Study on Causes and Prevention of Cracks in Building

Building cracks are most common type of problem in any type of building.So, it is important to understand the cause and the measures to be taken for prevention.Some faulty steps during construction and some unavoidable reasons different type of cracks starts to appear on various structural and non-structural parts of the building.So, timely identification of such cracks and adopting preventive measure are essential.Though cracks in concrete cannot be prevented entirely but they can be controlled by using adequate material and technique of construction and considering design criteria.Structural cracks are the one whose inherent cause lies in either in incorrect design, or faulty construction or overloading and are the one which can endanger the safety of a given structure.On the other hand, the non-structural cracks are the one which have the underlying origin due to moisture or thermal fluctuations, elastic deformation, creep, chemical reaction, or reason related to the foundation soil such as it movement or settlement or unhindered vegetation.Non-structural cracks are mostly due to internally induced stresses in building materials and these generally do not directly result in structural weakening.In this paper, we will discuss about types of cracks, causes of cracking and preventive measures to be taken along with the techniques for treatment of cracks.