STRUCTURAL APPRAISAL OF COLLAPSED MUD BUILDINGS

Ajagbe, W. O., Olaoye, B.A.*and Ganiyu A. A. **

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
*Department of Civil Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology,
Ogbomoso, Nigeria
**Construction Engineering & Management Department, KFUPM, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the causes of failure of mud buildings in Ibadan Southeast Local

Government Area of Oyo State. Data were collected by the use of structured questionnaires and

oral interviews; In-situ test of the compressive strength of the buildings was carried out during

the field trips. Secondary data were obtained from local government officials and existing

literatures.

Investigations revealed that most buildings collapsed occurred within 1999-2006, the buildings

have varying compressive strength Most of the buildings had collapsed completely and had

suffered structural defects in the past before they collapsed. The collapses often involve loss of

lives and properties. The buildings were overcrowded and the occupants are mostly farmers and

traders and are old people most of whom prefer rehabilitation of the buildings to relocation to

another area.

Environmentally, the areas are not conducive for living, they are characterized by poor network

of roads with an inadequate drainage system, and many of the buildings were not subjected to

proper planning and are very close to the main road. The residents also practices unhygienic

solid waste disposal methods like dumping along the water courses which also enhances the

flooding of the area.

The research findings identified settlement of the buildings as a major cause of building collapse

in the area, examined other probable causes and proffer recommendations for the governments,

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planning authorities and industry professionals to combat the menace of the collapsed buildings

and avert future recurrences.

Keywords: mud building, building collapse, structural defects, solid waste disposal.

INTRODUCTION

Shelter is universally acknowledged as basic need for the physical and psychological comfort of

mankind. It is one of the basic necessities of life. In other words, natural building is any building

system which places the highest value on social and environmental sustainability. It assumes the

need to minimize the environmental impact of our housing and other building needs while

producing comfortable, healthy, beautiful, and spiritually up lifting homes for everyone.

However, it is the most difficult need to satisfy, since land and building cost are often beyond the

means of both the rural and urban poors. The economic crisis which has been facing Nigeria for

the past two decades heralded an astronomical increase in the cost of the so called conventional

building materials, which made the construction of house out of the reach of many Nigerians.

The result being a high shortage of housing at the national level, thus successive governments at

all levels had launched various schemes with a view to facilitate some form of housing

ownership by low income groups, this includes; self help housing scheme, housing subsidies,

provision of credit, low interest on housing loans etc.

In view of the limited means at the disposal of the governments and potential home owners,

people in the past seek ways to lower construction cost of low income housing while minimizing

repairs and maintenance costs. This was achieved through the use of locally sourced material like

clay to build traditional building type which can be produced at the construction site or its

nearby.

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Traditionally, adobe bricks are unbaked and consisted of clay, sand, water, sometimes gravel

and often straw or grass mixed together by hand. They are often more appropriate to the

environment than alternative modern materials such as cement or plastic based materials. Today

some commercially available adobe-like bricks are fired which are stronger and more durable

than the sun dried adobe.

The agony of building collapses among all other things has become an endemic plague

constantly striking in recent years in this country without it being properly addressed and

prevented. Though this occurrence is not limited to Nigeria alone, whenever it occurred with its

sadness disasters, the temperatures and minds of the people in the authority and the general

populace always rose to the boiling point, but suddenly died down whilst the perpetrators always

found solace in the recourse of their actions without being reprimanded. This is why perpetration

of this act continues to rage.

However, it is important to note that building failure is not only limited to or common in

concrete block buildings as much attention and interest of the government, people and industry

practitioners are only paid in this direction. Various lectures, literatures and reports have been

written on structural failure of concrete block buildings whereas little or no report and news are

published on brick building failure. Based on recent research survey carried out in the study area,

it was observed that quite a number of mud buildings had collapsed or at the verge of collapsing.

The failure rate of mud building in the heart of Ibadan city; causes of the collapse and pragmatic

approach to halting the problems were examined in the course of this study.

Ibadan Southeast Local Government is one of the eleven local government areas of the Ibadan

metropolitan areas and has a total land area of 81.37km2. Residential land use has the largest

share of land in the local government; it occupies an area of 60.21km2 representing about seventy

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four percent of the total land area. This can be classified into two major types: The core

unplanned residential areas and (b) newly developed areas. The unplanned residential area

includes Bere, Oke Mapo, Aremo, Agugu, Ode-Aje, Oke Dada, Eleta and Oranyan etc.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Reconnaissance survey involving visual inspection of few selected collapsed buildings in the

study area was carried out, which revealed the overall condition of the area. Careful observation

was made on the following:

(i) Failure types and their likely causes.

(ii) Nature of subsoil

(iii) Groundwater level and flooding

(iv) Topography of the area

(v) Ground erosion and drains

(vi) Nearby streams or rivers

(vii) Foundation condition of the buildings.

Furthermore, to enhance easy collection of data, nine locations were selected within the study

area based on the number of failed buildings. They include Bere, Oke Mapo, Oja Oba,

Kobomoje, Oranyan, Ita Bale, Eleta, Kudeti, and Oke Oluokun. Five buildings were sampled

each from Bere, Oke Mapo, Oja Oba, Kobomoje and Oranyan based on large number of collapse

buildings and three buildings were considered in each of Ita Bale, Eleta, Kudeti, and Oke

Oluokun because of fewer numbers of collapsed building.

Primary data was collected with structured questionnaires. Thirty questionnaires were

administered in all. The questionnaires are divided into three sections: respondent information,

the building environment and related questions on the failure of buildings. These questionnaires

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were distributed among the selected buildings. Another questionnaire was drawn to extract

information from the local government officials. The questionnaires were structured in simple

and clear language in order to achieve a reasonable degree of accuracy necessary and to ensure

that those concerned understand the questions properly.

Oral interviews were also conducted, as an alternative means, in most of the selected areas where

the respondents are illiterate and the questions were translated into the local language for proper

understanding of the questions.

Schmidt hammer was used to test for compressive strength of some selected mud buildings in the

study areas. Serviceable buildings plastered with cement mortar and the unplastered ones were

considered separately. Some abandoned or failed buildings were also considered. The N type

Schmidt hammer was used because it can be used on any inclination of surface and its reading

depends on the action of the spring. To measure the strength, the test surface was first prepared,

and then the surface was strike in five places. Readings were then taken within 25mm of an edge.

Readings that differ significantly from others were discarded and repeated in more than five

places to get accurate readings. The final compressive strength was obtained by finding the

average of individual readings.

RESULTS

The questionnaires revealed that most buildings collapsed within (1999-2006), with the highest

number of cases recorded in the year 2003 (Table 4.1). Investigations revealed that most of these

buildings had suffered structural defects in the past before they reached their present conditions.

Two third (40%) of the buildings have been altered with cement mortar and 60% with mud

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mortar (Table 4.2). Also, most of these buildings had collapsed completely while others had

partially collapsed (Table 4.3).

Table 4.1: Building Collapsed in the Study Area

Year of No. of Percentage

collapse buildings Collapsed (%)

1999 2 6.7

2000 3 10

2001 5 16.7

2002 4 13.3

2003 6 20

2004 5 16.7

2005 3 10

2006 2 6.7

Source: Questionnaires

4.2: Alteration to the Buildings before Collapse

Alteration No. %

Yes 12 40

No 18 60

Source: Questionnaires

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4.3: State of the Buildings

State No. %

Serviceable 11 36.7

Non Serviceable 19 63.3

Source: Questionnaires

Investigation revealed that the design capacity of most of these buildings has been exceeded, that

is there is large number of people more than the sustainable capacity of the building, 66.7% of

the bungalow buildings which suppose to have less than ten occupants was found to have more

than twenty people while 33.3% have occupants range between 10-20 residents (Table 4.4).

Some of the buildings are very close to main road; such buildings include buildings at Bere,

Oranmiyan, Ita-Baale (Table 4.5).

The condition of the roads determines the ease at which the residents dispose their domestic

waste. The entire area is characterized with bad road network, which poses serious problem to

solid waste management service. The private waste collector cannot easily assess these areas thus

making waste collection practically impossible. The people have to employ alternative means to

get rid of their domestic waste. From table 4.6, 13.3% dispose their waste at nearby unapproved

dumpsites, 20% beside the road and 66.7% into watercourse.

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Table 4.4 Number of people in a building

Residents Number %

10-20 10 33.3

Above 20 20 66.7

Source: Questionnaires

Table 4.5 Distances of Buildings from Road

Distance No. %

Less than 5m 3 10

5-10m 8 26.7

10-20m 4 13.3

20-40m 12 40

40m-1km 3 10

Source: Questionnaires

Table 4.6 Method of Disposal

Method Number %

Unapproved dumpsites 4 13.3

Roadside 6 20

Water course 20 66.7

Source: Questionnaires

Majority of the residents are farmers (40%) and traders (30%) while teachers and others are 10%

and 16.7% respectively (Table 4.7). Table 4.8 shows majority of the residents living in these

types of buildings are old people, 66.7% of the residents range between the ages 60-100 years,

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20% range between 40-60% years while 13.3% are between 20-40 years. From the questionnaire

survey, most resident did not want to leave the area since they have been there for long periods

of years and have adapted to the environment. About 83.3% of the residents prefer rehabilitation

of these buildings while 16.7% of residents prefer relocation of the buildings. Table 4.9 illustrate

this. On the part of the Local Government Officials, relocating the inhabitants and upgrading the

area to house modern buildings with proper planning are the best solutions.

Table 4.7: Occupation of Respondents

Occupation No %

Trading 10 33.3

Farming 12 40

Teaching 3 10

Others 5 16.7

Source: Questionnaires

Table 4.8: Age Ranges of Residents

Age No %

20-40 4 13.3

40-60 6 20

60-100 20 66.7

Source: Questionnaires

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Table 4.9: Residents Opinion

Opinion No %

Relocate 5 16.7

Demolish - -

Rehabilitate 25 83.3

Source: Questionnaire

The damages or disasters which often resulted from mud buildings collapse are the lost of lives

and properties. As shown in table 4.10, 60% of the respondents claimed to have lost some lives

and properties while 40% of the respondents have neither lost property nor life. The compressive

strength test revealed that most of these buildings have varying compressive strength, which

resulted from varying material contents of different clay soil. Large numbers of buildings

sampled have different strength (Table 4.11).

Table 4.10 Damages

Damage No %

Life 8 26.7

Property 10 33.3

Nil 12 40

Source: Questionnaire

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Table 4.11: Compressive Strength

Strength (Mpa) Bungalow (No) Storey (No) % Total

10-12.5 11 6 56.6

12.5-15 1 1 6.6

15-17.5 2 2 13.4

17.5-20 1 - 3.3

20-22.5 3 3 20

Source: Questionnaire

DISCUSSIONS

From the research, it was deduced that there was no proper site and soil investigation, which

would have predicted the best foundation. Because of primitive method of construction,

geological strata of the soil was not determined thus some of these buildings were built on

mixture of compressible and incompressible soil which eventually resulted in settlement of the

buildings. It was observed that adobe bricks are not permanently hardened, on exposure to

moisture they shrink and swell. This property of adobe brick call for special maintenance but

most of these building are poorly maintained.

However, various causes of failure of mud buildings have been identified, these include long

abandonment, alteration, inadequate maintenance, overloading, and primitive method of

construction. Other secondary causes include poor road network within the concerned areas,

which pose serious threat to solid waste disposal in addition to vibration, and poor drainage

system due to improper planning, which assist flooding of the area.

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In addition, it was observed that people in the area dispose their waste at unapproved dump sites,

along water courses which often result in flood. Also noted is that the completely collapsed

buildings constituted an environmental nuisance where some have been turned to an open dump

while the partly collapsed ones serve as hidden place for the hoodlums from where they terrorise

the populace. Despite the bad condition of some of these buildings, many people who could not

afford to rent new apartment still manage the failed buildings without fear of imminent danger.

Finally, mud buildings failure like block buildings often resulted in lost of lives and properties.

RECCOMMENDATIONS

Building is a basic need for the physical and psychological comfort of mankind. Natural building

assumes the need to minimize the environmental impact of our housing and other needs while

producing healthy, beautiful comfortable and spiritually up lifting homes for everyone.

Therefore, to achieve the above needs, adequate attention should be given to the following

recommendations:

Government should organize educative programme to enlighten the people of the area on

the advantages of proper maintenance.

State/Local government should assist the people of the area by constructing good road

with proper drainage system to prevent flood.

The entire area should be re-planned by Town Planning Authority to improve both the

image of the area and entire city of Ibadan. This will involve demolition of some

buildings with appropriate consideration for the affected people or possibly relocate the

people to enhance rehabilitation of the area.

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 Those buildings that have completely collapsed should be cleared off to prevent them

from causing environmental nuisance.

Government should render assistance by allocating certain amount of money for the

reconstruction of collapsed buildings; those that are at verge of collapse should be

demolished and reconstructed.

Government and professionals should focus their attention too on mud buildings to

prevent lost of lives and properties.

Government should establish guidelines and procedures for the disposal of waste in the

communities.

Government should legislate and enforce appropriate laws for maximum number of

storey of mud buildings.

The Nigeria society of Engineers (NSE) and Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB) should

encourage local production of mud bricks and their use in building industries.

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Advantages of Compressed Earth Brick Technology University Of Ibadan,

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Barnes, J. and Mark, R. (1975) Adobe Bibliography, The Association for Preservation

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Emmitt, A.O.; Stephen, E.B. and Christopher, G.A. (2005) Barrys Introduction to Construction

of Buildings, Vol. 2, 3rd Edition, Lagos, Blackwell.

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Francis, D.K. (1971) Building Construction, New York, Reinhold Company

Haapala, K.V. (1972) Stabilizing and Restoring Old Adobe Structures, California, Murphy Calif

John A. and Eric, I. (2006) Collapse Hospital Building The Tribune Saturday, January 21, p.3

Kawka, S. (1975) Natural Resources, Building Materials, Zaria, Ahmadu Bello University.

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Presented At The Federal Ministry of Housing and Environment, Seminar on

the Use of Clay, Bricks, Zaria, Nigeria.

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