By Ben du Preez
Hindle Mason Projects (HMP) demonstrates that concrete maintenance and timely repairs are always an investment.
The returns yielded from effective infrastructure maintenance are reaffirmed by the World Bank Group – International Development, Poverty and Sustainability. It notes that returns from maintenance are up to two times higher than that from new infrastructure. Yet, maintenance is often deferred.
However, it is not only government that is grappling with a growing infrastructure maintenance backlog. Refer to iatconsulting.co.za/published/DBSA knowledge week – Maintenance challenges_Louis Boshoff.pdf. The state of building maintenance in the country is also a challenge. Private property owners also often prioritise immediate financial concerns over long-term maintenance requirements. Meanwhile, process plants and smelters are already between 40 and 60 years old. As they age, maintenance and repair costs increase.
HMP’s clients plan concrete maintenance
HMP’s clients, therefore, plan for concrete maintenance and repairs during the service life of concrete structures. They are also aware that these interventions need to be executed by professionals.
It has been shown time and time again that excessive cost-cutting does not save money when it comes to concrete maintenance. This approach merely transfers the savings in maintenance and repair costs to much more expensive repairs at a later stage. These large interventions may also potentially disrupt operations, a cost that is seldom considered. In a heavy industry plant, idle production carries a cost of more than US$600-million a year. This is five times higher than a year ago. Unplanned downtime now costs the world’s biggest companies as much as 11% of their revenues. This totals US$1,4 trillion, which is equivalent to the annual gross-domestic product of a major industrial nation. According to experts, typical downtime in mining can average US$180 000. Bear in mind that this is the cost per incident. If issues persist regularly, the total downtime cost can be higher, depending on the equipment that has failed and size of the operation. This is in addition to losses in profit due to downtime. This can be up to US$130 000 per hour for every equipment failure incident.
HMP’s concrete repair budgeting
By undertaking regular inspections of structures, HMP helps clients with concrete repair and maintenance budgeting. This is by identifying problems before they become a major liability.
The challenge for many asset owners is that repairs are not generally anticipated by owners. Therefore, funds for these interventions are almost always extremely limited. In many cases, economics will determine the timing and scale of repairs with short-term decisions often made regarding repairs. This is at the expense of proper interventions that do not only restore the infrastructure to its original state. They also prolong the useable lifecycle of concrete structures.
While corrosion damage is to some degree unique to each structure, some factors hold for most cases. Structures that have been neglected and allowed to reach an advanced deterioration level will not respond to “quick fix” solutions. We have also shown that when implemented timeously, repairs can restore a structure to full serviceability.
Furthermore, structures will perform in the same way that they did before treatment. It is a fact that structures that have been allowed to seriously deteriorate require more serious intervention than those less affected. And they may not perform at optimal levels after the repairs.
HMP’s concrete repairs yield returns
HMP ensures durable concrete repairs that yield better returns.
As concrete repair professionals, we ensure that concrete repairs are undertaken in a rational manner to guarantee success. As approved applicators of concrete repair systems, we can guarantee our workmanship for the maximum available term.
A selection of the most appropriate concrete repair solution is based on cost, technical feasibility and reliability. Other important factors that are also considered include relevant concrete repair systems, structural and environmental issues. Practicality and health and safety are also important factors that need to be scrutinised when determining appropriate interventions.
HMP’s concrete repair solutions
Importantly, HMP’s concrete repair solutions are compared against the structure’s lifecycle costs. Research has shown that when lifecycle costs are compared, a maintenance-free structural design is more cost-effective. This is compared to cutting initial costs and deferring some money for repair and maintenance at a later date.
Refer to this table. It provides an overview of the total lifecycle costs of typical concrete beams exposed to marine environments.
| Option | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Original design | 60MPA
30% fly ash 55mm cover |
60MPA
30% fly ash 30mm cover |
60MPA
30% fly ash 40mm cover |
60MPA
30% fly ash 40mm cover |
60MPA
100%PC 75mm cover |
| Repairs/maintenance | None | Surface treatment [Corrosion Protection] at 10-year intervals
|
Patch repairs [Concrete Repair & Protection Products | a.b.e.® Saint-Gobain] after between 20 and 35 years | Cathodic protection
after 20 years. Refer to |
Patch repairs after 15, 25 and 35 years |
| Relative costs | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 3.5 |
Notes on repair options:
Option 1: Durability design for maintenance free 40-year service life.
Option 2: Based on anticipated life of surface treatment.
Options 3 to 5: Based on the likely stage at which spalling damage becomes excessive.
Option 5: Design required by SABS 0100:1992 [(PDF) SABS 0100-1* The structural use of concrete].
Research by Ebe Strohmeier showed that repair costs escalated dramatically as deterioration proceeded. Refer to Thesis Ebe 1994 Strohmeier JH | PDF | Corrosion | Concrete. His research helped to support long-held views that durability-based designs were cost-effective over the long term. This is considering that delays in repairs cause exponential increases in costs.
HMP’s high quality concrete repairs
HMP’s high-quality concrete repairs are based on a thorough investigation into the causes of deterioration. This is undertaken together with our client’s engineering teams.
The specifications of the repairs are then determined by engineers with specialist repair expertise.
It is important to note that a lack of understanding of deterioration processes is one of the lead causes of the high failure rate of concrete repairs. This is in addition to ineffective or inappropriate repairs being specified and poor supervision of workmanship.
Learn more about HMP, a leading concrete repair and corrosion protection specialist. www.hindlemason.co.za
Du Preez is HMP’s Contracts Director
