Gwynne Anthony 2020

ART506 Dissertation 2019. Anthony Gwynne . 79 vapour permeable design has been agreed between the owner and builder, a modern non-vapour permeable solution is normally applied as it is cheaper and construction time is less as highlighted in the case studies in this report. Question 15: Were future maintenance requirements considered? The results indicate that 67% of building professionals claim that future maintenance requirements were considered, 27% claim they were not and 7% declined to comment. Comments: Routine maintenance is an important consideration for vapour permeable materials as they require regular planned repair (www.lime.org.uk ). For example, the lime washing of lime render or repointing of stonework in a planned maintenance schedule will prevent disrepair and the cost of unnecessary repairs. Consideration of future regular maintenance checks can help plan for the future and predict any potential problems and repair costs that could lead to deterioration and harm of the building fabric. Question 16: Did cost influence the use of materials used? (assuming vapour permeable solutions are more costly). The results indicate that 60% of building professionals claim that cost did not influence the use of materials used, 33% claim they did and 7% declined to comment. Comments: It is clear from the results that cost in just under two thirds of cases did not influenced the use of materials used. This is supported in question 12 to 14 of this survey that 87% of building professions claim to have used a more costly vapour permeable solution and the cheaper option of non-vapour permeable solution was not used in most cases. This is ignificant to this survey as in question 9 to 11, only 53% of planning/listed building/building control applications had conditions requiring the use of vapour permeable solutions and 87% of building professionals chose to use them. Further research would be required to establish if cheaper vapour permeable options were used instead of others, for example the use of cheaper Rockwool insulation (www.rockwool.co.uk)