Renovating a Building
In recent times, more and more buildings are being built so it has become a necessity for the old buildings to be renovated with the time instead of being demolished and even added to the ever growing and never ending pollution. In Building renovation you need to consider that the changes being made could influence the structural integrity of other buildings. When it is decided to renovate a building, an engineer keeps the old structure of a building in mind. This would help him change the building entirely and not the way it was been structured previously.
Building renovation is fundamentally a type of commercial and residential renovation. But both the codes i.e. commercial and residential are entirely different from each other. For building renovation an engineer must recognize these features like emergency exit points, zoning, accessible washrooms, , floor space, age of the building, heating and ventilating plus air conditioning is required, electrical upgrades, plumbing upgrades, fire regulations and many more.
Professional renovation contractors are required for the building renovation because only they will be familiar with the requirements. Setting up meetings with them is always encouraged as they must be met in order to let them complete the renovation to suit your needs. They also should be given the exact time lines so they can deliver at the right time because if the renovation exceeds the time limits it can create problems - for residential and even work buildings.
Similarly many renovation expenses can be controlled if the proper time is marked down for the specific building. So scheduling becomes extremely important because the longer time the job takes, the more the loss of money.
All building materials such as bricks, tiles, concrete, wood, cement etc have some environmental influence. To avoid the poor building designs - which create several problems for tenants like wasteful energy and water consumption - it is must to use eco-friendly and salvaged building materials. And also design the building apartment in such a way that it is energy and water efficient so it demands less cooling, heating and water supplies resulting eventually in the reduction of bills giving comforts to the tenants and increasing the value.
For building renovation replace old heating systems with new ones, update the plumbing and look into updating the elevators. Besides this an engineer should always keep in mind the needs of special people. Also, if you think that the last time you've had a renovation was long time back, you should probably check again and at least try increasing the insulation or replacing old insulation with newer products.
Steps for building renovation:
A building renovation process comprises of many steps because it's basically a construction of a building again. The difference is only that the constructors have to keep the requirements of the people living and working there in mind so as to give ease to them.
Requirements:
For renovating the building first step that an engineer should keep in mind is the requirement and liking of the people. The problems which the people are currently facing in the building regarding anything should be solved after renovation which persuades them to live in the same building for a longer period time. Because when you take care of the demands of the people, then only people will also give you a positive feedback.
The Concept:
The second step is to give a shape to your idea regarding renovation. The requirement of this step is that everything should be "drawn out" on paper or on a computer so that a designer can easily make changes until they have an effective model.
Planning:
The third step requires the outline of a project by engineers and designers. In this outline everything regarding renovation should be mentioned like budget, material, time limit etc.
Hiring:
According to the plan the contractor is hired so that he fulfills all the demands regarding renovations. It is the responsibility of a contractor to complete the task assigned on stipulated time within the given budget.
Management:
Scheduling is extremely important in management. If a single renovation is taking longer expected then it would mean that the budget will also exceed and it may cause loss to the builder because often the employers are not ready to pay extra for lost time!
Renovation Supervision:
It's the duty of an engineer to keep an eye on the workers, quality of the material, and the demand of the people living there.
Building renovation is basically an art. There are many countries which are having specialized schools and colleges to polish such skills like GEORGE BROWN college. According to them, building industries need qualified renovators so they teach their students building and construction skills, carpentry techniques, renovation related trades and give them an authentic degree so they might be able to work as skillful and reliable renovators.
Building Renovation is an important social and economic requirement. The best fixation to improve the building renovation is to upgrade the old structure. Because the more the old systems get replaced by the new ones, the more will their increments in the value - especially as an investment. To generate revenue from a building, a building renovation will help a lot because by renovation, a lot of building improvements can be done and after this it's easy to raise the amount of rent when tenants' parts are up for renovation. After renovation it is easy to raise the rent more for an upgraded building with the state of art fittings and furnishings.
Building renovation is better than demolition because demolition works usually create pollution and dust. During the renovation process good housekeeping practices should be kept in mind especially because the dust -part of the never ending pollution- generated during sweeping may cause health effects for tenants. Side by side an engineer should keep an eye on the quality of the paints because some paints have chemicals which are harmful. Paints which are made of natural products should be applied only. Yes, they are not hazard free but at least they are less harmful.
I think the internet is helping people with the do-it-yourself building renovation information. At some level (currently small), it is making the building industry lose its business because this is the era of technology, and machines are replacing human. In recent times, people prefer internet rather than dealing with business industry in person. To save their businesses, it is essential for the building renovators to maintain their web presence which updates the clients online.