Title: Re istration of defects of buildings
The invention relates to a method for registering damageto buildings according to the preamble of claim 1, and to a data structure in a computer- readable form for registering defects of building according to the preamble of claim 6. Such method and such data structure are known from US Patent
5 724 261, which describes a system for obtaining data relating to inspection and maintenance of objects such as, for instance, rented houses. Per part of the house, such as, for instance, doors, tables and chairs, the condition of the relevant part is registered, together with a maintenance measure to be possibly taken, such as a repair.
Such methods are used for recording defects of paintwork of buildings, wherein per project, such as, for instance, a complex or street, the repair works to be performed are determined per operation, such as, for instance, the number of meters of paintwork for the roof gutter, the number of meters of paintwork for frames, and the like. On the basis of these data, a plan with, for instance, an offer, estimate and scheme for remedying the defects is fixed.
However, this method has the drawback that it offers no possibility of comparing different repair possibilities, to enable selecting the economically and/or technically most attractive repair scenario. The object of the invention is to overcome these drawbacks by providing a method according to claim 1 and a data structure in a computer- readable form according to claim 6.
By determining identification data pertaining to elements of a building, each of the defects being registered in association with identification data identifying the element to which said defect pertains, the defects can be evaluated at any desired level, such as, for instance, per element, to enable evaluating possible repair works to be carried out. Thus, a particular project can be evaluated entirely or partially.
When during the determination of defects, these defects are indicated by a repair action selected from a group of possible standard repair actions, ordered according to extensiveness, various possible solutions can readily be visualized, calculated and compared at different levels. By comparing the possible solution variants, a choice for a particular solution can be made.
The invention is also embodied in a data structure in a computer- readable form according to claim 6.
Hereinafter, the invention will be specified on the basis of an elaborate description of an exemplary embodiment of the invention, with reference to the drawings. In these drawings:
Fig. 1 schematically shows a facade of a house;
Fig. 2 schematically shows a portion of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 represents frames A and B provided with a coordinate system;
Fig. 4 shows a symbol list for recording symbols; Fig. 5 shows a frame A provided with recording data, and
Fig. 6 shows a recording table.
A method according to the invention will now be described with reference to the following exemplary embodiment. In this example, defects of the frames are registered for a project consisting of a number of houses in a housing estate.
First, the project to be inspected is mapped, which involves individual identification of all houses comprised in the project, for instance by means of a street name and a number. Then, per identified house, the elements to be inspected are determined. In this example, these elements concern facade elements, such as frames, doors and windows. Per identified house, all elements to be inspected are identified individually, for instance by assigning a separate code to each element. Also, each individual element is subdivided into individual parts which are likewise provided with a separate indication. In accordance with the utilization in question, each part can be provided with a further indication for a location, so that per part, the position of defects found
can be indicated. Thus, each part in the entire project can be indicated individually, as well as part of a larger whole, such as an element.
For preparing the above-discussed identification, use can for instance be made of construction drawings, preferably in digital form. Preparing can for instance also take place by building up an identification from standard elements, such as, for instance, facades, frames and doors stored in a database. The standard elements in the database can be provided with data relevant for the maintenance, such as measures, material data and images. To this end, according to the invention, use can be made of a drawing program on a computer wherein, for instance, project surveys, facades, frames and doors can be created. The drawings made and the relevant data coupled thereto can be stored in a database for possible reuse. The identification data can be adjusted, if required, for instance after renovation or adaptations. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, such control of identification data can be performed if the identification data as referred to hereinabove according to the invention are stored in a computer system.
Once the parts to be inspected are known, a group of repair actions can be drawn up. The repair actions are such that the implementation thereof can remove a particular defect. In this example, the repair actions are standard repair actions, described in detail. In many cases, it will be useful to tailor the set of standard repair actions to the type of defects to be expected in a project and the repair techniques available. Such repair actions can comprise several operations, such as, for instance, the local removal of a paint system, the removal of affected material and the like. In most cases, a defect can be solved in various manners, which various manners are distinguished by, inter alia, the extensiveness of the repair actions to be performed. This extensiveness can, for instance, relate to the physical size of the area covered by the repair action, or for instance relate to the employment of repair tools, choice of material or know-how, or the costs for performing the repair action. In the following example, in accordance with the nature of a defect, a standard repair
action may consist of a small repair, a substantial repair, partial replacement or complete replacement of a part or a complete replacement of the element in which the defect was found. Hence, a very small defect may be solved with a small repair, but the other, more extensive repair actions also provide the solution to the problem. Within this system, a repair action which is higher in the hierarchy and which is more extensive will come in the place of one or more less extensive repair actions lower in the hierarchy. Thus, the repair of a defect can be carried out at various levels. For this, a least extensive repair action can be determined, defined by that repair action from the group of possible standard repair actions which, technically, can remedy the defect by the least extensive operation. In this respect, suitable criteria for extensiveness can be used as desired, as described hereinabove. At an increasing degree of extensiveness, the physical volume of the repair action may extend over a portion of a part, to an entire part or even an entire element.
Hence, during inspection of the building, all individual parts should be inspected and in the case where a particular part shows a defect, exclusively the technically least extensive repair action should, for that specific individual part, be selected from the group of possible standard repair actions and assigned to this individual part, optionally with an indication of a location within the part. For assigning the repair action, the reporter should focus exclusively on the technical remedy of the defect.
After completion of the inspection of the project, all individual defect locations and corresponding repair actions are known for all buildings of the project. On the basis of these data, it can then be evaluated at a desired level, such as for instance per part or per element, which repair action is the most attractive one, for instance on economical grounds. This involves considering the hierarchically arranged, possible repair actions. By determining and calculating possible solutions at various levels, these solutions can be compared with each other and, accordingly, form a basis for a choice.
An example of a registration according to the invention will now be described on the basis of an example.
Fig. 1 shows a house 1 having a facade 2, a roof 3 with a roof gutter 4 and a chimney 5. The facade 2 comprises four facade elements, viz. a living room frame A, an entrance frame B and two bedroom frames C and D. House 1 is a so-called row house forming part of a street of which all houses are comprised in the project to be inspected. In this example, only the inspection of house 1 is described; the other houses of this street are inspected in a corresponding manner. In Fig. 2, frame A and frame B are shown in more detail. Frame A contains a top hung window 10 provided with glazing, as well as a hinged sash 11 provided with glazing. Further, the living room frame A is provided with glazing. The living room frame A, like the top hung window and hinged sash 10, 11, is provided with a paint system, consisting of several layers of paint. In this example, the living room frame A is built up, in a manner known as such, from loose parts manufactured from wood, interconnected at the corners.
In this example, inspection takes place in particular for defects often occurring in frames, such as, for instance, wood harm. Typically, these defects are found at the joints of the frame parts, the sills and the windows. Hence, for this purpose, the following manner for noting defects is handled in this example. In Fig. 3, frames A and B of Fig. 2 are shown again, now provided with a coordinate system whose horizontal axis extends from 1 to 5, the units corresponding to vertically directed parts of the frame elements A and B, and whose vertical axis extends from A to D, the units corresponding to horizontal parts of the frame elements A and B.
By means of the coordinate system, any desired connection per element can be indicated; for instance element A, connection Bl indicates the left-hand bottom corner of frame A. The sills and verticals can also be indicated per element; thus, for instance sill AB according to this system is the horizontal sill of element A at horizontal level B. The windows are numbered
per element so that these are unequivocally defined as well. Within this system, by way of example, the top hung windows and hinged sashes and sills are also provided with a further indication of place, in the form of the additions L, R and O, denoting 'left', 'right' and 'other' respectively. As a matter of fact, the invention can also be applied without this further place indication. According to the invention, numbering of the parts can be effected automatically, for instance during the preparation of the identification data.
Although in practice, the system used here is easy to handle, the invention is not limited hereto, and the invention provides the use of other coding methods whereby the respective parts can individually be indicated in an unequivocal manner.
For repairing defects found, a group of standard repair actions has been drawn up, in this example consisting of seven repair actions. These repair actions have an increasing degree of extensiveness: 1. simple repair (with simple tools), 2. small repair (with slight milling work), 3. substantial repair (with extensive milling work), 4. small partial replacement (relatively small size of the portion to be replaced), 5. substantial partial replacement (relatively great size of portion to the replaced), 6. complete replacement of part, 7. complete replacement of element. Such standard repair actions are known from practice, so that a detailed description can be omitted. Fig. 4 shows a legend with symbols that can be used for indicating defects found. These symbols correspond to the standard repair actions mentioned above; in this example, five possible standard repair actions are shown. In fact, the invention is not limited to the symbols mentioned here by way of example; the invention also provides the use of other symbols.
Now, inspection of the project can take place, involving inspection of all individual houses of the project. In the example of the house 1, all elements of this house are inspected by an inspector, who assigns a repair action from the group of standard repair actions to those parts of each element that show a defect, which repair action, as discussed hereinabove, is the least drastic
repair action whereby the defect can be overcome. In Fig. 5, the defects are indicated in this manner. If so desired, the inspector can take pictures of individual damage locations, such as, for instance, digital photos.
In this example, the inspection data are written down on a drawing of the relevant building and subsequently processed in a computer file, or the data can be directly stored in a database by means of a portable computer.
In this example, the inspection data are arranged in a table form, for instance by means of a spreadsheet program. Fig. 6 shows the result of the inspection for the frame element A of house 1 as shown in Fig. 5 according to the above-described coding system. In this example, only those parts are included where a defect has been found, and the repair action assigned is represented by the symbols indicated in Fig. 4, which symbols correspond to the repair actions indicated above. By means of reference data, such as, for instance, hyperlinks, information can be coupled to the symbols, such as, for instance, the above-mentioned photos of damage locations or other information such as, for instance, an explanation of a damage code. To this end, a complete and clear image of the damage of an object can be obtained in a very simple manner. For the other houses in the project, such inspection table is obtained in a similar manner. Fig. 5 also represents a grid on which the frame A is shown. By means of this grid, supplementary positions can be indicated, for instance by providing a positional indication with an additional coordinate according to the grid shown. In fact, in this example, no use is made of such indications utilizing the grid. In a further structural variant of the invention, a drawing of the building to be inspected is provided with a grid as shown in Fig. 5 by means of a computer, and subsequently, data relating to the presence of elements to be inspected are inputted into this computer, for instance by indicating the coordinates of the elements with regard to the grid. Thus, the inspection data can be entered, utilizing the grid coordinates, whereupon the computer, by
means of the stored relations between the grid coordinates and the elements, can arrange the inspection data per element or at another desired level. According to the invention, the system used for indicating defect positions within elements can optionally be locally refined, for instance if many defects are found.
With reference to the data from the table of Fig. 6, various possible scenarios can be evaluated. In this example, to each standard repair action 1-7, a price can be assigned. Thus, for instance the cost price for performing all repair actions now indicated can be calculated. It can also be calculated, per part, whether the repairs now proposed are not more expensive than the costs of replacement of the part. After that, it can for instance be calculated per part how much the repair operations will cost, and this can be compared with the costs of total replacement of all parts. By coupling this evaluation to a determined, variably settable percentage of the replacement value, it can be calculated when it becomes attractive to replace a specific part or element entirely, instead of carrying out repairs. As several solutions for repairing defects can thus be calculated and compared, the most favorable repair scenario can be opted for. Also, repair scenarios can be determined wherein each time, for the repair action, a more extensive repair action is selected from the group. By calculating in each case the costs for all alternatively determined repair actions, a scenario can be opted for which is economically most attractive in the given circumstances. In addition to a calculated repair scenario, according to the invention, the calculated and determined repair actions can be summed for expressing repairs suitable therefor in unit measures such as, for instance, running meters (for instance in the case of damage to gutters), square meters (for instance in the case of damage to brickwork), and pieces (for instance in the case of replacing an entire part, such as for instance a door or window).
In the evaluation, other criteria can be involved as well. Thus, for instance an expected economic lifetime can be connected to a repair action.
Such evaluation calculations can, for instance, be performed on a computer by means of a calculating program. In particular, the invention can be used in combination with known management support programs.
On the basis of the evaluation, the most suitable repair actions can subsequently be selected and stored. On the basis of the chosen repair actions, a work instruction can then be drawn up for carrying out the repair actions. The work instruction can, for instance, be provided with drawings on which the locations of the repair actions to be performed are indicated, and with instructions in the form of text. All data registered can be stored, so that they can be used later, for instance during examination of the repair history of a specific part, element, house or project, while data can be asked for and carried out at any desired level; thus, for instance, a portion of a project, such as for instance the bad- weather side of a project, can be represented and compared with the non-bad- weather side of the project. In particular, information concerning a guarantee period for a specific repair performed can be stated with the data registered. Thus, for instance in the case of a defect within the guarantee period, the costs relating to repair can be kept separate from costs to be made and the guaranteeing party can be addressed in a simple manner. The invention can also be embodied in a data structure in a computer- readable form. After installation or unpacking, for instance, the data structure can be entered into a computer, and comprise a computer program. The data structure according to the invention can also use an application system or a control system which is also present in a computer. Also, the data structure may comprise instructions for an application program such as, for instance, macros. A suitable application program may, for instance, be formed by a spreadsheet or a database. Preferably, the data structure can optionally be partially stored on a CD ROM.
The use of the invention is not limited to registering defects of frame elements of buildings, mentioned by way of example; the invention may also be
used for registering other defects of buildings, such as for instance of paintwork, glazing systems, brickwork, ventilation systems, rainwater discharge, roof parts and the like. The invention may also be used for other constructions, such as for instance viaducts and roads.
The use of the invention is not limited to the system of identification of elements and parts, mentioned by way of example; the invention may also be used with any suitable identification system.