Factors causing damage to the building | Failures in Buildings

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Factors causing damage to the building | Building Construction

Major damage to the building is usually caused by the natural calamities. But there are various factors that can cause damage to the buildings.

Some of them are as follows:

  • Erosion
  • Earthquake
  • Natural Calamities
  • Violence
  • Fire
  • Lack of maintenance
Cracks in a Building at San Francisco
Cracks in a Building at San Francisco

The damage incurred to the building is usually in the form of major and minor cracks. Major cracks could be structural cracks which cause immense damage to the structure. Earlier, I wrote two articles on the subject “Cracks in Buildings“. The cracks are classified depending on the amount of damage they cause to the structure.

Physical inspections to be done in a building

After the construction of any building, periodical inspections of physical components of the building are to be carried out.  Physical inspections help us in keeping a check on the damage or wear and tear caused to the structure. Inspection is important so that we identify the problem and repair it before it gets unrepairable.

Here is a list of the components whose inspection is to be carried out:

Structural inspection

This includes checking of walls, columns and roofs of the super structure. Diagonal cracks are structural cracks. Grooves are to be made to avoid cracks.

Walls

Roof along with parapet walls

Floor

Doors and Windows

Electrical

Mechanical (Generator, pumps)

Plumbing (Kitchen, toilets, and outdoor spaces)

4 thoughts on “Factors causing damage to the building | Failures in Buildings”

  2. Great article! My husbands in real estate and he always insist that his clients have the home inspected. Some clients think because they don’t see anything wrong with the property that there isn’t.

  3. dear sir , i would like to hav advice , there is an old rcc building which has many cracks ,and the reinforcement is exposed in the beam n slab , this has been repaired earlies also , is it possible to do the repairing ?

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