indicating that different decay mechanisms can interfere with each other. Thus, thermohygric and moisture expansion are important damage processes.

The veneer cladding of the Oeconomicum (OEC, Göttingen), the State Theatre of Darmstadt (STD, Darmstadt) and of the State and University Library (SUB, Göttingen) is characterised by pronounced bowing after a short time of exposure. Direct comparison of bowing data related to measurements from 2000 to 2003 at the SUB clearly show that the amplitude in bowing had significantly increased. The bowing is different in intensity and orientation (concave, convex). The cladding material (Peccia marble, Rosa Estremoz marble and Carrara marble) are different in lattice preferred orientation, grain size distribution and grain interlocking. Depending on the bowing, panels may show cracks mostly initiated at the dowels. The percentage of visible cracks and breakouts increases with the amplitude of bowing except for the STD. Repetitive heating-cooling under dry conditions leads to considerable inelastic residual strain only after the first or second thermal cycle. The residual strain continuously increases again if water is present, whereby the moisture content after a thermal cycle has a certain impact on the decay rate. The water-enhanced thermal dilatation strongly correlates with the deterioration rate obtained from the laboratory bow test. Detailed petrophysical investigations provide evidence that with increasing bowing a decrease of mechanical properties (flexural strength or breaking load at dowel hole) occur. Marble degradation is also connected with the increase in porosity and a general shift of the maximum pore radii to larger pore sizes. On-site damage analyses were combined with laboratory tests of the bowing potential to constrain factors that may influence the risk failure. The experimental bowing data clearly demonstrate that after 40 heating cycles combined with the effect of moisture a certain impact on the decay rate is observed. In the case of demounted panels the bowing tests show that already strongly deformed panels from the building exhibit a lower bowing potential than those with lower amplitudes of bowing. This is not the general case for all marble types. Finally, the artificial bowing causes a significant reduction of the flexural strength and the breaking load at the dowel hole. The strength loss of the experimentally aged claddings combined with on-site damage analyses led to conclusions concerning risk assessment and the predicted lifetime of the investigated marble claddings.

Most monuments and buildings in the Maltese Islands are constructed of the local Globigerina Limestone. Today, this Globigerina Limestone shows considerable damage in many buildings, particularly through alveolar weathering, which is frequently very intense. Owing to Malta's marine environment, salt crystallization in the stone's pore spaces has been recognized as the main weathering process responsible for the deterioration of the country's monuments. In order to obtain more information on the fabric-dependent weathering processes of Globigerina Limestone, detailed analyses were carried out. Globigerina Limestone samples obtained from stone types with two different known qualities were characterized according to petrographical, geochemical and physical properties. These included porosity, pore radii distribution and tensile strength, as well as water and humidity transport properties. Investigations by means of salt crystallization tests on quarry samples of both stone types reinforced the idea that the extent of salt weathering depends on salt type and concentration and pore-space properties. Visible weathering damage was recorded and evaluated for a representative monument (the Church of Santa Marija Ta' Cwerra in Siggiewi) by means of a monument mapping method, which was carried out twice over a period of 9 years (1995 and 2004). The identified weathering forms were also correlated with a previously developed weathering model for Globigerina Limestone. According to the results of the mapping, salt analyses carried out on samples from the church and salt-loading tests on quarry samples, there exists a significant correlation between visible damage and salt load. The zoning of weathering damage is obviously related to different salt concentrations. The zone with severe weathering damage is characterized by a high concentration of halite. Consequently, salt weathering represents the main damage process for the Globigerina Limestone of Malta.