Property Guru Pvt. Ltd.

Renovation

Be Very Careful During Flat Renovation

There may be times when you need to do certain changes in your flat – be it the need for more space or the routine renovation. This is the time when you need a structural engineer the most. Be it the earthquake resistance of a building or floor renovation, we must consult a structural engineer in such critical situations. People often neglect the structural engineer during the construction of any building or flat. But try not avoiding the same while doing changes in the structure of your living place as it may cause hazardous results too.

Vital Elements of Structure

• The ceilings of the rooms are called ‘slabs’ in structural engineering and the horizontal layers below the slabs are called ‘beams’. These beams are placed over the top of walls.
• To support the beams, there are certain columns or pillars in the vertical room. Usually pillars are made at the joints of beams or at the corners of the walls.
• Specially made long & huge column is called ‘sheer wall’.
• To tolerate the weight of the building or floor, there is a base foundation below the ground.
• Other structures like porch, stairs, water tank etc. are the secondary elements that support the main elements. These secondary elements are made of reinforced cement concrete (RCC).

Load
The main weight of any building is categorized in two types: dead load and live load. The dead load comprises of the weight of main building including the weight of frames, walls, plaster etc. While the live load comprises of the other secondary weights that are made on the building like people living in it, furniture, tools & equipments etc.

Load Transfer
Load transfer symbolizes shifting all types of loads and weights below the grounds so that the building can stand safe. If a building is standing on frames, we use frame action for load transfer. Under this technique, the weight of slabs is transferred over beams and the weight of beams gets shifted to columns. This way, upper columns automatically transfer their weight on to the lower columns.

A slab or beam tolerates the weight of its floor only. It does not tolerate the weight of the upper floor. Contrary to this, the columns are designed in a way that these tolerate the weight of the upper floors. This is the reason why the column size of lower floors is always bigger than that of the upper ones. The column of the lowermost floor transfers the weight to the base foundation. This way, the entire weight automatically gets shifted below the ground.

Structure Renovation
The stability of the building gets affected if you break the RCC frame of the flat. If the quality of the construction frame is actually poor, or if it is not maintained properly or even if the building is overloaded – there can be diverse effects of this renovation. Any disturbance to the columns, beam or the foundation can also make the building fall down.

Therefore, always be cautious while breaking or renovating the columns at the lower floors. Do not construct more floors without consulting or getting an approval from the structural engineer. Also, do not overload the building with overhead water tank. Building load is the major reason why the residential buildings are not used for industrial or warehouse purposes. Breaking the beam of the floor or marking cuts in the slabs can also be equally dangerous.