Maintenance is carried out by keeping the property in its original serviceable condition. Studies in the United Kingdom have shown that when costing of a building is carried out over its service life, a greater sum of money is spent in the maintenance of the building rather than in the building itself. As a general rule the 30/70 split applies. Seventy (70) per cent of the overall cost is in the maintenance of a building.
It is very important to maintain the quality of construction and to pay much more attention to premature deterioration and breakdown of materials.
Studies were done on commercial buildings in Britain. The cost of paying the cleaners, buying uniforms, chemicals, vacation leave, time off, overtime, and so on over thirty (30) years; when accounted for and added up, the total cost was equivalent to the cost of putting down the building in the first place. Maintenance activities of building involve:
The following are some of the major challenges: -
Some key Home Maintenance Activities
Some home maintenance activities include: -
How does one Design for Home Maintenance?
The house must be designed to be easily maintained.
There have been buildings with plenty of glass, but nobody can clean the glass. The builders overlooked the need for chairs and rails to enable persons to clean a building such as a multi story building. There are also problems associated with blockage of drains rendering them difficult to clean. Maintenance should be easy to be done, so they can be done on a regular basis. How does one design to reduce maintenance?
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Safety
Healthy environment
Cleanliness
Equipment and accessories in good working condition
The privacy - noise privacy as well as visual privacy
Too many inexperienced and unqualified contractors, resulting in poor workmanship;
Poor choice of material specifications for different location with hazardous conditions;
Poor design of buildings;
Prevalent use of cheap and inferior materials;
Termite problem in the furniture and wooden houses;
Sea Blast;
Over exposure of certain material to sunshine;
Excess humidity and darkness;
Improper treatment of wood can cause rotting;
Use of improper standards with respect to building materials and processes;
Temperature - deterioration processes take place faster;
Cleaning inside and outside,
Cleaning of drains,
Cleaning of yards,
Cleaning driveways, pass, the apron, rain water gutters,
Regular painting,
Taking urgent measures to deal with problems identified,
Maintenance of our roofs - plugging of simple leak,
Regular routine inspection is a critical,
Control of vegetation, which is the lawns, the shrubbery,
Disposal of waste,
Control of pests and vermin,
Electrical maintenance.
Choose materials that do not rust easily;
Choose materials that are not easily attacked by termites, rot, sunlight;
Ensure good workmanship and attention to details;
Choose good professional Team – Architects, Contractors, Draughtsman;
Ensure that the floor water around houses is drained away from the walls and foundations as much as possible. This will help to keep your foundations dry and strong and the area around the house less than mossy;
Building should also be located away from the risk of flooding, land slides;
Building should be strong enough to resist reasonable levels of hurricane and earthquake forces.
Leaking pipes
Blocked drains
Air conditioner not working
Dirty environs
Overgrown shrubs
Fungi on the walls