RESIDENTIAL BUILDING FAILURE

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING FAILURE

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING FAILURE

Residential Building Failure

1. Raising damp in wall / salt damp

Salt damp due to 90% to 100 % break down of damp cause in the wall while rising dampness is partially failure. Raising dampness is not as bad as salt damp, because it is limited to corrosion of mortar joint as 1-2 mm.

               Salt damp is vertical in of mortar, this is due to vertical load on wall fells act not being able carry the structural load, the salt crystal inside masonry expands loading to bricks and mortar fretting.

2. Shower failure / breachen piece failure

This is where there breachen piece fails water flows into the wall, it usually occurs once in every 25-30 years,
Remedy Wall tile affected render and original fitting is removed and then new material is installed.

3. Brick growth

In older home the brick growth cracks are visible at the end of walls in vertically plane. Clay bricks expand because as they are porous. It house does not have control joint it will leads to cracking.
Remedy This can be stopped by forming control joint in the wall above the windows and doors to allow the bricks to expand long term absorption of moisture.

4. Fretting of fined clay tile

They will fret when expose to moisture for long period especially on side environment due to salt attack, with age the tile became brittle and crack easily.
Remedy Replace the tiles.

5. Concrete cancer

It occurs when the steel inside the concrete rust due to moisture, salt, carbonation ingress to concrete. Bars rust and expand causing concrete to crack, they can cause cracking in surrounding concrete, its repair is very expansive.
Remedy Physically remove the effective concrete fully and exposing 360^o of the bars and then processing steel bars, replace concrete with polymer modified shrinkage compensated repair mortar, stop chlorine ion and carbon dioxide to entering in concrete. A coating should be applied to stop water and ions ingress.

6. Tree damage

Tree withdraws the moisture from the soil, lead to soil disintegration which cause building elements to drop or move.
Remedy Keep tress well away from the house and root fiber can be used.

7. Underpinning

This involves excavating under the existing footing, poring a new footing and then grouting between the new and existing footing.

8. Strom water damage and soil movement

It is cause when gutters, storm water pipes leaks/overflow, causing the soil around and under to saturated, so soil looses the ability to take load, in some cases reactive soil expand leading to cracking.
Remedy Repair or replace the pipe.

9. Lack of paving around the external parameter

This can cause expansion and contraction in soil around the footing leading to the movement in building, such as expansion in heavy rains and contraction in summer, sometimes contraction leads to footing rotation and causing whole wall leaning in or out.
Remedy Rebuilt the wall.

10. Old style wiring

Canvas coated and vulcanized rubber power cable can be eaten by rodents or just physically ages leading cable to expose, resulting in fire.
Remedy Older wiring should be removed and replaced by new one, installed circuit breaker.

11. Cracks or movement involves

Movements are hard to control, cracks are caused by changing in soil moisture level around the footing. Horizontal cracks can cause in wall if a window lintel sags or if a footing/wall drops. Diagonal cracks radiating away from window or door heads are most common. Lateral movement cracks can occur with the shear load if footing rotate in on sides
Remedy Use control joint above windows and doors and slip joint between the bed plates and bricks, a lime rich mortar is used to reduce the cement content.