BUILDING PROFESSIONALS PERCEPTION OF BUILDING DETERIORATION DUE TO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AND APPLICATION OF BUILDINGS IN MAKURDI METROPOLIS, BENUE STATE.

ABSTRACT

Deterioration of buildings has being a major problem in Makurdi metropolis as it often leads to building collapse with destruction of lives and properties. This study sought investigated into building deterioration due to environmental factors and application of buildings in Makurdi metropolis of Benue State. Two research questions guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population for the study was 172 building professionals. A proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to select 111 building professionals. The instrument used for data collection was a 20-item self structured questionnaire titled Building Deterioration (BD) which was validated by three experts. Cronbach Alpha was used to ascertain the internal consistency of the instrument which yielded an overall reliability coefficient of 0.80. The data was collected through direct contact. The descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study found that environmental like stresses on buildings due to storm, chemical attack on building materials, wet and dry deposition of pollutants on building surfaces among other are responsible for deterioration in buildings.It was also found that building applications such as indiscriminate wetting of floors; indoor activities such as cooking dish washing, clothes washing, bathing and people’s respiration; storing of moist items in buildings among others can facilitate deterioration of buildings.It was therefore recommended among others that building construction engineers should use building materials that can withstand environmental hazards like rain, wind, chemical attack among others. It was also recommended that building construction professionals should ensure to include appropriate water channels during construction of buildings, construction engineers and builders should always adhere to design specifications when carrying out building projects and building occupants should endeavour to use buildings as recommended by the architects.

Keywords: Buildings, Deterioration, Environmental Factors, Application of Buildings.