Historic Buildings: spot changes before they become damage
Crack widths, humidity, indoor climate and visitor numbers, measured continuously. baiond flags a change in the fabric early and documents the condition for conservators, owners and funders.
- Humidity 72.4%
- Crack movement 0.18mm
- Observed 7days
What goes wrong quietly.
The building changes between two inspections
A facade survey every three years and a walk-through every spring. A crack that opened after the frost in February is found in April, and nobody knows whether it is still moving.
Moisture arrives quietly
A vaulted cellar, a north wall, a room behind a blocked chimney: humidity climbs for weeks before salt blooms or plaster lifts. The first sign is the damage itself.
Documentation that costs afternoons
Owners, heritage authorities and funders each want proof of the building's condition. It is compiled by hand from inspection notes, and every application starts from scratch.
Questions you would ask on site.
Three situations from this industry, answered the way baiond answers: the readings, the reasons, a recommendation and the source. Tap one or type your own.
Checked Humidity + crack sensors · baiond Gateway · Space System How did baiond know?
- Sensor
- baiond Gateway
- Space System
- AI agent
The sensor reports to the baiond Gateway, the Space System puts the reading in context (location, threshold, history), and the AI agent turns it into an answer.
Source: Humidity + crack sensors · baiond Gateway · Space System
- Humidity 72.4%
- Crack movement 0.18mm
- Observed 7days
Yes. Relative humidity has risen to 72.4 %, exceeding the recommended threshold, while crack movement of 0.18 mm has been detected over the past 7 days. Prolonged moisture exposure may accelerate material deterioration in the affected area.
Inspect the affected section, reduce indoor humidity, and schedule a structural assessment. Continue enhanced monitoring until values return to the normal range.
Would you like me to investigate further?
Looking closer. This is what the data shows:
Possible reasons- Humidity climbed after three days of rain; the north wall dries slowest.
- Crack movement correlates with the humidity peaks, not with temperature.
- No change in visitor numbers or ventilation schedule during the period.
The sensor reports to the baiond Gateway, the Space System puts the reading in context (location, threshold, history), and the AI agent turns it into an answer.
- Sensor
- baiond Gateway
- Space System
- AI agent
Source: Humidity + crack sensors · baiond Gateway · Space System
Understood. I keep watching Nave · North wall, bay 3 and let you know if anything changes.
Checked Crack sensors + weather data · baiond Gateway · Space System How did baiond know?
- Sensor
- baiond Gateway
- Space System
- AI agent
The sensor reports to the baiond Gateway, the Space System puts the reading in context (location, threshold, history), and the AI agent turns it into an answer.
Source: Crack sensors + weather data · baiond Gateway · Space System
- Crack width 1.34mm
- Change 7 days +0.26mm
- Min. temperature -11°C
Yes. The crack under the west cornice has widened by 0.26 mm in 7 days to 1.34 mm, the largest weekly change since monitoring began. Movement follows the night frosts down to −11 °C; the crack has not closed again on the milder days, which points to more than seasonal breathing.
Have the cornice section inspected from a lift before the next frost period and check the joint for water ingress. Keep the enhanced alert threshold until the crack has been stable for four weeks.
Would you like me to investigate further?
Looking closer. This is what the data shows:
Possible reasons- Five consecutive nights below −8 °C; the widening steps coincide with each frost night.
- The cornice area took driving rain on 3 February before the frost; water in the joint expanded on freezing.
- The second sensor two metres further south shows only 0.04 mm change, so the movement is local.
The sensor reports to the baiond Gateway, the Space System puts the reading in context (location, threshold, history), and the AI agent turns it into an answer.
- Sensor
- baiond Gateway
- Space System
- AI agent
Source: Crack sensors + weather data · baiond Gateway · Space System
Understood. I keep watching Palace · West facade, cornice and let you know if anything changes.
Checked Climate sensors + weather data · baiond Gateway · Space System How did baiond know?
- Sensor
- baiond Gateway
- Space System
- AI agent
The sensor reports to the baiond Gateway, the Space System puts the reading in context (location, threshold, history), and the AI agent turns it into an answer.
Source: Climate sensors + weather data · baiond Gateway · Space System
- Cellar humidity 78%
- Wall temperature 13.5°C
- Outdoor dew point 17.8°C
No, not now. The cellar is at 78 % humidity, above the 65 % you set for the archive, but the outdoor air has a dew point of 17.8 °C, higher than the 13.5 °C of the vault walls. Opening the windows would condense water on the masonry and make it worse. The air will be dry enough to ventilate from about 04:00 tomorrow.
Keep the cellar closed today. Ventilate tomorrow between 04:00 and 07:00, or run the dehumidifier now. baiond will message you when the outdoor air is dry enough to let in.
Would you like me to investigate further?
Looking closer. This is what the data shows:
Possible reasons- Three hot, humid days; the outdoor dew point has been above the wall temperature since Monday.
- The cellar was aired on Tuesday afternoon; humidity jumped 9 points within an hour and has not come down.
- The vault walls warm up slower than the air, so summer ventilation almost always brings condensation.
The sensor reports to the baiond Gateway, the Space System puts the reading in context (location, threshold, history), and the AI agent turns it into an answer.
- Sensor
- baiond Gateway
- Space System
- AI agent
Source: Climate sensors + weather data · baiond Gateway · Space System
Understood. I keep watching Town hall · Vaulted cellar, archive and let you know if anything changes.
Answers are generated by AI, may contain mistakes and use example values. Please don’t enter personal data. Privacy
Where the sensors sit.
Every dot is a sensor family in its typical place. Select one to see what it measures and what baiond does with it.
baiond combines crack sensors on the masonry, climate sensors in the sensitive rooms, a people counter at the entrance and the energy meter on one platform. The readings arrive through the baiond Gateway at regular intervals, without cables through historic walls. The platform shows the building as it is today and how it has moved over the last year, and it sends a message as soon as a crack, a humidity value or a temperature leaves the range you agreed with your conservator. Ask what has changed since the last inspection, and the answer comes with the readings and their source.
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The same site, run differently.
A facade survey every three years, a crack found in April.
Crack movement per hour, with the frost night that caused it.
Salt blooms are the first sign of a damp wall.
A message three weeks earlier, when the humidity started to climb.
Condition reports compiled by hand for every application.
One export with a year of readings, marked events included.
Heating and ventilation run on schedules set years ago.
Rooms conditioned for the fabric and the people actually in them.
Proof
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Hofburg Congress Center Vienna
Congresses, balls and conferences in the halls of Vienna's former imperial palace: baiond counts the guests per hall as they come and go, alerts the team at the capacity limit and documents how people move.
In use at and in partnership with
Your industry guide
One PDF for your industry: the questions baiond answers there, the sensors that measure it and what changes on site.
What managers ask before they start.
How do I know whether a crack is still moving?
A crack sensor bridges the crack and reports even small changes in its width at regular intervals. You see the curve alongside temperature, humidity and frost, so you can tell a seasonal breathing crack from one that keeps opening. An alert goes out when movement exceeds the value your engineer set.
Do you need to drill into the historic fabric?
No. The sensors are wireless and battery-powered, so there is usually no need to run cables through walls or ceilings. Crack sensors are fixed with the same small anchors a plaster tell-tale uses; climate sensors are placed on ledges or furniture. Positions are agreed with your heritage authority beforehand.
Can baiond tell me why a room is damp, not just that it is?
It gives you the likely causes. The platform relates humidity to outdoor weather, temperature differences between rooms, ventilation events and visitor numbers, and lists the factors that moved together with the reading. The conservator then decides; the guesswork is gone.
Does the visitor counting comply with data protection?
Yes. The counters report numbers only, no images and no personal data. You get visitor curves per day and per room for climate control, cleaning and funding reports, without ever knowing who came.
Can I save energy without harming the building?
Yes, because the platform watches both at once. The energy meter shows what heating and ventilation cost per room; the climate sensors show what the fabric tolerates. You lower the set-points where the readings allow it and keep them where the plaster, the panelling or the collection needs them.
What does the heritage authority get from this?
A continuous record instead of a snapshot. Every reading is stored with time and place, and you export any period as a PDF or table with the agreed ranges and the events marked. Applications and condition reports are built on a year of data instead of a visit.
Related industries
Same sensors, same questions, a different floor.
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