Importance and Significance of Repair and Maintenance of Buildings

A building's maintenance is the process of keeping, restoring, & improving every facility, and much more, every element of the facility, its amenities, and surroundings to a currently acceptable standard to preserve its utility and value.

Purpose of Maintenance of Building

There is an exposed building that is used for all possible purposes in all weather conditions. The decaying agencies would also be invited to act through various in-building arrangements. A decayed structure leads to damage, which invites further decay, followed by damage again, until it is reduced to an unfit and dilapidated structure.

• Maintenance of machinery and building services, structures, etc.
• Their original standards must be restored.
• Based on the developments in the relevant or concerned engineering, to improve the facilities.

Types of Maintenance of Building

There are 3 types of Building Maintenance as follows:

1. Routine Method
2. Preventive Method
3. Remedial Method

Routine Method

The structure must be maintained routinely to prevent early decay and keep it functional. There are different parts to a building, placed at various locations and made of materials. Natural decay is a consequence of aging. It assumes that the members will live as long as they are maintained while designing. Timber members paint periodically.

According to this assumption, timber will lose 40 percent of its strength for five decades. In the case of unmaintained wood, for instance, without the renewal of surface paint, the timber member would show signs of decay relatively early and would have less strength than expected after five decades. Cleaning, servicing, oiling, lubricating, re-plastering, repainting walls, and woodwork are routine maintenance activities.

The building has various items that need to be maintained as part of routine maintenance. Some of these items require daily attention, some weekly, and some at regular intervals. Post-construction maintenance ensures the building's upkeep to resist early decay, making it less prone to severe damage and preventing it from becoming non-functional.

Preventive Method

An essential part of preventive maintenance is ensuring that the structure is strong, sound, and capable of resisting damage and early decay. The purpose of preventive maintenance is to make a structure more durable and functional by improving its quality.

Preventive Action before Construction Commencement

As part of preventive maintenance, you should strengthen the structure to be ready for all probable future occurrences, which include soil investigation, collecting information about the local climate, and assessing seismic activity. The design would remain vulnerable to future catastrophes without collecting and giving the designer this data.

Preventive Action during Construction

Even with well-designed structures and data collection, early decay may still occur due to the absence of preventive measures.

Remedial Method

A structure can experience decay despite taking all possible precautions and performing routine maintenance, which might require remedial measures.

Repairs or remedial maintenance are the processes of removing decay or damage from the structure or removing defects from the structure. Occasionally, damaged or distressed areas may be noticed in a structure. If you are doing repairs or restoration work, the work must do without causing the defect to grow and cause further structural damage.

It is essential to identify the exact location and cause of any defects or damage performing proper repairs. Repairing damages or defects without determining the cause may lead to more serious problems than repairing the real ones.

Natural Disaster

Natural calamities like earthquakes, storms, and flooding may cause damage to a structure during its lifetime. It has to be constructed with appropriate preventive measures for a structure to withstand these hazards.

Conclusion

Residential and commercial properties require maintenance to keep them functional. Cleaning, landscaping, and maintaining electrical systems are all part of this job. All tenants are guaranteed a safe, comfortable, and functional environment.

Residents and employees of buildings expect that they will live and work in a pleasant environment. Yet, most people don't take the time to consider the work involved in meeting these expectations. All tasks necessary to keep a building functional and habitable fall under the category of building maintenance. Various specialists in electrical, plumbing and HVAC have to work together on one building. Maintenance technicians make buildings a friendly environment to live and work, especially without regular maintenance.