Researcher analyzed five buildings in the state network built between 2004 and 2009, in Campinas
Prefabricated school buildings began to be built in the State of São Paulo in 2003. The aim was to use a quality construction system, which would offer greater possibility of control in the production of construction elements, and consequently, greater durability and expansion of useful life of school units, in addition to reducing their delivery time.
As the name suggests, prefabrication involves the integral production in industries of concrete construction elements, such as slabs, beams and pillars, which are molded and cured and subsequently transported and assembled on site.
The Foundation for the Development of Education (FDE), a body linked to the São Paulo State Department of Education, manages the processes for implementing new schools, their maintenance and renovations. It is responsible for directing the bidding process to select the company that will be responsible for the projects and execution of the building works.
Master's thesis developed by civil engineer Maria Emília da Silva Oliveira Araújo, graduated from the Polytechnic School of the University of Pernambuco, is dedicated to mapping and analyzing pathological manifestations in five of the nine prefabricated school buildings, in Campinas, built between the years 2004 and 2009. Developed at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urbanism (FEC) at Unicamp, the research was supervised by professor Carlos Eduardo Marmorato Gomes.
The types of pathological manifestations studied were cracks in sealing masonry and in concrete structures, humidity or fungi and efflorescence or leaching, the latter resulting from the accumulation of salts from cement, which occurs due to the action of humidity and water, compromising aesthetics. These manifestations, present in the masonry elements and concrete structure, were analyzed quantitatively through the Post-Occupancy Assessment (POP) and identified by two methods: assessment of physical performance (method walkthrough) and photographic record.
The study also analyzes these pathological manifestations, relating them to the durability of the construction, safety and health of the occupants. Establishing a parallel with other available studies, the author considers that the pathological manifestations observed result from the project, its execution, the use of the construction and the absence of building maintenance management.
Considerations
For Maria Emília, the analysis of the results allows conclusions similar to those of other research that adopted APO as a performance evaluation method. It is therefore essential to implement a periodic maintenance system in school buildings, as it has been observed that carrying out corrective maintenance requires higher costs. In the absence of preventive interventions, problems of mold, leaks and cracks may arise, which depress the aesthetics of the construction, create insecurities in its use and compromise the health of users. For her, better adaptation of projects to construction systems during planning guarantees the creation of more effective projects, which avoid the need for subsequent interventions, which can worsen the problems observed, and allows for more full use of the public school building.
Reports from school directors corroborate these arguments when they attest that the lack of knowledge on the best use of school environments leads to inadequate projects and causes inconvenience to users.
Conclusions
Cracks in masonry and concrete elements were present in 100% of the buildings analyzed. Most of them arise from the hydrothermal movement of ceramic bricks. The masonry in these constructions is seen by construction companies only in relation to sealing functions, leading them to disregard important aspects such as, for example, moisture and water absorption, porosity and mechanical properties.
The presence of mold or “mildew” was the second most common pathology, identified in 13% of the cases studied. It arises from failures in the execution of elements of platbands and window sills and lack of paint maintenance. The quality of the masonry elements also enhances this manifestation.
Although to a lesser extent, there were also problems with efflorescence in concrete and corrosion of steel. Although it was not possible to identify their causes, the literature attributes them to design and execution flaws and lack of maintenance of the structure.
The researcher was surprised by the fact that prefabricated school buildings, supposedly susceptible to greater quality control as they involve industrialized processes, presented problems that were expected to be minimal. It was expected that they would have higher construction quality than conventional constructions, but this was not the case.
