A reinforced repointing grid for strengthening historic stonemasonry walls

New experiments and new methods are presented for the application of the “reticolatus” technique for the reinforcement of historic masonry. The technique, already presented in preceding works, is mainly intended for irregular masonry such as stone walls. Experimental tests were performed on site on stone masonry panels of historic buildings with the aim of emonstrating the structural effectiveness of this technique. The reinforcement system consists of embedding a continuous mesh of high strength steel cords in the mortar joints after a first repointing, and then anchoring this to the wall by means of transversal steel bars. In this work, after having described the experiments of the technique proposed on stone masonry, the method for application on “poor” walls (small irregular stones, mortar with poor mechanical properties) is shown, such as those in the areas struck by the earthquake in Abruzzo.