INTRODUCTION

Buildings come in various types and shapes, frequently determined by their functions. Unfortunately, there are many types of building defect that may occur in most of the building. Building defect is one of the major components of building that needed attention. Building defect refer to the results in a failure of a component part of a building or structure and causes damage to person or property, usually resulting in financial harm to the owner. Building defect will also reduce the value and the function of a building.

There are many types of building defect such as cracking, dampness, spalling, peeling paint, insect or termite attack, corrosion, fungus stain and so on. These building defect can affect the performance and the appearance of the building. Building defect can occur either because of poor design, or low quality workmanship, or because the building was not constructed according to the design, or use of inferior materials. When a building facing defects, the causes of that defect have to identified before any remedial work can be undertaken to remedial it. Therefore, we are required to investigate the building defect of a building. We also have to identify the possible cause of the building defect which occur in that building.

We have choose the building of Guest House to make our case study and survey. This building is located at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang. Guest House is one of the famous hospitality choices for USM visitors, business travellers and tourists due to it good services and strategic location. It is a building that is always visited by many people for the purpose of the stay, so it is very important to kept the building in a good condition as not to give the impression to the guests who come to stay here.

BUILDING HISTORY Guesthouse of Kampus Sejahtera USM are located at the North part of the campus next to Jalan Pemimpin. The Guesthouse consists of 4 blocks of buildings which are B04 that act as the executive suit, B05 for deluxe and standard superior accommodation, B06 as the administration office of the Guesthouse, whereas the Bumble Dee’s Cafe operates in the block of B07 which surrounded by B05, B06 and playground. The B04, B05, B06 and B07 are part of the territory of the former British Minden Barracks which erected at 1938. The barrack was then abandoned by the British at 1941 and occupied by the Japanese forces during the duration of World War II. The buildings have been taken over by Universiti Sains Malaysia since 1971 when the Malaysia government has approved the university to move from the borrowed premises at the Malayan Teachers' Training College at Gelugor to the abandoned barrack.

BUILDING FORM, CONFIGURATION & FUNCTIONAL EFFICIENCY

The B04 and B05 process hospitality function, the B06 is for administration, conference and exhibition usage whereas the B07 act as a restaurant. We choose B04 as our survey object as it is a most accessible building and make us more easily to investigate compare to other block. The executive suit block (B04) is a double storey building which its front entrance is facing the USM gelugor field. The building spread across a wide area of approximately 4500 sq feet based on the building plan. Each level of the building has a clear height of 9 ft and 6 inch.

The building itself consists 5 executive suits which entails 3 Family Junior Suites, 1 Family Executive Suit and 1 Family Premier Suite. In each suit, there is a master bedroom and a bedroom for kids which act as the usable area for resting. In the Family Premier Suits, there is an additional praying room which is usable space for their Islamic customer to commit their prayer. The lobby of each of the executive suit has a kitchen site for cooking that makes it serve as useable space. In each suit, there is also a toilet, a bathing room and a clothes changing room available that served as the ancillary space of the suit. The building itself also has a porch served as a circulation area for dropping and pick up peoples. There are two staircases available in the building for their clients to access to the second floors.

Picture of Guest House Block B04, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Penang

BUILDING FORM
Building form largely depends on whether the building is planned to be air-conditioned or if it is intended to rely on natural ventilation. The original intention of the case study building was geared towards being a naturally ventilated building and thus, every façade was built with many openings in the form of windows or doors, as seen in the elevation (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Front and back elevation of the case study building
Forms with large surfaces rather than compact buildings favour ventilation and heat emission at night-time. The building form of the restaurant is open, outward oriented and made up of large areas due to the latest renovations of removing the internal walls. Heat gain through the building envelope is countered with the use of numerous openings.

Figure 7: Right and left elevation of the case study building

BUILDING ORIENTATION
The long axis of the building runs north-west, i.e., the facades on the north-east and south-west are bigger than the north-west and south-east elevations (Figure 8). The orientation of the restaurant is consistent with the recommendations of Wong and Li (2007), who stated that the best orientation for buildings in tropical climates is for the longer axis of the building to lie along east-west direction to avoid solar heat gain.
N-W
N-W
N-E
N-E

Figure 8: Building outline showing the longer axis oriented towards the north-west direction According to the Architect that was a part of the renovation works for the restaurant, Ar. Yeoh Oon Soon, we can safely assume that there is no specific wind direction, especially in Penang, making it is impossible to encourage a single direction of wind to flow through the comfort zone of the building due to the random nature of wind flow. Furthermore, the surrounding trees and existing buildings also contribute to the uncertainty of the speed and direction of wind. Therefore the only way to achieve maximum ventilation in the restaurant was to retain as many openings as possible

CONDITION OF BUILDING MATERIALS AND FINISHES No | Element | Description | 1 | Roof covering | The type of roof of the Guest House is hip roof with clay roof tiles. There are just some roof defect occur on the roof. Overall the roof is in a acceptable level. | 2 | Ceiling | There are only few dampness occur on the ceiling. Overall the condition of the ceiling is in a good condition. | 3 | External floor | There are many crack can be found on the external floor. Cracks occur may because of the floor exposed to the sunlight and cause thermal effect. | 4 | Painting decoration | The painting of the building is artistic in order to attract more guest. But there are a lot of peeling paint can be found on the wall. |

5 | Pattern tiles | The picture show the diagonal pattern style tile which is set on 45- Degree angle andstraight lay tile. There are only some of the tiles broken. | 6 | Window | The type of window of the Guest House is timber Casement window with wood louver for air ventilation purpose. There are just few wood decay had been found on the window frame. | 7 | Door | There are two type of door which are fresh door and flush door. The door is in a good condition which is there are no defect occur on the door. | 8 | Small kitchen | There are a small kitchen provided in each of the executive suit. There are just certain defect in kitchen area such as dampness and cracking. | 9 | Corridor | .The walkway is cover with roof for protection from rain. It connected with other block of the building of the guest house. The roof tiles was stain because of high humidity of surrounding area with green plant. | 10 | Recreation road | This is a walkway for guest can use it go to the Guest House Room. The recreation road is stain because of the high humidity and moisture content. |

DETAILS OF BUILDING DEFECTS
Cracking

Cracking on column Cracking on wall Cracking on drainage Cracking on floor There are different types of crack in guest house. Structure crack usually occur on wall, floor, column, drainage and so on. Structure crack can cause by many factor such as thermal movement, moisture movement, poor construction practice, poor structural design and so on. Crack on external wall is cause of walls exposed to direct solar radiation and the roof which are subject to substantial thermal variation that are liable to cracking. Shrinkage cracks occur by a rapid loss of the water from the surface of the concrete before it has set. Besides that, use of low quality materials to build this building, this will also cause crack happened after few year. Often complicated designs with dense reinforcement steel in slender sections result in poor quality construction and inadequate skills or poor experience of the contractor will also cause cracking on building. Crack can lead to flaking and failure of the paint and it also may cause severe damage.

Dampness Dampness on ceiling Dampness on floor We found that guest house got some dampness on the building. The faulty design of structure or bad workmanship or by use of defective structures or by use of defective materials may cause increase the amount of moisture entering the building usually appears without warning. Cause of the dampness in buildings is insufficient maintenance. Insufficient upkeep results in blockages in the drains and rainwater gutters. Any damage to the outside of the building can increase the water entering through the walls. Besides that, insufficient ventilation also can causes accumulation of moisture and the development of cold spots inside the house, resulting in condensation. When water enters through the walls, due to a lack of guttering for draining rainwater, or because there is no waterproofing on the exterior of the building will also one of the cause of the dampness. Dampness inside the building can lead to the growth of mould, and the development of dry and wet rot. These can lead to health problems for the occupants of the building. Dampness also can lead to the structure of the building being weakened, particularly any timber-framed areas, such as the roof.

Spalling

Spalling is one of the defect at guest house. Masonry and concrete deterioration is usually in the form of spalling. Concrete spalling is combination of poor installation an environmental factors that stress the concrete, causing it to become damaged. Concrete spalling is caused by corrosion of the steel reinforcement bars embedded in the concrete matrix, but can be caused by other ferrous elements either fully or partially embedded in the structure. Concrete spalling is usually caused by poor finishing and the use of water on the surface to aid in the finishing process. Spalling is flaking of the surface, usually because of efflorescence, freeze action, or water or mechanical impact, such as high pressure water washing. Water plays a large role in efflorescence and freeze damage. Spalling also caused when steel reinforcement within a concrete slab begins rusting. Spalling lead to further repair costs as the problem spreads but did not attended to in a timely manner. Spalling damage can occur through concrete pieces falling and injuring people or property.

Peeling Paint

Peeling paint is one of the defect that we found at guest house. Peeling paint can caused by applying the paint under a very cold weather or very hot or windy weather, because these weathers can causes the paint too quickly to dry. When the wall has not been properly cleansed of any dirt, the paint will not going to dry correctly or the paint peel will not sticking properly to the layer that is underneath and this causes peeling paint happened.
Somehow, water is the worst enemy to painter. If the surface of the wall if moist or damp, the paint will not dry properly and the moisture of the air will also stick on the wall and make the wall impossible for the paint to settle. Type of the paint will also causes peeling paint happened, this is because different types of paints such as oil, latex or water based paint are don’t easily mix well. Peeling paint will affect the aesthetics value of the building especially guest house ,it will downgrade the value of the guest house.
Rusting

Furthermore, another defect that we found around the guest house is rusting. Many services are apply on the guest house such as air condition. Steel are using when applying the air condition, when raining, rain water will hitting on the surface of the steel and this will cause rusting happen. Rusting can make the steel become weaker and this may bring safety risk to the customers in guest house. When the steel has rusted and raining , rain water will bring the rust to the wall around the wall and this will cause iron staining on the wall. This will also affect the aesthetic value of the guest house. Iron staining can be remove mechanically if only in relatively week.

Fungus

Moreover, fungus such as mold growth on the wall also found at some parts of the walls in guest house. There are mold growing on dry wall too, this is because dry wall is a substance high in cellulose, it is one of the common food for mold grows on the dry wall. At guest house USM, we found that mold growth on the wall is because the moisture or dampness of the wall. Common causes of mold growing on the wall of the guest house are high humidity. Even small water leaks will also cause mold problems, rain water leaks or plumbing leaks will also cause the presence of the mold on the wall. Besides that, condensation can help in growing mold on the wall. These mold on wall can also affect the aesthetic value of the guest house and it can even damage human’s health , especially the officer or guest stay in the guest house. The links between mold ,house dust mites may cause illnesses of the throat and lungs.
Wooden Defects

Wooden defect also one of the defect that can found at guest house. The main defects of wood include knot, cracks, fungal damage, warping, slanting of grain, and wormholes. The fungal defects of wood are rots and stains. There are two type of rot. It is sapwood rot and dry rot. Sapwood rot destroy moist timber and dry rot is arises not only green lumber but also in comparatively dry limber. It is particularly dangerous. Rot is a particular problem and soft, decayed wood, flaking paint and sticking windows are all signs. Rot tends to be caused by water penetration and pooling leading to deterioration of the timber and defective on window glazed is caused by lack of maintenance approach by the building owner. So, if wooden defect happen on window the window will easily drop down bring safety risk to officer and guest.

Insect or Termite Attack

Insect or termite attack also is one of the defect problem that we found in guest house USM. Owing to their wood-eating habits, many termite species can do great damage to unprotected buildings and others wooden structures such as wooden window frame and wooden window in guest house USM. Termite’s habit of remaining concealed often results in their presence being undetected until the timber are severely damaged and leaving a thin layer of timber to protects them from the environments. After site investigation at guest house USM, we realize that certain part of wood structure in that area are actually being attack by termite, some of them no yet being clearly to see because of termite’s habit, but we can know by knocking the out layer of the timber to know that is it inside already “eat” by termite until empty. Certain part of the structure we can clearly saw that it already attack by insect or termite. This defect can cause serious damage to the building if it’s still remain unprotected or lack of remedial action. Serious damage to the building also can cause safety risk to the officer or guest that stay in the guest house.