How are leaks kept away from ceiling frescoes in churches or other famous buildings?

Asked by food (792

) May 1st, 2012

How do they manage to avoid the frescoes from being damaged from water leaks in the ceiling? It seems that almost everyone has had to deal with ceiling leaks, and it makes one wonder if buildings with paintings on their ceilings are able to avoid having leaks reach their valuable frescoes or they just have to restore pieces of the fresco. Has anyone heard of a fresco that had leaks in it?

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6 Answers

Constant maintenance and restoration. At least that’s the case with the historical mansions, museums, theaters and catherdrals in my area.

Our local museum has been restoring ceiling paintings for the past 5yrs now.

SpatzieLover (24609

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The roof! The roof! The roof is… oh forget it.

Trillian (21153

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A fish stinks from the head down. So it is with buildings. To protect what’s precious, one must have a leak proof roof.

Salem88 (813

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The buildings are inverted at night time and when it is raining. It’s a clever trick!

Dr_Lawrence (20014

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Response moderated (Flame-Bait)

I saw in one of those national geographic shows they used a lot of bizarre stuff to get colors and the paints to stick to the underlying layers. A constant though was egg yolks. Ever try to wash dried egg yolks off a plate? I suspect constant roof maintenance and a water-resistant medium would be your answer.

majorrich (14741

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