Effects of Weather on Service Lives of External Building Finishing: A Case Study of Ilaro, Nigeria

Abstract

Building finishes are the final internal and external coating of a building used to protect and beautify it. External finishes are exposed to environmental conditions hence are usually more rugged than the interior coatings This paper reviews the effect of weather on the service lives of exterior finishing materials of some selected buildings in Ilaro by visual observation of the types of defects and questionnaires to determine the ages and other factors necessary to determine the causes of the defects. The result shows that the effect of weather on service lives of these finishing materials depends on other factors like construction methods and workmanship, location of the buildings, usage and frequency of maintenance of the building and so on.