MAINTENANCE, REPAIR & REHABILITATION AND MINOR WORKS OF BUILDINGS

Book excerpt: The term Maintenance of a building refers to the work done for keeping an existing building in a condition where it can perform its intended functions. Usually, the buildings last only for 40 to 50 years in a good shape just because of regular inspection and maintenance that enable timely identification of deteriorated elements. Overlooked dilapidation, inadequate maintenance and lack of repair works may lead to limited life span of a building. This comprehensive book, striving to focus on the maintenance, repair & rehabilitation and minor works of a building, presents useful guidelines that acquaint the readers with the traditional as well as modern techniques for upkeeping and repairing of buildings already constructed. Dexterously organised into five parts, this book in Part I deals with the maintenance of buildings. Description of the construction chemicals, concrete repair chemicals, special materials used for repair, and repair of various parts of a building is given in Part II. Strengthening of reinforced concrete members by shoring, underpinning, plate bonding, RC jacketing and FRP methods are explored in Part III, which also highlights rebuilding of RC slabs and protection of earth slopes. Part IV of the book exposes the reader to the minor works done in a building such as construction of compound walls, gates, waters sumps, house garage, relaying of floors, joining two adjacent rooms and so on. Part V is based on some allied topics involving control on termites and fungus in buildings as well as introduction of Vaastu Shastra and its main recommendations for a single house in a plot. Using an engaging style, this book will prove to be a must-read for the undergraduate and postgraduate students of civil engineering as well as for the polytechnic and ITI diploma students. Besides, the book will also be of immense benefit to the technical professionals across the country. KEY FEATURES • The text displays several figures to make the concepts clear. • Chapter-end references make the text suitable for further study. • Appendices at the end of the text provide extra information on non-destructive field tests for survey of the condition of concrete buildings and rough estimation of the construction and maintenance costs of buildings.