Diagnosis and Evaluation of Defects Encountered in Newly Constructed Houses in Erbil City, Kurdistan, Iraq

Abstract

This study investigated the types and profile of defects facing newlyconstructed houses through conducting a survey and analyzing defectrecords of data observed for 652 houses out of 1000 houses newlyconstructed for Salahaddin University academic staff in Erbil City. Theresult of analysis revealed that the overall of 6758 defects identified with themean average of 10 defects per house. The overall percentage of defectedhouses for each type of defects and the location of the defect ranged from10% to 67%. The most defected components found in the doors and windows,which comes in rank 1 with the highest percentage of defected housesreached to 76%, whereas coating and painting of doors come in rank 2 withpercentage of 75%, and cracks in structural elements come in rank 3 with73%. Analyzing the defects in terms of area and location showed that thefinishing works representing the major defects area of 48%. While, thedefects in the doors and window representing second highest defects of 42%.The results indicated that the quality performance in newly constructedhouses is low due to poor workmanship and lack of experience and skills ofconstruction staff and inadequate supervision.