Consolidating pencil on cement plaster

We have 60 year old pencil marks on a wall plastered with modern
cement-based plaster, that we want to preserve. The building
containing this wall is in very bad conditions and needs a thorough
structural intervention to prevent it from falling apart. There is
no way to preserve the plaster during this intervention, so the only
way to preserve the pencil marks would be by detaching the pieces of
plaster bearing them. In order to do that we are going first to
consolidate the pencil marks and then cover them with some sort of
facing in order to protect them during the process of detachment.

We are going to conduct a small research first (on another wall
where we will create similar pencil marks) in order to test various
methods of consolidation and facing and their resistance to large
quantities of water, such as will be applied during the detachment
process. We will appreciate greatly any assistance and advice, such
as:

    Your personal experience in similar interventions

    Indications of consolidants and other materials and methods we
    ought to test

    References to relevant literature

    Any comment you have regarding the process I have described
    above

Orit Soffer
Monument Conservator
Conservation Department
Israel Antiquities Authority


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:21
                 Distributed: Tuesday, November 9, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-18-21-013
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