The presence of water in masonry is one of the main factors in deterioration. Capillary rise is the most usual mechanism of water penetration into building materials. In this study the kinetics of the capillary rise phenomenon was studied for various building materials: four stones, two bricks, and six plasters. A first-order kinetic model was proposed, in which the equilibrium moisture height derived from Darcy law. The capillary height time constant found to be strongly affected by the material characteristics. Moreover, the capillary height time constant can be predicted if the average pore radius of the materials is known. (c) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.