If you run a busy commercial facility, then you need to make sure that you maintain your productivity during regular working hours. You may need to ensure, therefore, that people are still able to work, even during routine maintenance, and have a plan in place to overcome the difficulties. However, what should you do if engineers have found a major structural issue? Will you need to shut everything down and move your people out, so that they can rectify the problem?

Mother Nature at Play

Even though the building in question may have been well built and may have been operating perfectly well for some years, external factors can sometimes crop up without any warning. Adverse weather conditions could affect the underlying water table or soil content and may, in certain circumstances, cause subsidence. If this happens, the slab could begin to deteriorate and may shift, causing stability issues. You may find that if this happens, doors and windows are very difficult to open, or cracks start to appear along the walls.

Underpinning Investigation

Before you can go any further, you will need to call in specialist engineers and contractors to determine the extent of the problem. They will drill down into the soil and look for any fissures, while they will also use specialist equipment to help them come to a conclusion. In a case like this, you may have to underpin parts of the structure, and the research will dictate how extensive this work needs to be.

Concrete Injection

Typically, the engineers will inject concrete underneath the slab and may fill any voids that have developed, so the building will once more be on a solid footing.

Need to Decant

Wherever possible, the contractors will aim to do this work with little disruption. However, if necessary, they may need to shore up some parts of the internal structure, and in this case, you may have to decant the building while that work is going on.

Assessing the Extent of the Disruption

Talk with the engineers and contractors as they explore the extent of the issue, to see what they recommend. If continuity is critical, then they will do whatever they can to avoid disruption and make sure that you can stay in place while work goes on. Always remember, however, that safety is paramount, and the sooner that they can complete the commercial underpinning work, the sooner that you can return to normality.

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