Building Durability

This book intends to give the basis for the durability evaluation finalized to plan building maintenance, with a specific focus on the methods for the prediction and control of service life and reliability of building components. The text developed during years of teaching experience on durability, introduces methods to be applied by different stakeholders within the building process, engaged in the technological design stage, in the production one and then in maintenance planning and management. The book contents refer to the methods developed at International level within CIBW080 “Prediction of Service Life of Building Materials and Components”, then standardized at international level by ISO TC 59/SC14 Design life and at Italian lever by the UNI working group “Durability of buildings components”, with the relevant contribution of Building Components Durability Research Group of Politecnico di Milano. The first part of the book, concerning the first three chapters, introduces the durability evaluation for maintenance planning (first chapter), within a performance based approach focused on quality control through the whole building process (second chapter), referring to the international state of the art (third chapter). After the fourth chapter where the most important terms and parameters are defined, in the fifth chapter one can find the methods for the evaluation of service life, useful for the design stage and for production control. In the sixth chapter it’s introduced the method for the design prediction of reliability propensity developed by Politecnico di Milano and then accepted within the Italian standards In the following chapters it’s presented the application of the method for the prediction of Reference Service Life through laboratory testing, for external walls, as in the case of traditional masonry (chapter eight), as in the case of External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (chapter ten). In the ninth chapter the methods for durability certification are reported , as they are developed from the application of the European Directive for Construction Products, recently substituted by the new European Regulation, which explicitly introduces durability within the new requirement: sustainable use of natural resources. In the last chapter it’s finalized the use of durability evaluation for the maintenance planning, as an essential tool for the evaluation of economic and environmental sustainability of buildings’ life cycle.