Building defect investigation

If you have a particular issue with a building or element of a building and wish to know the cause and possible remedies, you can book an appointment for an initial on-site discussion of the matter. You will receive an initial appraisal of the matter, together with a way forward and cost of providing the complete service. The cost of this initial consultation is 5,500 CZK within the Prague area. If outside of Prague Hlavni mesto the price is 5,500 CZK plus 15 CZK per kilometre of travel distance from Prague 7 to and from the site location.

Building defects and causes

• Water

  Water can cause damage and defects to the fabric of buildings either by undesired entry or the inability of water vapour to exit a building in a controlled way. This can result in primary degradation of building materials causing loss of intended functionality which may in turn lead to secondary degradation by fungal and mould growth. The cause of such defects can include the loss of the integrity of weatherproof finishes and damp proof membranes, leaking plumbing or drainage pipe work and the poor design and/or installation of vapour barriers. The correct identification of the causes of an issue, together with the design and implementation of appropriate remedial works are important for maintaining the value of the property and contents, together with the health and well-being of its occupants.

• Structure

  The unintended movement of building structures causes cracking of building’s finishes and possibly the over stressing of structural elements. In extreme cases this can lead to the partial or total collapse of a building. Such movement can be caused by earthquakes, changes to the ground conditions under a building or the inadequacy of component structural elements the building. Many buildings display cracks of some sort and recognising the different types and causes is crucial to understanding the structural integrity and interventions that may be required.

• Fire

  The performance of a building on fire is first and foremost critical to the life safety of its occupants and emergency responders, be it residential apartments or large commercial or industrial buildings. The passive fire resistance of a building is determined by its compartmental design, incorporated materials and finishes together with the fire load of its contents. The fundamental purpose of passive fire resistance together with appropriate active systems, such as sprinklers, fire shutter, smoke extract systems and the like is to enable the occupants of the building to escape to a place of safety. I have significant experience in passive fire design, inspection compliance with state regulations and insurance standards, together with the integration of active fire safety components and systems. I do not inspect the functionality or efficacy of active fire safety components or systems.

• Acoustics

  Acoustic issues with buildings generally fall into three categories: firstly noise ingress into a building from and outside source, secondly, the transmission of noise between two or more parts of a build contained within the same overall envelope (neighbour noise) and thirdly issues with the acoustic environment within a particular space in a building, such as long reverberation time or echo. The measurement and analysis of many noise penetration issues is particularly important as the design of possible solutions is very dependent on the frequency spectrum or of the Intrusive sound. Having undertaken the acoustic design of new multifunctional performance spaces and remedial design solutions to reverberation and insulation problem, I am aware of the practical limitation in this field.

• Building services

  Building services is the general title that encompasses all a buildings, electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling, ventilation, drainage, data distribution, security systems. I provide an overview on these systems only and when requested by a client, I also manage the intervention of the expertise of a specialist in the particular system(s) being investigated. I have adopted this approach for more than 30 years as it works well and has proved financially beneficial to clients.