Abstract
Educational institutions in Nigeria be it public or private, old or new, require improvement on the buildings, facilities and infrastructure. Such improvement will not only enhance their performances and ranking but will also reduce the number of students aspiring for degrees in other countries with its antecedent effects on the society. Seeking improvement connotes reducing building defects/deterioration thereby creating a conducive environment that stimulates, supports and sustains learning, teaching, research and innovation. Dampness plagues both new and old buildings and contributes more than 50% of building envelopes’ defect, discomfort or failure. This study therefore examined dampness in selected educational buildings in Lagos. The purpose was to identify the pattern of dampness in halls of residence with a view of providing data that will inform decisions to be taken by the stakeholders. The objectives were to evaluate the prevalent sources of dampness and the frequency of occurrence as well as the evaluation of the halls that have the highest effect of dampness. The study population comprised 11 out of the 13 under-graduates halls of residence in the study area. The research design involved visual inspection of the halls based on a number of indicators that characterise the different sources of dampness and the use of moisture meter and condensation test to get objective readings on some identified walls. This analysis was done using mean and percentage on excel sheets. The results revealed that all the five sources of dampness namely; condensation, ground water, penetration damp, pipe leakage and rising damp were prevalent in the halls. Symptoms of pipe leakage and condensation, however, were more prevalent. Out of the 11 halls of residence that were inspected, 4 of the halls showed severe effects of dampness. The readings from the moisture meter indicated rising damp at a height of 560mm with condensation from the inner side of the wall. It was concluded that a larger percentage of the effects of the damages done by dampness in the halls originated from pipe leakages and condensation. In addition, the height attained by the rising damp on the external wall resulted from a pool of water at the foot of the wall. Building Surveyors need to be invited to conduct further investigation on the sources of the dampness and the consequences while the institution management needs to attend to the halls with high severity index in order to forestall further deterioration.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | 10th West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference |
Place of Publication | Ghana |
Pages | 344-363 |
Number of pages | 20 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2019 |
Event | West Africa Built Environment Research: Knowledge, Interaction, People & Leadership - Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, Accra, Ghana Duration: 5 Aug 2019 → 7 Aug 2019 |
Conference
Conference | West Africa Built Environment Research |
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Abbreviated title | WABER |
Country/Territory | Ghana |
City | Accra |
Period | 5/08/19 → 7/08/19 |
Keywords
- Dampness
- defects
- halls of residence
- moisture meter
- symptoms