BUILDING

COMPONENT
DEFECTS

Prepared by : Ani Maslina Saleh 1

 INTRODUCTION
► This topic will highlight some come example
of building defect and rectification for the
damage.
► This topic will cover on
 Finishes
 Roof
 Wall, Cladding and Frames
 Substructure Defect - Foundation
 Window
 Floor
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FLOOR FINISH DEFECTS AND REMEDIES –
CEMENT AND SAND SCREED

► Shrinkage and Random Cracks on Floor Surface

 Causes
►Moisture and thermal movement
High water content in the cement mix. When the cement
and screed dries, it loses water by evaporation and in the
process shrinks.
As the moisture is never uniformly withdrawn from the
screed, differential moisture movement occurs causing
differential shrinkage tendencies and internal stresses.
As cement and screed is weak in tension, thermal expansion
due to temperature changes may cause the surface to craze
and crack
►Poor mix of screed
Use poor quality of sand and contaminated water – induce
differential moisture and thermal movement
Poor workmanship and too rapid drying of screed
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 FLOOR FINISH DEFECTS AND
REMEDIES - CEMENT AND SAND SCREED
 Remedial Measure
► Hairline cracks n.e 1mm – repaired up by hacking a v-groove along crackline
and patching up with cement and sand screed or epoxy
► More severe cracks (large area) – hack off the affected portions and relay with
an appropriate mix of cement and sand screed

► Wearing of Floor Surface

 Causes
►Excessive water in cement mix
► Cause water to rise to the top of the screed by means of capillary
action. Fine particles of cement and aggregates may be carried to
surface to form a weak layer
► Poor Bonding properties of cement
► Cement stored over considerable period lose its chemical properties
 Remedial Measures
► Small area – painted over with mixture of cement and water slurry
with a hardener.
► Large worn area – hack off and patch with suitable mix of cement and
sand screed together with a hardener.

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 FLOOR FINISH DEFECTS AND
REMEDIES – MOSAIC TILE
► Staining of Tiles
 Causes
► Persistent damp conditions
► Continuous damp conditions exist and presence of nutrients,
fungus will grow and propagate = unsightly stains on the floor
surface
► Corrosion of service pipes
► Poor usage
 Remedial Measures
► Stains removed by cleaning with suitable acids
► Source of staining should first be removed. Consistently damp
environments should be wall ventilated to allow wet surfaces
to dry so as to decrease the air humidity
► Service pipe joints should properly fixed to prevent water
leakage
► If possible used polyvinyl chloride pipe should be used to
avoid corrosion problems.
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FLOOR FINISH DEFECTS AND REMEDIES –
MOSAIC TILE

► Lifting of Tiles
► Causes
 Poor preparation of concrete background
 Failure to provide adequate keys
 Movement of concrete background
 Poor quality of tiles
 Poor bedding mortar mix
► Remedial measures
 Hack off affected portions of tiles
 Prepare the concrete base by providing keys, allowing it to
dry and clearing all debris
 Relay tiles using a 1:3 cement and sand screed or
appropriate adhesives.
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FLOOR FINISH DEFECTS AND REMEDIES –
VINYL TILE

► Lifting of Tiles / Tile Edge Deterioration

► Causes
 Alkaline attack on tile adhesive
Rising moisture is mad alkaline through the passage of
the concrete – may attack the tile adhesive
 Poor housekeeping
Excessive use of water during cleaning of floor surface
or gross spillage of water may cause water to seep
through the tile joints, affecting the bonding
 Poor workmanship
Improper fixing; too long delay between application of
adhesive and the laying of tiles

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FLOOR FINISH DEFECTS AND REMEDIES –
VINYL TILE
 Remedial Measures
► Remove all defective tiles and allow the concrete base to
dry
► Determine and eliminate source(s) of water
► Waterproof of the concrete base by means of bituminous
felt
► Relay tiles using suitable adhesive

► Discolouration of tiles
 Causes
► Chemical attack
► Poor quality of tile
 Remedial Measures
► Discoloured tiles replaced by removing them and relaying
new tiles using appropriate adhesive
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FLOOR FINISH DEFECTS AND REMEDIES –
VINYL TILE

► Indentation of tiles
 Causes
Concentrated loadings
Loadings those greater than the floor finish can sustain
Foot traffic
Heels and certain types of footwear may also exert
point pressure on the floor finish – heavy walking and
foot stamping
 Remedial Measures
Isolated defective tiles may be removed and relaid
using appropriate tile adhesive. For large areas,
complete replacement may be necessary.
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FLOOR FINISH DEFECTS AND REMEDIES –
VINYL TILE

► Slipperiness of tiles
 Causes
Excessive wearing
Particle of dust or foreign matters may be rubbed
against the tile surface during walking. This will destroy
the protective costing of wax or other protective agent
causing tile surface to wear out.
Poor housekeeping
Excessive polishing or the use of unsuitable polish may
cause tile surface to be slipperry.
 Remedial Measures
Excessively worn out tile –replaced with new tiles using
suitable adhesive. Non-slip polish may be used to
protect the floor finish and reduce its slipperiness

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 Roof
► Roof coverings
 Durability
► As exposed to extreme weather condition lose its durability
i.e. slates tile has a layer or lamination of protection.
 Colour and mix
► Concrete tile varies mix design due to poor manufacturing
control.
► Bald patches colour, change or deterioration because of
weathering
► Different pigmented colour tile in new tile, due to poor control
of water content and compaction.
 Poor bonding at working joints
► Asphalt used for flat roof ; leaking. Too high softening point
cause brittle fracture during cooling. Reduce the problem by
protect it by covering it with suitable paving or tiles and
reflective coatings to reduce asphalt temperatures.
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 Roof
► Insulation
 Vapour barrier to avoid condensation; reflective
layer as a heat reflector to limiting humid air
► Pitched roof
 Penetration through tiles joints – fix with double
lap – the gap between adjacent slates or tiles
protected by those in the courses above and
beneath
 Fix of tile - For slate more secure with 2 nails and
for unnailed tiles, must fitted with knibs to
enabled it hooked over the battens
 Damage to lead lined valley and parapet gutters
caused by organic discharge from tiles and stone
roofs covered with moss and lichen growth
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 Roof
► Flat roofs
 Leaks
 When roof covering not properly formed
or cause by differential movement.
 Water penetration damage is
concentrated at ceiling and walls –
parapet wall

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 Wall
► Function of wall – to isolate the interior from
the exterior conditions and; structural and to
support the load imposed by any suspended
floors and roof above.
► Masonry
 Moisture penetration – double wall (cavity wall)
difficult to identify because the internal wall just
shown the dampness
 For solid wall – to ensure that the mortar joints
are sound and well pointed and perhaps to apply
a silicone resin water repellent
 Thin cladding – the use of excessively thick
panels and fixing failures
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 Wall – Types of Cracking
► Thereare four (4) types of masonry
cracking
 Tensile cracking
 Compressive cracking
 Shear cracking
 Tapered Cracking

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 Wall – Types of Cracking
► Tensile cracking
 In this case the typical characteristics will
be that the bed (horizontal) joints in the
masonry will be levelled with a crack
opening vertically indicative of general
tensile movement in building fabric
 Such cracks are often associated with
thermal movement of the fabric causing
shrinkage

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 Wall – Types of Cracking
► Compressive Cracking
 Here the bed joints will also be levelled , but the
crack will be fully closed and its edges may be
subject to spalling / crumbling of the material
under crushing action
 These cracks are often associated with the
expansion of materials due to thermal and
moisture movement or with the failure to
accommodate differential movement between two
materials as it the case of timber-framed housing
or the occurrence of creep in concrete frames

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 Wall – Types of Cracking
► Shear Cracking
 Here the bed joints will be displaced or uneven,
with vertical or diagonal movement evident
between the sides of crack
 The crack width will generally be narrow and may
show signs of ‘tearing action’ as the materials on
either side of the crack shift vertically in relation to
each other.
 These cracks are often associated with overloading
of localised areas, movement caused by expansion
of encased elements, or differential settlement of
new and old structures.
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 Wall – Types of Cracking
► Tapered Cracking
 In this situation the crack will be wider to one
end and the line of the crack will often take a
diagonal pattern
 In traditional load bearing walls the cracks will
often extend beyond DPC level.
 These cracks indicative of rotational movement
to sections of a building which may be caused by
settlement, heave or deflection of supporting
lintels or beams.

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 Wall
► Render, plaster and tiles
 Craze fractures – excessive shrinkage due to improper mix:
fine aggregate and water content ( increase or water to
cement ratio increase shrinkage)
 Renders applied to brickwork contain amount of sulphate
in the cement – sulphate attack
 Inadequate of render surface – trapped moisture can cause
development of fungi – frost and cause fracture to the wall
surface.
 Tiling – poor bonding, movement problems.
 Concrete shrinkage can cause compression of the between
internal corners and enormous stress can be generated,
the tiles eventually becoming detached
 External walls with poor thermal properties insulation
properties encourage condensation – may result in the
development of mould fungi.
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 Wall
► Timber frame
 Lower density, more efficient in preventing heat loss but
less efficient in controlling noise transmission
 Wood decay problems using preservative such as copper-
chromium-arsenic that maintenance free.
► Wall cavities
 Heat transfer and penetration of rainwater between cavity
– convection movement of cavity air. Fill it with suitable
cavity fill such polyurethane foams.
 Alternative method – cavity insulation, introduced a sheet
of glass fibre or foam material, fixed to inner leaf with a
narrow cavity between the outer leaf (external wall)
 Wall ties (butterfly ties) – corrosion of galvanised ties :
solution use heavier galvanised ties with bitumen or tar
coated ties or also use stainless steel ties.

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 Wall
► Movement
 Structural movement
► Structural stability problems – removal of bracing
partitions i.e. alteration of wall during renovation work
 Differential movement – involving differenced in
movement between adjacent materials. i.e.
between stone cladding and supporting and a
supporting concrete
 Thermal movement – caused by changes in
temperatures. i.e. excessive heating and cooling
of the external cladding.
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 Walls - Dampness
► The existence of moisture or dampness in walls is
one of the most common and potentially damaging
building defects encountered
► The effects of high levels of moisture upon timber,
porous materials, metals and decorations can range
from serious damage to minor cosmetic issues
► Types of dampness in walls
 Rising damp
 Penetrating damp
 Condensation
 Entrapped moisture

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 Walls - Dampness
► Rising damp
 Traditionally masonry walls limitation of moisture
migration up the wall reached up around 1.2 meter.
 The rising damp will be affected by the several
issues, including :
► The levels of moisture present in the ground
► The features that allow or restrict evaporation from the
wall surfaces (i.e. use impervious finishes)
► The extent of porosity of the materials (i.e capillary action)
► The chemical composition of migrating water (i.e. contain
salt - surface efflorescence)

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 Walls - Dampness
► Penetrating damp
 Highly dependent upon the levels of exposure of the building
and often occurs only on certain areas or elevations of the
building
 Typical example of reasons for penetrating dampness include :
► Rain driving through exposed masonry walls that have
insufficient thickness to resist the passage of water to the
interior
► Problems associated with cavity trays in cavity walls
► Failure of joints in cladding systems
► Failure of rendered finishes
► Leakage of externally mounted rainwater goods
► Saturation inappropriate insulation material in cavity walls

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 Walls - Dampness
► Condensation
 The internal environment of building is warmer
than the external environment
 Air within the building hold greater levels of
moisture vapour before reaching saturation
 Dew point – drop in temperature and increasing
humidity. Moisture in the air will condense in the
form of water droplets on colder surfaces
(surface condensation)
 Cold bridging – dense materials or by physical
bridging across insulated cavities
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 Walls - Dampness
► Entrapped moisture
 The construction process has traditionally relied on the use of
‘wet trades’, such as plastering and concreting, which introduce
high levels of water into the building during construction
 In the period following construction there will be natural drying
process, and this may take a considerable period of time before
all of the construction moisture is removed from the building
fabric.
 Hence the existence of residual moisture in plastered surfaces,
floor screeds and so on can be problematic in the early period
of building’s life
 The shift toward dry processes has alleviated this problem to
large extent, although some issues still need to be addressed in
certain building elements.
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 Walls – Remedying
Dampness
► The key to effective treatment is the accurate
diagnosis of the cause of the dampness
► In practice, misdiagnosis of damp problems is
common and many remedial DPC installations have
been undertaken when they have been
unnecessary
► Remedial of DPC can be summarised as follows;
 Atmospheric syphons
 Physical DPCs
 Chemical DPCs
 Plaster renewal

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 Walls – Remedying
Dampness
► Atmospheric syphons
 The use of atmospheric siphons (atmospheric
tubes) is based on the increase of surface
area of the wall suffering dampness
 A series of porous ceramic tubes are inserted
into the body of the affected wall. The hollow
tubes provide an enlarged interface area
between the damp wall and the surrounding
air, thus promoting increased levels of
evaporation from the surface.
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 Walls – Remedying
Dampness
► Atmospheric syphons (cont’d)
 The intention is to remove excess moisture from the
fabric of the wall by allowing improved evaporation
 Tubes would be inserted into the wall approximately
300mm centres, each tubes typically being 50 mm in
diameter
 The main problems with this approach is that the
natural migration of soluble salts to the surface will
block the pores of the tubes, and the level of
evaporation of the moisture will be drastically
reduced. Hence they have a limited effective design.

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 Walls – Remedying
Dampness
► Physical DPCs
 Impervious material inserted into brickwork joints
in short, overlapping sections
 Physical DPCs is quite feasible, robust and
reliable solution to the problem
 Hence, installation must be carefully undertaken
to ensure that a continuous barrier to moisture is
created and that there is created and that there
is no adverse effect upon the structure of the
wall

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 Walls – Remedying
Dampness
► Physical DPC
 Expensive than chemical forms and can only
be installed where an appropriate horizontal
joint in wall
 Brick saw use to open the joint and DPC
insert in between continuously and no risk of
structural movement from closure of the joint
 This laborious and painstaking process, and
must be undertaken by skilled operatives

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 Walls – Remedying
Dampness
► Chemical DPCs
 Two broad of categories of chemical DPC
installation; infusion and injection
 Infusion – which is based upon chemical
liquid being introduced into the wall under
the action of gravity
 Injection – relies on pressurised injection
of the liquid using pumping equipment

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 Walls – Remedying
Dampness
► Chemical DPCs
 Most system work on the principle of either filling
the pores within the wall’s construction with
water-resistant material (pore-fillers) or lining the
pores with a non-wettable surface to reduce
capillary attraction (pore liners)
 The effective of these systems relies in their
effectiveness penetration to the full depth of the
wall and the provision of sufficient injection /
infusion points to ensure complete coverage of
the wall area
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 Walls – Remedying
Dampness
► Plaster renewal
 To avoid the wall suffer from the presence of the moisture
and the visible symptoms need new layers of plastering
 It is usual to remove the original plaster finish of
approximately 300 mm above the line of the rising damp in
order to remove the hygroscopic salts
 The wall should then be plastered to prevent any
remaining salts in the body of the wall from migrating to
the surface of the new plaster.
 Replaster often at the lower levels using a base
coat of sand and cement with added
waterproofer topped with skim coat of plaster.
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 Foundation
► Settlement and subsidence
 Settlement usually occur on loose ground such as sand or on
readily compressed ground with high organic and MC such as
peat.
 Cause impose of different load and therefore settle to different
extent, inadequately compacted landfill particularly contains
biodegradable materials (wood) will cause further settlement
over a prolonged period
 Different load bearing capacity – will cause massive structural
fractures such as vertical fractures
 Provide additional support by inserting deeper foundations such
as supporting piles
 Building constructed on shrinkable clay soils – need deeper
foundation to provide support below the clay or at a depth within
the clay which will not affected by MC changes
 Subsidence – ground water percolation may result in removal of
material and loss of support, landslip – causing severe damage to
building constructed on sloping sites.

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 Foundation
► Tree root damage
 Penetration of tree roots into masonry and
beneath foundations, and rupturing due to
progressive root growth
 Can be avoided by ensuring buildings are
constructed a sufficient distance from
establish trees, or new tree are planted a
sufficient distance from a building.

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 Window
► Glazing
 Problems – physical scratching, deterioration of
the glass such as frosted appearance, lead to
condensation problem in buildings.
 Thermal movement – between metal frames and
glass which metal much higher, rusting of the
metal
 Poor adhesion between putty and glass can be
avoided by using a non-setting mastic and
rubber or plastic strip as gasket fitted into
extruded frame
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 Window
► Frames
 Wood frames- efficient in thermal insulation but
poor durability (susceptibility to wood decay) and
labour intensive painting.
 Steel frames – corrode, rusting cause fracturing of
the glazing.
 Aluminium frames- forms a protective layer of
oxide which inhibits further corrosion and ensure
reasonable durability, except in heavy polluted or
marine conditions
 Unplasticised polyvinyl chloride (uPVC) frames –
good thermal efficiency, low maintenance cost
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 Floor
► Solid Floor
 Reinforced concrete upper floor slabs are integral
with the frame and whole structure suffer
uniform movement. Shrinkage of floor the
concrete floor slab will tend to dislodge the rigid
tile flooring, but in addition the shrinkage of the
structure will compress the tile flooring.
 Ground floor slab ; perimeter movement joints
should coincide with the movement joints in
applied screeds and tiling.
 Common problems in screed is random fracturing
or crazing due to excessive shrinkage of the
screed. Excessive cement rich mix, use of fine
aggregate to maintain the workability.
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 Floor
 Wood use as solid floor surface. The main problem related
to timber floor – generally high cross-grain movement of
wood, which could be minimised using kiln drying flooring
wood.

► Suspended floor
 The main problems when use wood - with the cross-grain
movement of the boards, unrealistic to use only wood with
low movement for normal boarded floors; instead it has
become normal practice to use tongued-and-grooved
boarding to prevent actual gaps developing and to avoid
when the floors are spanning a ventilated sub-floor space.
Better solution use chipboard with suitable grade of
plywood which mush less affected by movement.

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Recap

END OF LECTURE

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