ASSIGNMENT#3

TOPIC: Defects In Residential buildings in

Karachi
Team members: Arsalan(cv-06-2020)
Sharjeel Khalid (cv-034-
2020)
Saad Ali khattak (cv-033-
sss2020)
M. Muzammil
(cv-24-2020)
Anas kaimkhani (cv-035-
2020)

SECTION: A
SUBJECT: Construction Engineering
 Table of Contents:

1 Abstract.......................................
2 Introduction …………………………….
2.1 Significance ………….....................
2.2 Scope & Objectives ………..........
2.3 Methodology …………………............
3 Literature Review…………………....
4 Results…………………………………........
5 Conclusion and recommendation…………………
6 Data Collection…………………………………………….
Abstract:
Housing plays an important role in human life and in our society. Housing has
a great social and economic impact on our lives and the way we live. It has
direct and immediate effect on health, education, and economy, and
environment, political and social life of any society. In today’s technologically
advanced world, the quality of housing and its maintenance in a livable
condition yet remains a challenge in many parts of the globe. This study
identifies the various types of structural defects present in the residential
buildings of Karachi city. The data was collected from selected areas of the
city using questionnaire, physical identification survey, and conducting
interviews based on the fundamental knowledge of structural defects and
their effects on buildings. It was found that buildings in Karachi’s area
possess the highest number of structural defects followed. Apart from
identifying the most affected area, an overall state of the residential
buildings in Karachi city regarding structural integrity was also determined.
Since, the city of Karachi is in earthquake zone, it is very important that
these types of structural defects should be avoided in future residential
buildings and necessary maintenance should be carried out in existing houses
to avoid any serious damages to houses and loss of human lives due to the
occurrence of any possible disaster

Introduction:
To eliminate latent defects is a difficult task, most of the latent defects
only appear when the building is being used, in this stage it is hard to
get into the flat to be able to contain the information on these defects. The
main reason of latent defects is the inadequacy of the design and it prevents
the improvement of the design, such as thermal insulation, energy
consumption, and financial constraints in order to allow designers to design
adequate effort to eliminate the latent defects. Many of these defects
appeared in many buildings and it cause a large number of funds and human
resources to check and process. It is hard to detect the latent defects
early on, as it needs a period of time to appear. Many of these latent
defects are related to finishes and materials. This paper is focused on
identifying the common contributors and the degree of attention of defects
in residential buildings. There are two types of defect in residential
buildings:

 Structural defects
 Non-structural defects

Significance of the topic:

The types of defects can make a building to live in. these defects and taken
care of to minimize the risks and ensure the safety of residents. Proactive
measure should be taken to minimize the chances of encountering defects.
This study presents a detailed analysis regarding the defects. Their types
their causes and commendations that should be taken to avoid these defects
thus, a clear understanding of defects helps to minimize the exposure to
these defects hence this topic is very valuable.

Scope:
Scope of study will cover how to avoid or minimize the defect in
construction project. The study is needed to apply those defects concept in
planning, scheduling and field operation. As Karachi developing city this
study is essential to develop future infrastructure under economical basis.
So that it will contribute to the importance of growth rate potential and also
to increase competitiveness of economy.

Research Objectives:
The objective of this research is to find out the most common defects
which appear inside the residential building and identify the failure caused
by design strategies
and possible process method for these defects that could help prevent
patent and latent defects from poor design.
Limitation:
As a result of the various building absconds related with building parts, not
all the building imperfections could be recognized as this examination is
constrained to building abandons following up on private building. Despite the
above confinements, the review comes about have not been influenced and in
this way are trustworthy, dependable and helpful for any reasons for
assessment and criticisms.

Methodology:
The case study research approach was adopted for this research. As
mentioned earlier in literature review, stock condition survey was used for
data collection and survey. A survey questionnaire was developed for
collecting necessary information; additionally physical observation survey
(visit) was done to understand the defects. Semi-structured interviews were
also conducted to get insights regarding the problem of defects and
understand the opinion of residents. The gathered data was then compared
with the literature review which includes the building standards and codes
regarding structural defects to analyze the existing safety of the
structures. The primary data was analyzed considering the aim to find out
the reasons behind the occurrence of common structural defects in
residential buildings. It is important to select the residential areas which
are most representative and represent the most common housing typologies,
construction materials, ethnic and income groups, and the type of housing;
i.e. slums, public housing, planned areas and housing developments etc.
According to Karachi Development Authority (KDA), the residential areas in
Karachi make up to 75% of the total city area. For this study, according to
the geographic location of Karachi city, the residential zones were divided
into 10 localities and several residential.

Literature Review:
In several cases it is noticed that the number of defects and rework is
higher in the smaller houses Minor defects may occur due to the
construction process and nature of the building. The defects only become a
problem if they are excessive or major. Building defect is one of the major
components of building problems that needs significant attention (Bakri &
Mydin, 2014). (Georgiou, Love, & Smith, 1999) has divided defects in three
categories:

 Technical: A defect caused when the materials or building elements do

not meet or reduce their functional performance. Technical defects
may cause damage to human life and assets. The diagnosis of such
defects might need some scientific tests and investigation.
 Aesthetic: A defect which adversely affects the appearance of the
building material or element. Defects like discoloration, dampness,
corrosion, efflorescence, plaster or tile delaminating; broken glass or
graffiti are considered aesthetic defects. These defects usually
affect the visual appearance and beauty of the building and might lead
deterioration of the building materials or elements in some cases. Such
defects may not harm the asset, structure and human life and need
lower amounts to be fixed.
 Functional: A defect which leads the building failure to function as it
was planned and designed. These defects are related mainly with
planning, design, and location of the building.
Results:
Types of defects that are studied in this report in Residential
building:

 Spalling in roofs/ceiling
Such defects occur due to water seepage or water leakage from the
roof slab. These defects cause bulging, pattern cracking, falling off clear
cover from concrete which would expose the reinforcement. The
reinforcement gets rusted by corrosion effect; water leakage may also react
with adjacent walls which might cause plaster or tile delaminating.
 Water seepage from wall:
Cracking in external walls may cause water seepage which would result
in water stains, peeling off and discoloration of paint or wall paper,
water dripping and the growth of fungus. This would in turn cause
defects in concrete (permeable) and in plaster or tiles. The stains in
structures as shown in Figure 2 can be a cause of water seepage and
may occur due to several reasons including cracks on external wall,
honeycomb, defective concrete, defective windows, waterproofing
membrane at roof etc.
 Efflorescence on wall
Efflorescence is caused when soluble salts and other water dispersible
materials come to the surface of concrete and mortars. It's induced
by low temperatures, moist conditions, condensation, rain, dew, and
water added to the surface of fresh concrete to assist toweling.

 Solid floor Defect

Defects may cause a slab to sink, or to lift. Signs of failure in a solid
slab which is sinking include: Gaps between the underside of skirting
boards and the solid floor. Cracks adjacent and parallel to perimeter
walls.
  Suspended floor
Generally, defects in suspended floors arise from deflection or attack
by fungus or insects. Problems in upper floors can also occur where a
building has been subjected to a change of use, or where there is
insufficient insulation to combat noise, especially impact sound
transmission.

 Crack on Ground movement

Ground movement crack (beneath foundations) caused by clay shrinkage, land

slip, vibration, subsidence, settlement, heave, sway, and so on.
 Ceiling crack
Usually, ceiling cracks are caused by one of two things: structural
damage or settling (all structures settle to some extent after they're
built)

 Crack in column
The causes of cracks in columns can be incorrect design, faulty
construction or overloading, corrosion of reinforcement, isolated
settlement of foundations, creep and shrinkage.
 Crack in Beam
Cracks in beams due to increased shear stress.

Conclusions:
The main objective of this research is a preliminary examination of
defect and to minimize the cost of construction and to improve the
quality of materials which are used in the construction. Occurrence of
defects in construction will leads to lowering the satisfaction of the
customers, to stand and progress reputation in market, customer
oriented construction of buildings needs to be constructed to improve
the quality and service to the end users. The most important reason is
poor workmanship they don’t follow the instructions which was given in
the specifications also responsible for the occurrence of defects.
Inspection of work is necessary for a building at a particular interval
of time throughout the life of building. The lack of maintenance or
incorrect maintenance will leads to reduce the life of the building and
also reduces the effective life of the materials far lower than it
should be achieved. This paper concentrated on defects occurs in
construction projects after hand over of project. Defect analysis is
 not a safety task because the life of the building and safety will
always depends on the strength and durability of the components of
building if the components are defect free ultimately we get the best
service life and safety. In that paper number of scientists says that
due to the defects in construction the cost of construction and the
life of the structures are decreased. The reason for the defects are
common everywhere i.e. due to poor workmanship, improper design,
quality of materials, lack of supervision, wrong construction methods,
lack of inspection after construction etc.

Recommendation:
 During the design phase, architect should implement procedures that
will subject the design to extensive review and analysis before it is
released to construction and proper maintenance should be done.
 Proper Involvement of design team members and sub-contractors
 Proper management of construction documents
 Proper design has to be prepared.
 Data collection:

S NO BUILDING NAME ADDRESS NO OF STORIESNO OF UNITSAREA IN Sq.YD Defected Building Member Type of Defect Reason

1 Rabia banglows 3 6 120 WALL Efflorescence Efflorescence occurs

BLK19 gulistan e
Johar when water containing
dissolved salts is brought to
the surface of masonry, the
water evaporates and the

Drywall and plaster ceilings

2 Rado livna 8 8 1480 ROOF (SLAB) are known to fail and collapse
Ceiling Plaster under excessive or prolonged
blk#13 johar fall out water exposure.

3 Rado livna 6 7 1480 Over head tank tower Seepage Seepage doesn't require any
blk#13 johar cracks or passage in roof of
the house. It occurs when the
slab is porous and water

4 Rabia banglows BLK19 Gulistan e johr 3 6 120 BEAM cracking caused by increased the shear stress

5 RAZA society Ghazi goth Town sfr 3 5 240 column cracking faulty construction or over loading

6 Haroon Royal city Blk 15 johar 6 12 1280 roof cracking caused by structural damage or settlement
7 khaskheli ResidencySafoora goth 3 6 500 ground movement cracking caused by clay shrinkage
8 Safari omega view BLK 13 JOHAR 6 12 2000 Ground suspended caused by fungus
9 king Residency BLK 13 JOHAR 6 12 2280 floor Solid floor cause a slab to sink, or to lift.signs of failure in a solid slab