Qualitative and quantitative deterioration assessment of Thai mural paintings and wall plasters from the Thailand 2011 Great Flood

Abstract

Thailand suffered from the Great Flood in 2011. Wat Pa Klang Thung, located in the Province of Pathum Thani, was submerged for four months, which caused serious deterioration to the mural paintings and wall plasters of its ordination hall. This article aims to discuss the results of the qualitative and quantitative assessment and analysis of the deterioration problems that occurred on the mural paintings and walls after the flood. The assessment was carried out with: 1) photographic surveys and manual condition assessments over existing architectural drawings and/or printed rectified photographs; 2) digitisation of the recorded deterioration problems using AutoCAD; and 3) quantitative assessment of deterioration degrees using AutoCAD and Microsoft Excel. The assessment yielded two sets of accurate deterioration data which were 1) a set of maps of the mural and plaster deterioration sorted by types of problems, and 2) a set of quantitative assessment of the deterioration. The deterioration maps could be used to identify the locations where each deterioration problem occurred, while the quantitative deterioration assessment could be used to more accurately provide a comparison of degrees of deterioration and to rank the susceptibility to deterioration of the walls compared to conventional subjective measurement.