Hi everyone!
In recent times, there have been many cases of building collapse with disastrous consequences with respect to loss of lives. The situation has become so rampant especially in developing countries not that the developed nations do not have their own fair share of the unfortunate occurrence. What could be the cause(s) of building collapse and how can it be brought to the barest minimum granted that total stoppage is not possible? The focus of this article is "Building Collapse: Issues and Solutions".
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Many factors have been found out to be the cause of collapse of buildings over the years.
Design Flaws and Poor Planning: the failure of a building which eventually leads to its collapse often begins with faulty designs and poor planning. The architect, engineers and other professionals concerned are expected to carry out site investigation, soil test which includes the one to determine the bearing capacity of the soil and probable future weather change before designing. Some clients commence building project without proper plan for funding. The weather effect on the ongoing project makes it weaker and unable to carry many loads when the reconstruction commences.
Weak foundation: This is another major cause of building collapse. A Foundation carries the superimposed loads, wind loads, dead loads and mobile loads and transfers them to the ground below for stability of the structure. A solid and firm foundation sustains a building while a weak and poorly constructed foundation mar construction activities. The substructure (foundation) of a building project is valued at 25-35% of the total estimated cost depending on the ground nature. Construction of foundation is paramount and should be given careful attention. It should be noted that not all locations are the same. A swampy site or a weak and erosion prone location is a lot more demanding than locations with good and firm soil texture.
Use of substandard materials: this is very common in developing countries where corruption, poverty and greed would make the people to indulge in unwholesome practices. For instance, substandard materials are used for construction activities. Dirty water, wrong iron rods, bad sand and adulterated cement are some of the substandard materials used in building projects that give rise to building collapse.
Human factor: Not employing sound professionals to handle building projects is also a major cause of building collapse. Many developers for fear of spending more rely on employing unskilled workers. Other common human factors include negligence, wrong placing and ignorance.
Poor supervision: Every stage of construction requires proper supervision and monitoring by a professionally qualified person to minimize the likelihood of collapse. Every stage of construction work is very important because a mistake comes with devastating consequences.
Overload: A building will surely collapse when the load it carries is beyond its strength. A building is supposed to have a maximum amount of load it should carry. If a building therefore is made to carry excess load of what it was designed to carry, it will collapse. This has been the cause of many cases of building collapse.
Use of quacks: Bringing in of a quack by a developer has done much harm to the construction industry. In developing countries like Nigeria, one is likely to find a draughtsman referring to himself as an architect and bricklayers and even technicians calling themselves engineers.
Building collapse indicators:
Some of the pointers to imminent danger in a building are:
i. Windows, doors, floors and stairs being out of level.
ii. Sagging wooden floors
iii. Water on the roof
iv. Noise coming from a building
v. Peeling off of the walls
vi. Cracks on the wall
How to Curtail Building Collapse Incidents
There are means of checking building collapse. These approaches call for being intentional in constructing and maintaining buildings. Some of the means are:
a. The occupier of a building must imbibe a good maintenance culture to reduce the chances of building collapse.
b. Timely and necessary pieces of advice must be sought from experts in the area of environmental changes and impact.
c. Certified and experienced structural engineers skill should be utilized whenever the initial form of a building is being altered; most importantly in multi-storey buildings.
d. Thoroughbred professionals in the building team particularly the Architect, the Structural Engineer, the Builder, the Estate Surveyor etc. must be fully engaged at the design, costing and construction stages of building development.
Thank you for stopping by. I hope the article has been of benefit to you in one way or the other. Do well to comment, like and vote it.
