Preserving the Heurich House: Moisture in the Basement
For a 131-year old building, the Heurich House is fairly well preserved. However, moisture migration, or the movement of water vapor from a building’s exterior to its interior, is an ongoing issue requiring the close attention of Museum preservation staff.
Moisture from the ground beneath or next to a house, starting in the basement, rises up through a building’s foundation. It eventually will come into the house through the more humid outside ground walls in its search for a drier environment. The Heurich House’s original limestone plaster allows this to happen with relatively little damage. Unfortunately, years of house projects have caused numerous layers of wall paint to bond together, making it more challenging for water vapor to move freely through the walls. Now, the moisture coming into the house will push through the weakest layer, or oldest paint, first. Because the layers of paint are bonded to each other, they all fall off together. That is why you see peeling or flaking paint on the Heurich House’s basement walls.
The best way to solve this problem would likely be to dig around the house and cover its subground exterior walls with a membrane to prevent water from coming in. The money and time that would require is not feasible for the museum right now. Instead, preservation staff will continue monitoring the situation and do spot-specific repairs as needed.
Look closely at the basement walls next time you’re on a tour, and tune in next month as Dan details other restoration and preservation projects throughout the house.
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