Building Decay

Abstract

The change of appearance, as well as the behaviour and performance, of materials, components and elements, has always been significant when examining buildings. This consideration may have been an important factor at the design and specification stage of a building and it must also be taken into account when inspecting and reporting on buildings. Laboratory testing of materials to predict weathering and performance is not always reliable because the testing applied to the material may in fact lead to a breakdown of the sample, when in a normal situation, this may not be the case. On the other hand, some tests are very appropriate and the surveyor would be wise to temper his observations with researched facts. There is considerable knowledge and experience of weathering to be gained from examining existing buildings; after all, examples of weathering and failures are all around us and these should be carefully observed. In addition to looking around, a surveyor should be aware of the large number of books, journals and investigative reports on materials, building components, performance and defects, which are published regularly. A number of reports produced by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) will be of particular use to the building surveyor, these include Digests, Information Papers, Defect Action Sheets, Current Papers and Technical Notes.