Magnesium oxide board, “MgO-board”, is a factory-made sheathing board product, which has been widely used in the last 5 years in ventilated facades on new or renovated buildings i. In winter number of problems began to appear with these boards since the boards and adjoining building elements seemed to suffer from some sort of disease, which manifested itself by damages such as significant moisture, boards leaking salty water (‘tears’), corrosion of fittings and anchors and mould growth.
The damages were caused by the fact that MgO-boards absorb moisture from outside air in periods with high outdoor humidity (90-100% RH) and form water drops on the surfaces. The drops contain a high amount of soluble chloride ions and appear on the surfaces of the boards and may often run down the boards and to adjacent structures. Metal fixtures for the MgO- and siding boards may corrode heavily within a few years. The binder in MgO-boards is formed by chemical reaction between MgO and MgCl2, known as magnesium ox chloride cement or Sorel cement. Also organic matter can be found in the material. The paper presents results of investigations of properties for moisture retention and transport of MgO-boards.
SEP
2018