DEGRADATION OF EXTERNAL PAINT FINISH IN PUBLIC RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN DIFFERENT CLIMATIC DESIGN ZONES OF NIGERIA

Abstract

Building facades are the most visible elements of buildings and are directly linked to the quality of urban environment. Being the separation between the interior and exterior environment, they are prone to respond to physical stresses of climate, heat, high humidity and solar radiation. In Nigeria, the aesthetic appeal and the structural value of buildings easily depreciate. However, universal usage of paint for walls in public and private buildings for decorative and protective functions remains the most aesthetic expression in Nigeria. This situation is due to the natural process of aging of materials and components combined with the scarcity of resources due to social and economic conditions, and the incipience of maintenance culture. The planning of maintenance works is based on predictions of the time when the critical elements of the built assets will reach degradation levels that exceed acceptable values. To be able to make such predictions, information about the service life of the paint is required. The aim of this research is to predict the service life and develop a guide for maintenance planning of external paint finish in some public residential buildings in different climatic design zones in Nigeria. This study is a survey research type conducted in the government residential estates that use paint as external finish in Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja and Ilorin, which fall under four different climatic zones for architectural designs in Nigeria. The total number of housing units in the study area was 3784 and a sample size of 421 buildings was spread among the selected districts according to their percentage of contribution to the total number of buildings. The data used was collected through structured questionnaires and was structured according to the themes of the research. The method of data analysis employed was inferential statistics to address specific objectives of the study, and the findings revealed that the average service life of paint in Nigeria is 3.7 years with a minimum of 3.1 years and a maximum of 4.7 years. This is contrary to various studies that have been carried out in the developed countries under different climatic environments that fall within the range of 7 to 10 years. Also, the study revealed that socio demographic characteristics significantly influenced the choice of using external paint in the study area, and that there was a significant relationship between climatic conditions and external paint degradation. The predicted service life generated was used as a basis for planning a maintenance guide that will assist in formulating proper external paint maintenance policy for public residential housing in different climatic design zones of Nigeria.