CIBW062 Symposium 2014
EVALUATION OF THE PLUMBING SYSTEM´S
PATHOLOGIES BASED ON THE RECORD OF
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CONSTRUCTION
PROCEDURES.
L. Carvalho (1), R. Ferreira (2) M. A. S. Campos (3)
1. leticiacm_@hotmail.com
2.ruany.fp@gmail.com
3 marcussiqueira@yahoo.com.br
(1), (2), (3) School of Civil Engineering, Federal University of Goiás
Abstract
Introduction and aims: During many years, plumbing systems has been the leader at the
list of technical assistance complaining. Many factors may cause these problems: weak
design, uncontrolled execution, materials or inappropriate use of the sanitary fixtures. By
analyzing the technical assistance records, it is quite hard to verify which problems are
related to flawed construction procedures. That way, this paper intends to establish a
routine to analyses those records, identifying those related to lack of proper procedures
and improve those techniques that may have been causing these problems. Method: To
do that, all the complaining records of a construction company of the city of Goiania were
analyzed and classified to the most probable cause of it. In parallel some visits to
construction sites were made to track the execution of the plumbing systems. All the
nonconformities were verified and also registered and compared with records of the
technical assistance.Results and conclusion: The results showed that most of the problems
related at the technical assistance were really happening due to inappropriate execetuion , caused
by the lack of established procedures or poor training. Contributions: It is expected to help the
the learning process that can be withdraw from the technical assistance complaining, improving
the product that the company delivers.
Keywords
Example; pathologies, technical assistance , plumbing systems execution procedures
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CIBW062 Symposium 2014
1 Introduction
Globalization growing trends on the past years promoted important changes on the civil
construction area in Brazil, especially increasing competitiveness among companies. The
opening of the civil construction market to new technologies, the demand for modern
goods and the reduced amount of skilled workforce prompted the emerging of pathologies
at the delivered buildings (MATOS, 2010; FANTINATTI, 2008).
Along with the changes on the construction market, the customers' requirements
increased. They have developed growing knowledge about their rights related to the
quality of products and services. Moreover, the new Brazilian Civil Code, the Consumer
Protection Law and the new performance requirements support customers, who require
minimum building performance.
By following these remarks, companies understood the importance to look for techniques
and to establish systems that would improve the processes continuously, in a way where
customers’ requirements would be fulfilled and the company would guarantee its market
share.
Processes of maintenance of technical support and the method of Post-Occupancy
Evaluation (POE) are essential tools on the evaluation of quality of the constructed site.
They analyze the effectiveness of processes and verify possible solutions to flaws on them
(CORREA; COSTA, 2007; CUPERTINO, 2013).
Based on database research of technical assistance departments, plumbing systems are
related to the main causes of post-occupancy pathologies. They derive from flaws in use,
execution, material, planning and project. A research developed by Cupertino (2013), in
a 30-year construction company of buildings, demonstrated that 28% of construction
flaws were directly associated to leakage, clog, maintenance failure and flaws in hydraulic
and sanitary facilities.
Considering the flaws mapped, an analysis of the main requirements of these facilities
was important. This analysis was based on rules and main flaws related to execution. The
rules were analyzed based on the orientation for each facility, their specific characteristics
and their function. This paper also covered material specification, execution devices and
procedures. A fundamental factor to map the causes of flaws in hydraulic and sanitary
facilities included the study of standards. This was linked to the knowledge of possible
pathologies and the guidance to the removal or reduction of them.
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2 Methods
A research method was created aiming to identify the possible causes of common
pathologies at the plumbing facilities. This method had four fundamental and consecutive
steps: literature review, research data, case study and, at the end, arguments and
conclusion.
2.1 Literature review
The first step was based on literature review of the national standards related plumbing
facilities especially concerning desing details, materials and execution procedures, linked
with the recent Performance standard NBR 15575 (ABNT, 2013). Furthermore, this paper
underlined the importance of the knowledge about the main pathologies at the buildings
from the studied region. The use of data from technical assistance was equally relevant.
All these items are covered as part of the Quality Management System, a characteristic
of utmost importance for the correct development of projects in civil construction.
2.2 Data Collection
Following the theoretical foundation, data were collected from the department of postoccupancy from a local construction company, hereby referenced as company A. The
data consisted in customers' requests due to detected flaws after the delivery of the unit.
At the company A, the requests were made by e-mail, in which customers described the
verified problem. As the technical assistance department receives requests from all
systems related to the enterprise, the e-mails were sorted. The complaints related to flaws
from the hydraulic and sanitary facilities were selected. For instance, leakage, odor, foam,
among others.
The company A provided data from the start of January up to September, in 2013, taking
into account an average of 600 requests. All requests were related to medium and high
standards residential enterprises. The access to these requests was important to the
development of this paper, since most companies is not willing to provide them. This kind
of data is related to the real conditions of planning, control and quality of design, material
and constructive systems adopted. The 600 were evaluated and the ones that were related
to plumbing systems were separated.
2.3 Case study
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Following the research data of the company A, the plumbing systems complainings were
ranked and then a spreadsheet from Microsoft Office Excel was created. For each request,
a percentage was assigned. This percentage was related to the probable causes of
pathologies listed, concerning project, execution, materials or use. The purpose of this
ranking was to identify and list the main requests related to hydraulic and sanitary
facilities, and quantify the possible causes related to the pathologies.
For the requests of technical assistance related to the execution, the study covered the
execution procedures of the company. This aimed to identify any flaws in these
procedures that could be linked with the most commom pathologies.
The study of the execution stage was conducted with field research in construction sites
of the company A. These construction sites had similar characteristics to the enterprises
that caused the collected requests of technical assistance. As a result, the standard
execution procedures of these enterprises were identified. These were probably the
procedures that caused the flaws on the hydraulic and sanitary facilities.
2.4 Arguments and conclusions
Following the data analysis and the study of the available material from the companies,
this research aimed at confirming the designated causes to the pathologies on the data
ranking. Possible errors were identified and, consequently, the real causes.
Following the identification of the causes of the pathologies, the ranking was reviewed to
confirm the predicted origins or other possible causes, which would be: project, material
or use. The study of the available material from the companies, with the goal of finding
flaws, supported by the literature review, enabled the inspection of outliers on the
technical assistance requests.
3 Results
According to the method aforementioned, the technical assistance requests related to
hydraulic and sanitary facilities were listed. It amounted 194 requests from 3 enterprises.
Following the analysis of their possible causes, they were ranked by assigning a
percentage to their possible causes, among execution, material, project or use. The result
achieved is on Figure 01.
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Figure 1 – Most likely causes of the plumbing system pathologies
On the three entreprises analyzed, the main cause to recorded pathologies was the flaw
on the execution process, with an average of 54%, followed by flaws on material, 30%,
design flaws, 11%, and 6% due to the user’s bad behavior.
Among the numerous requests of technical assistance, the following pathologies were
identified: leakage at the celling, clogged sink and drain; leakage at the taps; odor;
flushing problems; leakage at the sink drain pipe; leakage at the toilet; insufficient
pressure on supply devices; leakage at the shower; dampness in walls; lack of materials;
clogged toilets; leakage at the water meter; valve problems; lack of water supply in any
water device; problems with tap outflow; problems at the sink drain pipe; inadequate
grease trap; faulty water pump; shower is not alligned; noisy flush; missing drain and
continuous water interruption.
The requests were grouped according to the number of reported pathology. According to
the Figure 2, the six pathologies aforementioned (leaking roof, clogged sink and drain,
leaking tap, odor, flush problems, leaky sink drain pipe) are responsible for around 70%
of the total complaints from users. Therefore, this study tried to identify any flaws that
could have induced, directly or not, some of these pathologies, without disregarding the
other ones.
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Figure 2 - Main reported requests related to hydraulic and sanitary facilities
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From the sorting of the origins of the requests and the grouping of requests according to
the pathology, the main pathologies related to hydraulic and sanitary facilities were
identified. A checklist was created with the due execution procedures. Additionally,
questions were formulated to the engineer and the responsible for the hydro-sanitary
facilities. These questions were important to verify whether the sorting was correct and,
if incorrect, verify its real cause and it is shown on Table 01.
Table1 – Causes of the main problems found
Manifestação
Patológica
Water
penetration at
the ceilings
Possíveis causas
O que verificar na obra
- To verify if tests are made at the
plumbing system right after the service
done.
- To follow the execution the
connections between pipes and devices.
- To verify if the waterproofing is done
at the shower box area.
- Inappropriate connection
between pipes and devices
- pipes breaking caused by
failure of the material
- lack of waterproofing
- bad habits of the users
- clogges caused by construction - To check how they handle the
spoils
construction spoils
Clogged sink
and drains
- Inapropriate slope at the
execution
- To verify how they control the slope
- To check the slope determinated at
the design
- To verify the brand of the material
- To follow the execution process to
check if it is standardized.
- Bad habits of the users
- low quality material
Problems at the
close coupled
- inappropriate execution
cistern
Odor
- Use of two drain device,
- To verify if there is at least one
without siphon at tthe bathroom. siphon at the bathroom
- Inappropriate design related to
- To check the plumbing system design
the ventilation system
- To verify the brand of the material
- Low quality material
Leakage at the
taps
- inappropriate execution
- To verify the brand of the material
- bad habits of the users
- Low quality material
- To verify the brand of the material
- To follow the execution process to
check if it is standardized.
Leakage at the
sink drain pipe - Execução inadequada
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The checklist was created based on the six main pathologies, responsible for 70% of the
requests. The possible causes of these problems were listed and then the items that should
be verified on the construction site to check their origin. Through field research and
analysis of the materials used, unsuitable processes were identified, which can cause
pathologies similar to those reported on the technical assistance requests part of the case
study.
Follow below the initial sorting related to the six most common pathologies, and the
analysis of this sorting according to the results achieved.
3.1)
Water penetration at the ceilingss
The water penetration at the ceilings was initially classified with probability of 85% due
to problems with the execution process, 10% from material flaw, and 5% from users' bad
behavior. The possibility of flaw in the material used was considered minimum since the
supplier company of the material has the PBQP-h certification. However, the storing
conditions may not have been correct. Many flaws were found on the execution process.
The lack of testing by the delivery service, for instance, represents a critical point. If the
piping gasket is not done correctly, this fact will be only verified by the customer while
using it. Another critical point is the lack of specifications about the connection between
the pipes, which is not clearly detailed at the execution procedure. At last, the rubber band
was badly executed, without pipe lubricant on several parts, damaging the gasket and
promoting leakage (figure 03).
Figure 3 – Inappropriate lubrification of the rubber band
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3.2)
Clogged sink and clogged drain
Clogged sinks and drains had 60% of probability of cause related to the execution stage,
20% due to the project and 20% due to use. On the execution stage, two main irregularities
were found: the lack of control of the pipe bending, and the lack of protection of pipes
against construction site rubbish. Many cases demonstrated that there was not any
protection and the pipes were full of rubbish, such as plastic cup, mortar, among others.
3.3)
Problems at the close coupled cistern
The main reason for flush problems was initially flaw on the material used, its low quality.
As it is a service of easy execution, 5% was valued as the probability that a flaw in the
execution process would have caused the pathology. However, the hypothesis of material
flaw was rejected because of the material certification and the engineer's testimonial, who
stated that the major flaws of this material is due to inner dirt. Therefore, the execution
flaw was considered the most probable reason.
3.4)
Odor
Considering odor, 25% was due to the execution process, 25% to the material and 50%
to the design. During the analysis of the execution process, one could conclude that the
odor is probably not caused by the lack of drain trap, since this structure is installed with
the drain pipe. Material flaw was not responsible for the odor, since the supplier company
is certified and the drain trap is an easily stored material, with no possibility of material
abrasion in stock.
3.5)
leakage at the taps
Concerning the leaking tap, the sorting pointed 20% to the execution, 75% to the material
and 5% to the use. Disregarding the possibility of the material as the cause, according to
the reasons aforementioned, the execution process accounted with 95% and the use 5%.
3.6)
Leakage at sink drain pipe
Considering the leakage sink drain pipe, the initial sorting of 70% due to execution and
30% due to materials was changed. 100% of probability was pointed to flaws on the
execution process, after disregarding the possibility of material flaw.
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4 Conclusions
This paper presented a case study about pathologies related to hydraulic and sanitary
facilities. This is the subsystem affected with the greatest rate of technical assistance
requests. This paper aimed at identifying possible flaws on adopted processes by
construction companies.
The paper studied the rules related to hydraulic and sanitary facilities and to the quality
management. It also analyzed common pathologies on this system and a study of the
importance of the technical assistance department. All these provided the necessary
foundation for the analysis of the adjustment of the execution stage, identifying what was
done mistakenly.
The main complaints from customers related to this subsystem were analyzed through the
gathering of technical assistance requests related to hydraulic and sanitary facilities,
which was followed by the development of a Pareto Chart. The main complaints were:
leaking roof, clogged sink and drain, leaking tap, odor, flush problems, leaky sink drain
pipe.
Major flaws causing the aforementioned pathologies were identified during the study of
the entire process related to the approached system. The great amount of flaws during the
execution process derives from, especially, low-skilled workforce, absence or
insufficiency of work instructions, lack of details in the design, which damaged the
execution, and, at last, the disregarding of technical rules. Best practices were also
identified, especially concerning the planning, control and execution of a facility
following the rules and the correct use.
The following stages shall be highlighted: critical analysis of a desing, checking if it
follows the rules and the customer requirement; identifying possible problems and
propose the necessary action; ensuring that the product purchased follows specific
requirements and the criteria for purchasing, delivery, transportation, storing and
certification of delivery service companies; ensuring planning and control during
execution, with execution procedures that provide clear and specific work instructions,
pointing to the correct equipment, tests, necessary inspection and service approval
activities.
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All processes should also be tracked. This would identify teams that provided services
incorrectly, materials without the correct performance, and even project coordinators that
developed projects disregarding the rules.
Following the observations related to the construction process, one may conclude that it
is of utmost importance to invest on the control of such process. Additionally, the
standards and best practices should also be followed, since these would avoid further
problems to customers. As a consequence, customer approval would grow and the
company would reduce the stages that do not add value to the final product, with a further
adjustment of its processes.
5 References
COSTA, PEDRO S. C. H. G. ‘Integração do método ahp à avaliação pós-ocupação
(apo) para mapeamento de graus de importância de Quesitos da qualidade’, Simpósio
Brasileiro de Pesquisa Operacional. Fortaleza, Ceará. 2007.
CUPERTINO, D. C. ‘Análise de solicitações de assistência técnica em
empreendimentos residenciais como ferramenta de gestão’ Dissertação (Mestrado).
Universidade Federal de Goiás, Escola de Engenharia Civil, Goiânia, Goiás, 2013.
FANTINATTI, P. A. P. ‘Ações de gestão do conhecimento na construção civil:
evidências a partir da assistência técnica de uma construtora’, Dissertação (Mestrado).
Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e
Urbanismo, Campinas, São Paulo, 2008.
MATOS, A. D. ‘Planejamento e Controle de Obras’ São Paulo: PINI, 2010.
6 Presentation of Author(s)
Letícia Carvalho Moreira is an undergraduate student at School of Civil Engineer of
Federal University of Goiás.
Ruany Ferreira de Paula is an undergraduate student at School of Civil Engineer of
Federal University of Goiás.
Marcus André Siqueira Campos is professor at School of Civil Engineer of Federal
University of Goiás.
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