Damage to the rocks of historic built heritage needs to be addressed to facilitate their conservation and restoration; the most serious damage is caused by environmental conditions and human activities. Buildings constructed with ignimbrite blocks bonded with lime mortar in Morelia, México, a UNESCO World Heritage site, were studied. The damage mainly occurs in the facades, on the surfaces of the rocks and in the mortar of the union exposed to climatic factors such as sun, rain, wind, and temperature changes, due to the actions of humans and vehicles emitting polluting gases; and due to pigeon excrement. This has caused the formation of patinas and flora, reduced the mechanical strength and exfoliation, decreased the density and cohesion in the mortar with rocks, and led to friction damage caused by people. In the facades of five buildings, the mechanical resistance and microstructural characteristics were indirectly determined by XRD, XRF, and SEM. The results were related to the climate, humans, and vehicular pollutant emissions. The damage was due to the environment, the influencing geographic orientation, and prevailing winds, rising capillary water on the facades, pigeon droppings, vehicular pollutant gases, and humans. Potential banks of healthy quarries were analyzed for use in the conservation and restoration of damaged monuments.

Among the construction products manufactured with Portland cement (PC) are (in addition to hydraulic concrete) construction blocks. These elements are used as masonry materials for the elaboration of walls in all types of construction. For the elaboration of these elements, large amounts of geomaterials such as sand are utilized. The aim of this investigation was to reduce the consumption of geomaterials using block manufacturing that incorporates construction and demolition waste as a substitute for gravel and tire flakes as a substitute for sand. These blocks were characterized by their resistance in a compression test, flexion, modulus of elasticity, electrical resistivity, moisture absorption, and MEB microscopy, as well as an analysis of the unit price for different mixtures. The results show that the addition of tire flakes severely decreased the blocks’ physical-mechanical performance and increased the production costs, while the incorporation of 50% construction and demolition waste achieved a performance very close to that of the control blocks and presented improvements in the modulus of elasticity, although the costs could be higher than those for the control blocks.

La vivienda en México se ha convertido en una de las principales demandas que propone atender el Plan Nacional de Desarrollo, ya que existe 25% de rezago habitacional según cifras de la Comisión Nacional para la Vivienda aunado a que el 58.5% de las viviendas habitadas requiere de arreglos o remodelaciones que, en la mayoría de los casos, son hechos por los propietarios de las casas, es decir, se autoconstruye. La selección de materiales es una de las etapas que tiene mayor impacto en la construcción de una vivienda adecuada, debido a que influye directamente en su habitabilidad, vida útil, impacto ambiental y costo. En este trabajo se presenta un estudio de propiedades físico-mecánicas e indicadores de durabilidad en morteros elaborados con residuos industriales con la finalidad de identificar si estos últimos pueden ser valorizados como materiales de construcción para vivienda autoproducida, dado que al ser residuos generados localmente se podrían abatir costos y minimizar el impacto ambiental.

La cal ha acompañado a diversas civilizaciones, ha sido esencial en la construcción y, en menor medida, en la alimentación. A pesar del predominio actual del cemento, revalorar la cal resulta fundamental por su bajo costo, su capacidad para responder a múltiples necesidades constructivas y su contribución al confort térmico y la sostenibilidad. Este capítulo se basa en la experiencia profesional adquirida como residente de obra y especialista técnico en el uso de la cal, completada con estudios de laboratorio que confirmaron y precisaron conocimientos empíricos sobre su comportamiento en morteros, suelos y adobes estabilizados. Aunque no puede emplearse estructuralmente debido a su lento fraguado, la cal ofrece una amplia gama de aplicaciones: aplanados, repellados y recubrimientos en muros; estabilización de arcillas para adobes y bloques de tierra; mejora de suelos; y recubrimiento de minerales con propiedades impermeabilizantes y decorativas. Su uso integra tradición y ciencia, favoreciendo construcciones económicas, sostenibles y adaptables a las necesidades actuales.

Concrete remains the most widely used construction material owing to its affordability, local availability, mechanical performance, durability, and versatility. However, its production has a significant environmental impact, and its service life may be reduced under aggressive exposure conditions, affecting both the functionality and cost of structures. This study presents a sustainability assessment based on a harmonized database of previously developed concrete mixtures, rather than a new experimental campaign. Waste-containing mixtures and their corresponding conventional or reference controls were considered to anchor the comparison to reference concretes, rather than only to the minimum values within the analyzed dataset. The objective was to compare the consistency among sustainability index formulations: K_SB and K_SB,C, associated with the Building Material Sustainability Potential (BMSP), and the Empathetic Added Sustainability Index (EASI). These formulations integrate functional and environmental performance, although they differ in their aggregation approach and in the treatment of economic variables, such as cost and eco-cost. The indicators considered include 28-day compressive strength, carbonation rate, global warming potential (GWP), gross energy requirement (GER), natural raw material consumption (NRMC), eco-cost, and material cost. The results show that mixtures with higher replacement levels of natural aggregates by recycled concrete aggregate and partial replacement of cement by locally sourced ashes exhibited the best integrated performance. The 300/100RCAg mixture stood out, with index values close to 3.43, 3.52, and 3.99, up to approximately four times those of the control. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses showed that the highest-ranked mixtures generally maintained favorable positions across assessment methods and under ±20% input variability, although some alternatives exhibited substantial method-dependent ranking changes. The results demonstrate that local waste materials can improve concrete sustainability; however, their benefits depend on waste type, conditioning requirements, functional performance, and the selected sustainability assessment method.