Abstract

In the present world economic situation, the resources directed to the maintenance of buildings are very limited. Therefore, an increasing concern arises for the planning and prioritization of necessary maintenance works during buildings' life cycle. The planning of maintenance action is achieved by predicting the moment when construction elements reach degradation levels that exceed acceptable standards. To be able to make such forecasts, crucial developments must be made regarding the methods to predict the serviceability of building materials and components. In this study, 444 facades located in the cities of Lisbon and Almada and the Algarve region (Portugal) are analysed based on in situ visual inspections. The approach proposed can be employed in various scopes of service life prediction and maintenance of constructions. This paper develops a priority hierarchy of maintenance actions for the claddings under analysis. The expertise acquired in buildings' serviceability is very useful to support decision-making in the development of proactive maintenance strategies. The results reveal accurate outcomes in the correlation with the functionality and degradation parameters of facade claddings. The serviceability of the most common types of facades claddings (render, ceramic and paints) applied in Portugal is analysed.