Role and Methods of Building Defects Inspection: Peranan Dan Kaedah Pemeriksaan Kecacatan Bangunan

PERANAN DAN KAEDAH PEMERIKSAAN KECACATAN BANGUNAN
ROLE AND METHODS OF BUILDING DEFECTS INSPECTION

Che-Ani A.I.1, Ramly A. 2, M. Jamil1, M.F.M. Zain1, K. Sopian1 1 Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2 Faculty of The Built Environment University of Malaya adiirfan@gmail.com
1.0
INTRODUCTION Since Mei 2007, the issue of building defects is keep on reporting in the
media,
particularly
about
the
condition
of
government
buildings
and
infrastructures. It is about that time the issue of building maintenance, building defects and its related terms has come into existence, and it is deliberated up to the parliament level. The former Public Work Minister (Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu) had announced that the Building Surveyors should be in the field together with all the building industry players as to uphold the maintenance management of the buildings. Behind the scene, the question post; what is going on actually in our building industry with regards to building maintenance management? One of the key points that answering this phenomenon is the inspection. Sad but true, we do not properly inspect our building. We do not treat our building like our car. Similarly, we do not care about our building as importance as caring about our health. This has contributed to a lot of building-related problems that we are facing now. In relation to the dynamic and complexity of the building industry, the inspection work needs to be carried out by an expert. Thus, the expert must be call in for the purpose of building inspection. In other words, the professional has to undertake the building inspection work and responsible for the building survey reports. There are various level of inspection and testing involved during the course of survey; and there are a number of possible formats for the report (Glover, 2001).
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This paper will cover the fundamental aspect of building inspection and not intended to cover the whole spectrum as outlined by Glover (2001). It highlights the importance of performing the inspection in view of building maintenance management practices as well as the method of building defects identification during the course of building inspection work. Also, some of the common defects are shown as to establish their occurrences in the building.
2.0
WHY INSPECTION? Building defects can only be determined when inspection was carried out
by the competent person. This person should be qualified both academically and by practically experience to a high standard (Glover, 2001). Otherwise, the inspection is just a waste of time and resources, since the result of the inspection can be questioned and seems to be unrealistic. The inspection is the start before any recommendation can be put forward pertaining to the condition of the building/infrastructure. If it is not important, then we can just pick anybody from the roadside for the purpose of carrying out the inspection. To stress again, the inspection is a high priority in defects identification and all related works alike. In the broadest sense, the inspection is a general surface examination of those parts of the property which are accessible: in other words, visible and readily available for examination from ground and floor levels, without risk of causing damage to the property or injury to the surveyor. The inspection should be carry out by a competent person to make sure the building is fully check and gives true information about the physical condition of the building. This is important because if the inspection was carry out by the incompetent person, the report to be prepared may lack of information and unclear. In most cases, there are building which physically looks in good condition but truly there are many hiding problems such as timber decay of structured above ceiling or water penetration from lower floor.
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The important of carrying out building defects inspection is to provide enough information to be used in maintenance planning and how to remedy the defects. This is to prevent emergency breakdown of any element or system in the building because building failure normally shows their symptoms before getting worst (Hollis and Gibson, 2000). Sometimes the inspection data is not only used for repair or maintenance purpose; it is also can be used by expert witness as the fact in court. Besides, there are few reasons why we need the data that resulting from the inspection: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. To get the true picture of building physical condition especially the fabric and the structure and knowing current building performance; To determine how large the damages or defective area and planning preventive maintenance based on priority; To predict the strengthens of the old element or structure and provide basic data for repair or extend works in existing building; To provide estimate cost for the repair works and giving the value of the building after considered all the defects; and Providing basic and design information for the future.
3.0
BASIC INSPECTION SKILL AND MEDIUM The basic skill in carrying out the inspection is on how to look and how to
see. This is important as to differentiate between competent person and ordinary people because anyone can claim they can perform an inspection. The skill can be our good reason to show our competency and capability in performing the inspection.
3.1
Looking vs Seeing As explained by Hollis and Gibson (2000), looking is a skill which has
been examined by some professions, for example, the conjurer. Here is a person who practices deceit, makes people fooling via believing that they have seen magic where part of the action was to divert the eye. In our case, if the eye can be diverted, there is a chance that defect may not be noticed. How to read an image? Do you, as with book, start at the top right (or left) and run your eye down the building? There is case where a training surveyor told to view a room clockwise, return to the door and then view it again anticlockwise, the opposite view often revealing that which was missed on the first circuit. Seeing is difference with looking. Seeing is the result of the mind interpreting the observed element or composite. To see one must first understand. When read, it takes us to go further. Familiarity means that we do not see the letters of each word but see their combined meaning as a word. If we are familiar with the language, then there will be no difficulty. Many common defects within a building are a short cut to their cause. The familiarity may conceal the real cause of failure because we have not looked. We have seen first, and maybe not looked at all. To see one must first look, and then recognize. Recognition is the gateway to seeing, because it is impossible to see without understanding, otherwise it would be just looking. Looking is innocent and seeing is revealing and understanding. The recollection of images enables the surveyor to place labels on what they look at; but to understand, reliably the image; they must learn to look, to observe and to challenge before accepting the meaning of what they see.
3.2
Inspection Medium In carrying out the inspection, a surveyor requires certain items of
equipment to be used during the survey, besides the skill of seeing. This is important as to make sure the result of the inspection is accurate and reliable. Generally there are 5 mediums of inspection involved (Ramly, 2004). Those are using different equipment for the different aim which are briefly described below. 1. Visual inspection Using an eye as a medium, the equipment needed such as camera, torch light, binoculars, magnifying glass, video recorder and aerial survey instrument. 2. Concealed object inspection Most of the material or object to be inspected is concealed or laid inside the structure such as piping, wiring and steel reinforcement. So that visual inspection unsuitable to be relied upon. Equipment needed in carrying this type of inspection is cover-meter, imp wall tie-locater, wheel and data bucket, fiberscope and endoscope. 3. Dampness inspection There are few types of electronic meter to measure dampness level in the building. This process includes measuring of humidity and temperature. Suitable equipment to be used is compleat dampness kit (protimeter), hygrotest kit, digital thermometer and hygrometer. 4. Stress and strain survey Reason of this survey is to test the structural integrity of component or building structure such as concrete, timber and metal. This test leads to a source of bending, elastic, crack and displacement. Generally there are 3 methods which are: Strain gauge method; Ultra-sound method; and Resonance test.
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4.0
METHOD OF BUILDING DEFECTS INSPECTION Method of inspection particularly deals with the on-site work inspection i.e.
how do we inspect the building. It should be understand that it is different with the type of survey/inspection, or in other words the purpose of the survey that is going to be carried out, either for the purpose of selling/leasing, maintenance budget, pre-construction and dilapidation. Thus, the type of survey and method of survey (inspection) is totally two different topics. But they are closely related i.e. inspection is compulsory in any type of survey. Moreover, the on-site inspection is the most important and demanding activities involved with a survey. Basically there are a number of inspection methods, in almost cases depends very much on the preference of the surveyor, meaning that there is no such a question whether it is right or wrong, as long as the procedural framework of inspection follows its logical sequence (Hoxley, 2002). 4.1 Commencement of Inspection The 3Fs and Internal or External To start with, Hoxley (2002) and Ramly (2004) suggested the essential element of the preliminary part of a survey is to become familiar with the building. Then the 3Fs (Hoxley, 2002) approach is apply i.e. focus, familiarity and freedom. Focus deals with the attention given to the building to be inspected. In many cases, the existence of owner or occupier during the inspection could distract the process of the inspection. It is important for the surveyor to be singleminded in carrying out the inspection. Meanwhile familiarity deals with the experience of the surveyor in carrying out the inspection i.e. preliminary inspection once arrived at the site will get the surveyor familiarize with the type and layout of the building. Glover (2001) mentioned that the surveyor should be qualified both academically and by practical experience; but there is at present no statutory requirement for this to
be so, as our country is concerned. Anyone may set their self up as a surveyor and accept instruction from the general public to undertake such surveys. Without the statutory to govern this, there is no obvious prospect of the situation changing in the foreseeable future, although an unqualified surveyor without a professional indemnity insurance policy is taking a very high risk (Glover, 2001). As this matter is concern, the familiarity about the type and layout of the building in the first thought (which normally suggest the condition of the building as a whole either bad, moderate or good) is quite difficult to be achieved. Furthermore, the freedom means the sequence of carrying out the inspection. Hoxley (2002) stated that scholars differ on the question of whether it is better to commence the full inspection internally or externally. The bottom line is it has to be in logical order. As to recommend, commencing with external inspection sounds more logic, which also follows the usual way of reporting the inspection work, as suggested by Hollis and Gibson (2000) and Hoxley (2002). This is due to the reason of: i) ii) If anything is missed during the initial inspection of the exterior, it is an easy task to re-inspect part of the exterior again; and It may not be easy to re-inspect the interior again, if problem is suggested by the external inspection. As example, heavy rain always gives effects to the outer part of the building and in many cases, it also penetrate into the internal part of the building. With the external inspection come first, it would suggest the bubble effect of wall paper finishes is due to the dampness resulting from the heavy rain. If we start from the interior, perhaps its difficult to justify whether the bubbling effect is the result of heavy rain or something else; and this will definitely difficult once the internal inspection had been completed.
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The other reason is, as our climate is concern, the weathering effect become the main sources of building defects; and the defects manifest itself at the external element of the building, particularly if painting become the exterior finishes. In many respect, the order of inspection is a matter of the personal preference of the surveyor, but what is most important is that the inspection carried out in a logical sequence with which the surveyor is familiar (Hoxley, 2002). 4.2 External and Internal Inspection It is usually best to follow the principle of starting at the top and working down as the sequence of inspection (Hoxley, 2002). What to be recorded during inspection is not discussed in detail in this paper. If the building to be inspected is big (either multi-storey or shopping complex), then it will take more than one day to cover the whole external part i.e. external wall, drainage, site and boundaries. As stated by Dickinson and Thornton (2006), a straightforward procedure is seldom possible. The process typically involves repeated inspections, tests and data recording. The internal inspection follows after completing the external part. In this case, try not to break-up the sequence i.e. take a rest for few days before continuing with the internal. This may disrupt the flow of inspection and there is also a tendency to forget in finding out any correlation between external and internal condition. If the inspection is carried out by a number of team, then the internal and external inspection can go parallel. The senior surveyor will normally supervise both inspections as to synchronize the on-site work as well as monitoring the condition survey report later on. Very often more than one cause may be responsible for the defect (and there may of course be more than one defect), but in all cases it is necessary to identify the primary cause (Dickinson and Thornton, 2006). This normally happen
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if the defects do not attended over a period of time. For example, the fine crack in the concrete flat roof will allow the ficus to growth. If nothing is done, the root will find itself in penetrating deeper inside the concrete slab. Eventually there will be a spot of dampness at the ceiling underneath. If this is notice during inspection, one might predict there is a serious defect occurred at the roof top. Base from this illustration, the primary cause of the defect is the fine crack at the roof top. As for further explanation about crack inspection, refer to Table 1 below. Table 1: Classification of visible damage to walls with particular reference to ease of repair of plaster and brickwork masonry (Dickinson and Thornton, 2006)
Category of Damage
0 1
Degree (1) of damage

Negligible Very slight
Description of typical damage Ease of repair in italic type

Hairline cracks of less than about 0.1mm width are classed as negligible. Fine cracks which can easily be treated during normal decoration. Perhaps isolated slight fracturing in building. Cracks rarely visible in external brickwork. Cracks easily filled. Redecoration probably required. Recurrent cracks can masked by suitable linings. Cracks not necessarily visible externally; some external repointing may be required to ensure weathertightness. Doors and windows may stick slightly. The cracks require some opening up and can be patched by a mason. Repointing of external brickwork and possibly a small amount of brickwork to be replaced. Doors and windows sticking. Service pipes may fracture. Weathertightness often impaired. Extensive repair work involving breaking-out and replacing sections of walls, especially over doors and windows. Window and door frames distorted, floor sloping noticeably(3). Walls leaning(3) or bulging noticeably, some loss of bearing in beams. Service pipes disrupted. This requires a major repair job involving partial or complete rebuilding. Beams lose bearing, walls lean badly and require shoring. Windows broken with distortion, danger of instability.
Approximate crack width mm

Up to 0.1(2) Up to 1(2) Up to 5(2)
Slight
Moderate
5 to 15(2) (or a number of cracks up to 3) 15 to 25(2) but also depends on number of cracks
Severe
Very severe
Usually greater than 25(2) but depends on number of cracks
Notes:
1. 2. 3.
It must be emphasised that in assessing the degree of damage account must be taken of the location in the building or structure where it occurs, and also of the function of the building or structure. Crack width is one factor in assessing the category of damage and should not be used on its own as direct measure of it. Local deviation of slope, from the horizontal or vertical, of more than 1/100 will normally be clearly visible. Overall deviations in excess of 1/150 are undesirable
Copyright Building Research Establishment (BRE) from BRE Digest 251. BRE material reproduced by permission of Building Research Establishment Ltd.
For the internal, it is recommended to start from the roof space. As mentioned by Hoxley (2002), there are 3 reasons why the inspection should be start from this point. The first of these is that it continues the logical sequence of starting at the top and working down. Another is that it is possible to discover
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more about the quality of construction in the roof space, where the builder would have made no attempt to disguise any shortcomings, than anywhere else in a building i.e. the tradesemen left the discarded newspaper read during their lunchbreak. Finally, a relatively high number of defects or matters requiring improvement are often identified in the roof space. Since this is an area of where the owners or occupiers never venture and they are very often not aware of some of the defects revealed by a survey (Hoxley, 2002), it sounds very reasonable to adapt this sequence. Moreover, to start with roof seems to be mandatory if the roof garden is part of the element that needs to be inspected. The roof inspection should cover all the mechanical and electrical room, together with water tank, chiller and any form of structure above it (unless excluded in the letter of instruction). Bear in mind that the surveyors just carry out the general inspection of all these mechanical and electrical equipments. In this sense, the boundary of inspection work should be clear-cut between the surveyor and the equipment specialist. Any visible defect must be noted and pass on to the specialist for their consideration and further investigation (should they need to perform it). Once the roof space is inspected, each room and/or space (including circulation areas such as staircase) should be inspected in detail. Again a logical sequence should be followed, such as inspecting in turn (Hoxley, 2002): i) Ceiling; ii) Each wall (usually four); iii) Window(s); iv) Door(s); v) Air-conditioning and/or heater; vi) Electrical fittings; and vii) Floor.
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Again the philosophy of the working downwards from the top has been followed in each room and it is likely that the upper floors would be inspected before the ground floor and basement (if any). The surveyor will already be located at upper floor level after inspecting the roof space and this seems to be called as logical sequence (Hoxley, 2002), as mentioned earlier in this paper. 4.2 Recording the Information During the course of inspection, all the defects identified need to be properly record, otherwise it will create difficulties in the next stage of building survey i.e. the preparation of report. Normally the information to be recorded on site, as stated by Hoxley (2002) are (i) design and construction; (ii) condition; (iii) cause of any defects (or recommendation for further investigation); and (iv) remedial work required. But in practice, this seems to be quite time consuming (not mean that hurry is permitted for building inspection work). Therefore the least to be recorded, as to suggest, the condition of the building elements, including assigning related rating for the particular defects i.e. good, moderate and poor (as for easy analysis later on). But this is not recommended for inexperience surveyor, as well as when inspecting the building than the surveyor might not be familiar with i.e. pre-war building, castle, mansion and alike. Again, it does go to the surveyor familiarity and preference. This is because obviously each surveyor will develop his own style of note-taking and may well abbreviate frequently used terms (Hoxley, 2002). As to ensure error-free inspection, the information recorded (the what) and the method of recording on-site information (the how) play the vital role. According to Hoxley (2002), there are 6 methods of recording on-site information, which outlined below.
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i)
Long-hand This is the most time consuming method, whereby it seems like writing whatever that have been encountered during the inspection. The advantage is that there is a clear and comprehensive record that are available later on should this is necessary.
ii)
Tape-recorder This is the easiest way on-site, but the transcription process after that will be very time consuming. This is to be so since most people can talk seven times faster that they can write (Hoxley, 2002). The surveyor must be careful enough during the recording process on-site. Failure to do so is going to be terrible experience as to dictate the surveyors voice as well as unnecessary sound together with it. The video recorder can also be used, but with the help of assistance on-site. Handling the video recorder alone would be very troublesome.
iii)
Site-prepared sketches This should be preferred by most perhaps, since it is easily locate the defect in the sketches for one particular area. It is also simple and practical since the location of the defects can be depicted in a most meaningful manner. This method is most recommended if the as-built drawing of the building is in-hand during the inspection (but be sure the as-built is the most updated one, or else it will create another problem onsite). As stated by Hoxley (2002), this method is strongly advocated by one leading authority i.e. Hollis for the residential inspection.
iv)
Pre-printed form/checklist This is straightforward method of recording and might ease the work onsite. The survey pro forma normally outlined the type of information that is going to be recorded. But the preparation should be made before the day of inspection. More often than not, even though the checklist is in the
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hand, the surveyor tends not to strictly adhere to it, and still the sketches will do. This found to be true if the most common defects are noticed several time during the inspection, as well as the defects suggest some trend in their occurrences. For residential inspection, this method is regarded by Hoxley (2002) as one to best suit the inexperience surveyor. v) On-site computer This is the quickest method of recording, either by the secretary or speech recognition software. Whatever defects identified is directly transcribe onsite during the inspection. It means that the surveyor does not need to return to the office for typing the report. All is done during the period of inspection. Its sound quite technological in advance but the absence of any site notes leaves the surveyor open to a claim of negligence when adopting this method (Hoxley, 2002). In this respect, it is recommended to perform the minimum sketches as to supplement the report should this method applied. vi) Hand-held device (i.e. PDA) The function of Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) nowadays is superb. The high specification can do voice and video recording, either separate or concurrent usage. It combining the feature of voice recorder, video camera and digital camera, and any another features that available to date. With RFID (radio frequency identification) technology that most convenience as compared to barcode, this method is very much recommended for performing the stock condition survey.
5.0
BUILDING DEFECTS AN EXAMPLE It is compulsory to record the defects identified in the form of photograph.
As logical sequence, the sketches depicted the defects location and the
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photograph shows the defect itself (there is a case where the photograph becomes an evidence of the surveyor on-site, particularly during the inspection). With the use of imaging technology, the photograph can be enhanced later on to focus on the defects i.e. crop and focus on the defected area. In showing how the defect manifest itself, the use of simple hand illustration/sketch is sufficient enough. As to ensure no defects is missing to be recorded, the image of each defects identified must be captured. It is a best practice to put the note on each photos within 7 days after the inspection completed (the earliest possible is most recommended), since our memory be inclined to forget what have been captured of more than 7 days time. This section portray some of the common defects together with it notes that normally be encountered during the course of inspection in our Malaysian climatic condition, as well as typical humidity causes in building as suggested by Kottas (2007). Roof
Growth of mould and algae due to water ponding and continuous dampness
Water ponding due to blockage of outlet to rainwater downpipe (due to small outlet) its very hot during the course of inspection
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Ficus (plant) growth below roof covering due to dampness and present of debris
Dent of roof edge due to hard wind impact (perhaps also by vandalism it is noticed that somebody loafed on the roof)
Ceiling
Water mark on the ceiling surface due to water penetration from leaking roof (the brown color suggest it dripped via timber trusses, perhaps the trusses need structural inspection)
Stalactite effect due to water proofing failure at upstairs toilet
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Wall
Paint coating efflorescence and flaking due to failure to prepare adequate dry surface before painting works and used of low quality paint (which not durable)
Peeling of tiles due to insufficient adhesive
Flaking of plaster surface due to hard impaction during moving activity
Floor
Tiles finishes has been lifted due to dampness from drain 16
Drop of floor surface due to settlement
External and Services
Concrete manholes cover damaged and affected floor near to it due to insufficient support and/or overload
Gap at gutter jointing due to poor workmanship very lucky to carry out inspection during rainy days
Corrosion of water pipe due to leakage of jointing
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Figure 1: Typical causes of humidity in buildings (Kottas, 2007) Penetration by water 1. No waterproofing beneath the coping tiles on the parapet 2. Faulty chimney hood 3. Faulty chimney flashing 4. Tiles, loose or broken 5. Faulty flashing of the roof valley 6. No weather strip above the window head
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7. Faulty painting of the window frames 8. Cracks in the rendering of the walls 9. Cracks in the window sill 10. Asphaltic sheet on walls is insufficient 11. Cracks in the asphaltic insulation on a flat roof 12. Drainage, broken or blocked 13. No drip or weather molding to shed stormwater 14. Faulty plastering of the joints of a hollow wall Rising damp 15. Uninsulated retaining walls 16. No insulation under the floor or over the foundation walls 17. The surrounding grade is higher than waterproof layer 18. Faulty insulation under the floor Condensation 19. Unventilated air space under the roof 20. No ventilating brick in the flue 21. Damp walls inside unventilated cupboards 22. Flat roofs with no vapour barrier 23. Condensation on the inside of a solid concrete lintel
6.0
Conclusion
We do not want a structural survey. If you can just have a quick look at the house to make sure that it is structurally sound, that will be fine. Extract from clients letter of instruction. (Glover, 2001. pp. 15).
Based from the quotation above, it shows the importance of having the general building defects inspection. To some people, it sounds easy rather than not, as most of them not following the real practice of building inspection. The basic skill i.e. looking versus seeing is mean to justify this truly mechanistic task.
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Above all, the method of inspection depends very much on the preference of the surveyor. The bottom line is it must follow the logical sequence. During the inspection, the surveyor must cover what to be recorded and how it is recorded. The condition of the defects and accompanied by the sketches will do in almost any form of inspection that the surveyor familiar with. A point to ponder, do we need specialist to carry out those inspection i.e. general inspection, as more or less the outcome will be in the form of photographs illustrated above? Definitely its seems to be just waste of time and resources. Somebody has to come first for this kind of inspection, and definitely specialist will be put on standby mode (ready to come only when required). In simple analogy, dont go to specialist if you just have the fever, headache, flu and alike. The specialist will double charge you for taking their precious time for undertaking general inspection to your health; and same goes to our building inspection. As the living environment is become more and more complex and dynamic nowadays, anybody is no longer can be anybody without sufficient academic and professional competency background, which also had mentioned by several leading authority in this discipline i.e. Hollis and Gibson (2000), Glover (2001), Wordsworth (2001) and Ramly (2004). References Dickinson, P. R.; Thornton, N. (2006). Cracking and Building Movement. Reprinted. First Published in 2004. Coventry: RICS Books Imprint. Glover, P. (2001). Building Surveys. 4th Edition. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Hollis, M.; Gibson, C. (2000). Surveying Buildings. 4th Edition. Coventry: RICS Books Imprint. Hoxley, M. (2002). Condition Inspections of Residential Property: A Procedural Framework. Journal of Structural Survey. Volume 20 Number 1. pp. 31-35. MCB University Press Limited. Kottas, D. (2007). The Architects Handbook. Singapore: Page One Publishing Private Limited. Ramly, A. (2004). Panduan Kerja-Kerja Pemeriksaan Kecacatan Bangunan (Guideline for Building Defects Inspection Work). Selangor: Hizi Print Sdn. Bhd. Wordsworth, P. (2001). Lees Building Maintenance Management. 4th Edition. Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd.
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Role and Methods of Building Defects Inspection: Peranan Dan Kaedah Pemeriksaan Kecacatan Bangunan

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