Points for Long-Term Maintenance of Concrete Buildings

Concrete structures form an important part of the urban landscape. From bridges to stadiums, concrete is a sturdy material used for building all kinds of structures. But make no mistake, long-lasting structures also require plans for long-term maintenance. Proper maintenance can be divided into repair, servicing, upgrading and replacement. Failure to provide necessary maintenance results in expensive repairs and sometimes even replacement of important interior or exterior components. Devising a long-term surveillance and maintenance plan can help in controlling damages to a great extent.

Following are a few important techniques for the maintenance of concrete buildings in order to ensure a secure and pleasant living environment:

Coat Exterior Surfaces with Polymer Sealer

Whether the concrete building is old or brand new, guarding it against elements that destroy it is vital for extending the life of the building. When left unprotected, exterior concrete surfaces are prone to all kinds of damages — caused by either Mother Nature or man-made elements. Concrete is vulnerable to water damage, it occurs when water seeps through porous material and damages exterior concrete surfaces. Coating concrete buildings with polymer sealer can help prevent such damages.

Repair Materials Required for Maintenance of Concrete Buildings

Always keep damage repair materials handy. Here are a couple of damage repair supplies that should always be stocked:

1. Epoxy Resins — they are remarkable binding agents with high tensile strength. Epoxy resins’ composition of low viscosity is used to fill up small cracks, whereas higher viscosity epoxy can be used for filling larger cracks/ holes and surface coating.
2. Epoxy Mortar — for huge void spaces caused by chemical deterioration of concrete, a good choice is to combine epoxy resins of either high or low viscosity with sand aggregate to form epoxy mortar. This mixture is of higher compressive and tensile strength. It is not a stiff material for replacing reinforced concrete.

Day to Day Inspections

Day to day inspections ensure the safe and proper functioning of various elements, facilities, services and installations of the building. Here’s how you can go about it

1. Check the water pipes and pumps
2. Check the building’s structures, external appendages, and facilities.
3. Ensure that the air conditioning units and pipes for coolants are in proper condition.
4. Check the surface water channels, grease traps, drains, oil interceptors etc.
5. Make sure that the gates, fire exits, lights and fittings, and breakables are all in order

Special Inspections

Fire accidents occur most of the times due to the failure of recognizing and preventing mishaps that lead to fire hazards. It’s imperative to keep a check on installations that may cause fire hazards. Try and perform monthly special inspections

1. Make sure that the concrete building is free of any flammable liquid or gas.
2. Ensure that there’s no leakage of flammable gas and liquid (in industrial concrete building).
3. Electrical malfunctions also lead to fire mishaps, so make sure that all the electrical wiring are in order.