Concrete facades: Investigation and repair project approaches

This paper presents an overall project approach for the investigation and repair of concrete building facades. Types of distress typically encountered in concrete facades, such as spalling, cracking, and delamination, are described, including a review of the causes of distress and deterioration and their structural significance. Distress of facade elements, such as architectural reveals and balcony railings, is also discussed. Attention is given to specific techniques for assessing existing conditions, materials sampling, and testing. The advantages and disadvantages of complete and representative facade surveys are discussed as a means of generating information on which to base drawings and specifications. Recent building facade and maintenance ordinances are reviewed as they relate to concrete building facades. Included in this paper are options for repair to address characteristic distress conditions. The advantages of performing trial repairs prior to the implementation of full-scale repairs are reviewed. Finally, methods of quality control and field observation are described for a typical project.