The performance of ventilation must be improved and the building envelopes must be additionally insulated to extend the service life of ageing concrete large-panel apartment buildings
27.07.2017Tallinn University of Technology
The future of ageing prefabricated concrete large-panel apartment buildings is widely debated in Estonia as well as in neighbouring countries. Recent studies about the current technical condition of these concrete apartment buildings show that the load-bearing structures are generally in a satisfactory condition (except some facades, balconies, awnings, barriers etc.). In total there are about 3000 apartment buildings composed of prefabricated reinforced concrete large-panels (built mostly between 1962 to 1990), from which only less than one-tenth are estimated to have been fully renovated.
TUT doctoral thesis provides convincing evidence that the building envelopes need to be renovated. Improvement of ventilation and additional external thermal insulation of building envelopes are essential in bringing the buildings into compliance with current requirements. Additional thermal insulation eliminates unacceptable thermal bridges, does not cause any problems related to physical performance of the buildings and, in addition, stops degradation of facades. Renovation can be done only within a limited time-frame due to the huge construction volume and ongoing degradation of the facades.