Fire-Damaged Stone

Stone is often perceived as an enduring material. However, there are many forces that act on stone to cause its destruction. Of these forces, fire causes sudden and often irreversible damage on a large scale, and is a risk to every building. As such an uncontrollable phenomenon, both the immediate and long-term effects of fire damage on stone are only partially understood. Through both oven heating and direct flame testing, this thesis explores the effects of fire damage on four common stone types: Cold Spring granite, Indiana limestone, Vermont marble, and Portland sandstone. In addition, the potential damage caused by "shocking" the stone with cold water and thereby creating a temperature differential was tested through the quenching of a portion of both oven and flame-heated samples. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate immediate effects, such as color change and structural instability, while simultaneously exploring the relationship between temperature, flame, quenching, and long-term durability.