Building Facade Maintenance With Opat

Key Factors Influencing Building Facade Maintenance, Repair, And Inspection

Regular building façade maintenance, repair and inspection are key to preserving the appearance, structure and value of a property. Corrosion, changes in the concrete and peeling lead to water and air infiltration resulting in deterioration and damage to the façade elements. This causes building façade and balustrade to appear dismal and gives rise to safety concerns. With timely building repairs and maintenance, it is possible to prevent or reverse the damage to the façade and maintain the aesthetics and structural health of a building. 

Factors To Consider While Undertaking Building Facade Repair

It is the deterioration mechanism that preconditions which type of building repairs are required. In most cases, the focus remains on concrete cancer repair and prevent its spread. However, this does not suffice if you want the building façade to appearance attractive, remain durable and eliminate any risk of structural damage. Here are important factors to consider while undertaking comprehensive building façade maintenance, repair and inspection.

Cause and Extent of Building Facade Deterioration

An inspection to find out why and to what extent the façade elements and balustrade are subject to damage is key to decide the approach for repair and rectification. Just fixing spalled and delaminated concrete without addressing the cause of the damage won’t help stop the deterioration. It is important to check the level of chloride ions, corrosive elements, leakages and air subversion and address them permanently. 

If the structure is adjacent to the coast, special attention should be given to the peeling off of the protective coating during building façade maintenance, repair and inspection. Cathodic protection may be an option to fight the corrosion of embedded metals. Due attention should be given to coating failures and cracks that result in water or air infiltration. Concrete cancer repair must include substantial treatment with admixtures if required. Similarly, heavily corroded metals and slabs should be replaced instead of being restored. 

Objectives of Building Facade Repairing

What is the purpose behind undertaking building repairs? Whether it is just building maintenance or an extensive repair, the objective underlines the approach, plan and implementation. It may need repairing due to the deterioration of a component or to restore the durability or to control damage and leakage. Neutralizing any threat to the structural integrity or concrete cancer repair also often pushes for non-scheduled building façade maintenance, repair and inspection. Beautification too prompts owners to go for rectification and repair. 

Damage to the façade is the foremost cause of building repair. Due to the lack of maintenance and protective steps, concrete cancer sets in and continues to harm the structure. This needs to be countered with an aggressive and intensive repairing. Concrete cancer repair measures may include rectification, replacement, leakage correction, protective coats, cathodic protection or even design changes to address the cause of deterioration.

The appearance is a key factor and often the need to restyle it results in owners undertaking building repairs. With the aim to improve the aesthetics, it leads to building façade design changes, renovation, rectification and re-painting. 

Often the age of structure requires extensive building repairs to strengthen the structural durability. Even if the outer building façade looks watertight and remains in good shape, the inner concrete elements need periodic reinforcing as part of building maintenance and strengthening. You need to restore their durability through protective steps every few years and pre-empt any chance of deterioration. However, in cases, where the damage and deterioration pose a serious threat to the building structure, you have to go beyond cosmetic concrete patch repairs. It needs an integrated approach that includes shoring, load removal and in-depth restoration. 

Climate Concerns and Environmental Challenges

The maximum risk of damage to the building façade comes from the weather. The climate even plays a part in selecting the design, material and maintenance interval. For example, buildings in places subject to heavy rain need to be checked for leakages, as water intrusion has the potential to damage concrete and metal components. Building façade maintenance, repair and inspection works must also take into cognizance the state of the balustrade, which is prone to erosion due to the regular contact with water. This may also result in concrete spalling.

In predominant winter climate zones, the building maintenance must focus on protecting concrete elements from the freeze-thaw damage. Structures close to the sea often tend to develop concrete cracks and deterioration unless they have protective coatings. These buildings also face curing problems due to the high velocity of wind in coastal areas. During building repairs and renovations, it is not possible to remove and patch the concrete within a few days. Taking note of this experienced contractors often do water and wind-proofing as a necessity to prevent damage to the inner level. Any repairing, restoration and maintenance must reflect on these problems and make sure the structural integrity remains unaffected. 

Materials Selected for Building Repairs

The economical aspect and the need to expand often result in a building façade being dotted with infill windows and exposed frames. Unless the quality of material used is up to the mark, deterioration sets in early requiring costly repairs. Concrete cancer repair is recurrent when the facade elements have material deficiencies. On the other hand, using quality material enables a long service life and protects against volume changes in the concrete. With reasonable maintenance, the structural vitality remains good and protected from any damage. 

The compatibility of the repairing material with the existing material is another important thing to pay attention to. Even if superior material is used, it is likely to fall off unless it is compatible with the concrete. While the material should be well-matched, it must have additives to improve performance. Better quality control and the use of corrosion-inhibiting, bonding polymers and anti-cracking solutions make the repairing more effective and durable. 

OPAT is a leading name in the field of building façade maintenance, repair and inspection in Australia. It has extensive expertise in building repairs and renovations using state-of-the-art solutions that address any threat to structural integrity. All repairs follow the detailed inspection and non-destructive testing to find out the underlying cause. The building maintenance and repair team includes experts in facade engineering to advise on the case-specific best practices to be adopted. Get in touch with us for the most cost-effective building façade maintenance, repair and inspection solutions in Australia.

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