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Voltigeurs de Québec Drill Hall,
Québec

Mortar Core Strength Testing

The Grande Allee Drill Hall in Quebec City was designed by architect Eugène-Étienne Taché to reflect the French Chateau style. The original Drill Hall was completed in 1887 with an addition in 1913. The Drill Hall was recognized under the Historic Sites and Monuments Act in 1985 and designated on June 06, 1986

The Armoury was badly damaged by a fire on April 4, 2008. All but the rear wall and turrets beside the front entrance were burned. The building has subsequently been restored to its original state.

ArconTEST was retained DFS Architecture & Design to provide information on the characteristics of the mortar to assist in their evaluation of the fire-damaged stone and brick masonry substrate.

The core samples provide by the contractor were fragmented due to inhernent weakness in the brick and mortar and subsequent fire damage.

There is no standard methodology for carring out this type of hardened mortar testing.

ArconTEST devised a novel method of testing to determine the compressive strength of the existing hardened mortar. The procedure involves obtaining dry cores from the wall and by selective recomposition and grouting of sawn sections of the cores standard sized mortar specimens can be fabricated and then tested in compression.

Voltigeurs de Quebec Drill Hall
2020 (Wikipedia)

Removed Core Samples, Before and after compression Testing
2013 (Photo:SHA)