Mounting building movement monitor

Kang Shua Yeo <kangshua [at] gmail__com> writes

>A structural consultant proposed to us to install a stainless steel
>bracket for the monitoring of building movement onto a historic cast
>iron structure. This is required as there will be extensive earth
>work in neighbouring plots.
>
>Personally, I am not inclined to mount anything directly on the cast
>iron structure but it seems that it is a necessary evil in this
>situation. I am concerned with the proposed mounting method of the
>bracket which uses epoxy. Epoxy is proposed as the bond will be
>strong for accurate periodic survey readings. This bracket is to be
>mounted for a period of 3 to 5 years.

I wouldn't be inclined to use epoxy to mount anything on your cast
iron building either. A time honored reversible adhesive for light
duty situations is plaster of Paris. You will need to find a
location that doesn't get rained on, but after that, this material
is simple to use and when the time comes will snap off a solid iron
surface with a sharp smack to the bracket with mallet or hammer. Any
residue can be sanded off with fine sandpaper, or scrubbed off with
a wooden stick.

I expect there is a lower intervention method than this or epoxy,
but more detail about the actual situation would be needed to make a
recommendation.

Rod Stewart
Historic Plaster Conservation Services


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:6
                  Distributed: Saturday, July 19, 2008
                        Message Id: cdl-22-6-005
                                  ***