An Evaluation of the Impact of Defects in Public Residential Buildings in Ghana

Abstract

Public housing in Ghana is a social responsibility of government by accommodating its employees. Due to inadequate or lack of thorough maintenance, a considerable number of these public residential buildings have developed various forms of defects internally, externally or both of which some are either minor or major in terms of their stages of severity. Whereas, some of these defects have seriously affected the structural integrity other defects are mild. This paper was therefore undertaken to evaluate the impact of these defects in some of these public housing or residential buildings. In arriving at the set objectives, data was gathered using the following instruments; questionnaire, personal observation and face to face interview with the occupants of these public buildings. Different types of major defects were identified of which the top twenty of the most common ones found in the buildings were listed and made part of a questionnaire where respondents ranked these defects by considering their impact of severity in terms of function and user requirements It was realized that majority of these defects or failures can be attributed to design of the buildings, usage of buildings and lack of adequate maintenance on the buildings, also majority of the identified defects were in the low severity range.

Keywords: Public, Residential Buildings, Defects