What to Know About Concrete and Structural Foundation Audits

The foundation of a structure carries a lot of significance as it affects the longevity of the structure. And you need to maintain it to extend its lifespan and avoid any issues impacting its integrity and stability.

There are many factors

That can affect the integrity of a building fountain such as environmental conditions, age, use of low quality materials or poor techniques and improper workmanship. You can carry out a foundation audit to get more information about the stability of the foundation. This audit will tell you about the condition of the foundation, its size, integrity and reinforcement details. There are non-destructive methods to perform these concrete and structural foundation audits such as concrete scanning Sydney. This will also tell you about the type of foundation in the structure. Some of the methods that can be used to achieve this are electromagnetic, acoustic, seismic, echo, multi-frequency NDT with echo etc. A foundation audit will help you to understand the health and stability of the structure. If you are able to detect issues in the foundation early, you may be able to prevent having to do costly repairs. This will also ensure the safety of the occupants in the building.

Foundation audits

Are usually done for older buildings where you know there is a level of wear and tear. And if you are thinking of purchasing a building, you can carry out a foundation audit as part of the pre-purchase property inspection. This will also be useful when the structure is assessed for compliance with local area building codes and safety regulations. And when you use non-destructive methods, you will not need to damage the structure to obtain your findings. One of the ways that this is achieved is through multi-frequency NDT where a combination of methods such as ground-penetrating radar, impact echo and ultrasonic testing is done in order to provide you with a comprehensive assessment. The pulse echo test uses high frequency sound waves. The time taken for the sound waves to return once they hit the concrete is measured and analysed. This allows the technicians to understand if there are certain defects in the foundation such as voids and cracks.

In impact echo testing,

There will be mechanical vibrations introduced into the concrete. The technicians will measure the echoes that result from this so that they can assess how deeply concrete elements are embedded and identify whether delaminations are present. Sound waves are used in acoustic scanning to identify any cracks, honeycombing or voids in the concrete. You will also be provided with real-time imaging of the internal composition of the concrete. You can assess the uniformity of the foundation and identify if there are any areas more prone to settlement with seismic testing. It uses artificially induced seismic waves to assess structural instability of the concrete. The condition of the reinforcement in concrete can be assessed using electromagnetic scans. You can find if there are any areas of corrosion which can affect the strength of the foundation.