Know-how

Masonry

Composite honeycomb shells on extrados of vaults

To increase the inertia of a stone or brick vault that has a tendency to sag under its own weight and/or due to overload, the RENOFORS COQUE process (shell process) is used to stiffen the vault by bonding a composite sandwich, consisting of glass fibre combined with light honeycomb panels forming a shell, onto its extrados using a coat of epoxy resins. The bond between the shell and vault can be improved by additional pinning using composite rods and/or glass fibre tie wires sealed in the old material with resin.

This process enables the preservation of ancient vaults by adapting them to new working stresses.

Glass fibre and epoxy resin composite shell on intrados

Particularly suited for strengthening masonry and ashlar structures, such as church steeples, composite fabrics coated with epoxy resin can be used to form reinforced and adhesive internal shells to consolidate all types of naturally compressed stone bond structures that are subject to destabilizing lateral stresses or in which rubble stones are dislocated

Openings are then pierced through and through in the thin composite shell to enable the substrate to breathe, avoiding the formation of ice lenses that would debond the stone's reinforcement.

Stabilizing masonry using a composite mesh

The RENOFORS FILET process (mesh process) is used to cramp together elements of a vault and to secure them without having to resort to any visible protective systems. These meshes can be placed in the attic above vaults or embedded in plaster stucco on the soffit.

The meshes used are made of composite, carbon, or polymer materials that are insensitive to oxidation, as well as lightweight and very tough.

Stabilization of facework

The RENOFORS ASSISE process (course process) is used to stabilize a facing (tile, brick, stone, etc.) that is bonded or sealed to an original structural support.

Special techniques

Extra deep core drilling for anchoring tie rods

Within the scope of its structure reinforcement work, Renofors regularly uses water or air cooled core drilling techniques when working on delicate facings (irregular ashlar stonework, presence of frescoes, etc.) that do not tolerate added humidity.

Anchoring tie rods for rocks and masonry can also be put in place in core drilling holes when ordinary pile driving and roto-percussion techniques risk transmitting too many vibrations to the ground and thus making it unstable.

When it comes to tie rod passage requirements, we already have numerous core drilling references with linear lengths of up to 30 metres.