Cotton wicks set into church stonework

We are dealing with salt efflorescence in/on the internal walls of a
small church in Scotland.  We are considering setting cotton wicks
into the mortar joints of the vaulted crypt ceiling.  We hope these
wicks would draw water and salts to them and lessen efflorescence on
the sandstone masonry around the wicks.

I would like to hear of any experience of using this technique
(either successfully or otherwise).

Rob Thomson
Preventive Conservator
Historic Scotland Conservation Centre
3 Stenhouse Mill Lane
Edinburgh EH11 3LR
+44 131 443 5635


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:31
               Distributed: Wednesday, November 21, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-21-31-022
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