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Building maintenance is work undertaken to keep, restore or improve every part of a building, its services to a currently acceptable standard and to sustain the utility and value of the facility.The objectives of building maintenance works are:
(i) To preserve machinery, building and services, in good operating condition. (ii) To restore it back to its original standards, and (iii) To improve the facilities depending upon the development that is taking place in the building engineering. All the buildings deteriorate from the time they are completed. The rate of deterioration depends on a number of factors. Not all the factors can be controlled by the occupants of the building.
During the design and construction stages, the following points shall be kept in mind:
(i) Right choice of building materials.
(ii) Selection of suitable construction techniques.
(iii) Adequate specifications for construction and installation work.
(iv) Effective supervision throughout construction and rectification of defects prior to final certification.
(v) Provision of adequate space for landscaping with proper design.
Depending upon the nature of the work, immediately after the date of completion, building shall be maintained for initial period of 3 to 6 months as there can be teething troubles in any new construction. If these are taken care of, the maintenance pressure will be reduced.
When there is any inherent defects both in design and construction the maintenance cost rises disproportionately to a higher level and the anticipated life of building is reduced.
Maintenance of building aims at effective and economic method of keeping the building and services fully utilizable. It involves numerous skills as influenced by occupancy and the performance level expected of a building.
Planning of works to be carried out to keep the building in a good condition calls for high skills. Feedback from maintenance should also be a continuous process to improve upon the design and construction stages.
Read More:
Types of Building Repair and Maintenance Services
Maintenance of Concrete Structures
Maintenance of Steel Structures
Types of Building Maintenance Activities for Durability of Building Structures 