DEM1644 - Building Maintenance and Service - DEM2209004

DEM1644 – Building Maintenance and Service Assignment 1
SCHOOL OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT

DIPLOMA IN ESTATE MANAGEMENT
DEM1644
BUILDING MAINTENANCE AND SERVICE
ASSIGNMENT AND PRESENTATION

FEBRUARY 2023
NAME : Ariff Rafzani Bin Azlan Shamsuri Musa

STUDENT ID : DEM2209004
DUE DATE : 16 May 2023
DEM2209004 Page 1 of 21
Content Page
1. Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3
2. Building Services Maintenance – Lift Maintenance ----------------- 4

2.1 Inspection -------------------------------------------------------------- 4
2.2 Lubrication ------------------------------------------------------------ 5
2.3 Cleaning and Settings ------------------------------------------------ 5
2.4 Elevator Ropes -------------------------------------------------------- 6–7
3. Building Services Maintenance – Swimming Pool Maintenance --
4. Reference -------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Appendix -------------------------------------------------------------------
DEM2209004 Page 2 of 21
1. Introduction
Anything that is made by humans, whether it is a machine, a structure or a building, will require
constant maintenance. Unlike living organism that has regenerative property, non-living material
such as machines lack regenerative capability which makes them liable to breaking down after
immense wear and tear. Preventing machines from breaking down requires the worn component to
be changed to a new one or, in the worst-case scenario, is to buy a whole new machine which is
costly. For businesses, the cost incurred to replace or repair a machine can significantly affect them.
To reduce this part of the cost, businesses come up with the idea of maintenance.
Maintenance is a process to ensure that buildings and other assets will operate at optimum
efficiency and to maintain a good appearance of the buildings and assets. Lack of maintenance
usually results in decay, degradation and reduced performance and can affect or threaten the health
and safety of the occupants, users and others in the vicinity.
Maintenance can generally be classified into 2 broad categories; planned and unplanned
maintenance. Planned maintenance is maintenance that is carried out regularly or periodically.
Unplanned maintenance on the other hand is maintenance that is undertaken in response to an
incident i.e., ad-hoc maintenance.
Planned maintenance can further be divided into preventive maintenance and scheduled
maintenance. Preventive maintenance is maintenance carried out to prevent something from
breaking down. In other words, it is maintenance to ensure something is in working order such as
replacing a cracked roof tile before inclement weather. Scheduled maintenance is another form of
preventive maintenance that is carried out on a scheduled basis i.e., daily, weekly, bi-weekly,
monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annually.
Unplanned maintenance is comprised of corrective, front-line, and proactive maintenance.

Corrective maintenance involves repairing something that has broken down. Front-line maintenance
is a process of maintaining something while it is still in use such as repainting an occupied building.
Proactive maintenance is maintenance work that is done to prevent failures or identify defects that
can lead to failure.
In a building, many areas require maintenance such as paving repairs, exterior repainting,
window repairs, gutter cleaning, plumbing and building services. The following discussion will
focus on the maintenance process of building services such as elevators and swimming pools
(Designing Buildings, 2023).
DEM2209004 Page 3 of 21
2. Building Services Maintenance – Lift Maintenance
A lift, also known as an elevator is a vertical transportation device used to move people and
goods between different floors of a multistorey building (Archi-Monarch, n.d.). An elevator system
is made up of the car, cables, elevator machine, controls drive, counterweight, hoistway, guide rails,
cat buffer, speed governor and safety systems (EROS Elevators, n.d.). The structure of the lift is
attached in Appendix 1.
Like any other machine, an elevator requires constant maintenance to ensure a smooth operation
and prevent accidents. The first elevator maintenance contract was arranged in the early 1920s. The
widely used maintenance method to maintain an elevator is the preventive maintenance method.
This can prevent the lift from breaking down while in use which will leave the users stuck or
prevent deadly accidents. Lift maintenance involves inspection of the lift, lubrication of moving
parts, cleaning and settings (programmed components) (Imrak and Ozkirim, 2001). The Malaysia
Department of Occupational Safety and Health has prepared a checklist for the inspection of a lift as
shown in Appendix 2.
2.1. Inspection
The purpose of the inspection is to check for any components that have failed or are prone to
failure soon. Some of the inspections done are:
 to check the broken wires in the suspension ropes and look at the wear
 to check the wear at the grooves of the shave
 to control the guide shoes
 to check the wear at the gears and bearings in the drive unit
 to control and set both the hydraulic or spring car and counterweight buffers
 to check the tightness of bolts and nuts
 to check the car levelling between the given limits
 to control levelling of the car and landing doors operation
 to test the mechanical brakes
During an inspection, components that have been identified as failed will require replacement which
can take some time. During the replacement, the lift will be out of order which will affect the lift
operation. Moreover, the spare parts required for replacement are costly which can increase the
maintenance cost whenever a replacement is needed. To minimize the failure of components, the
elevator should be cleaned, lubricated and settings periodically. However, the method mentioned
DEM2209004 Page 4 of 21
cannot prevent failure meaning failure will still occur. The difference is only whether the failure
happens sooner or later (Imrak and Ozkirim, 2001).
2.2. Lubrication
Lubrication is the process of applying lubricant, a type of oil, to moving components that are
constantly in contact with each other. The purpose of lubrication is to reduce friction, prevent wear
and tear, protect from corrosion and dissipate heat (Cash, n.d.). Lubricants can be made of vegetable
oil, petroleum and petroleum-based synthetics. Each oil has its advantages and disadvantages but
petroleum has been the standard lubricant for the past 60 years (Johnson, n.d.).
During the lubrication aspect of the maintenance, it is advised to use the lubricants specified by
the manufacturer to ensure optimum effects. The components that require lubrication are (Imrak and
Ozkirim, 2001):
 Suspension ropes should be lubricated with selected lubricant and then the car will be
operated and stopped several times. During these procedures sliding should be checked.
 Overspeed governor's rope should not be lubricated
 Guide rails should be cleaned completely and lubricated once a year
 Safety gear's rotating parts should be cleaned and lubricated periodically
 Hydraulic buffers should be checked at certain periods and the levelled of hydraulic oil
should be checked
2.3. Cleaning and Settings
Periodical cleaning must be done on the elevator installations listed below (Imrak and Ozkirim,
2001):
 Hoistway should be kept clean, the pit should not be used as a storage area. If there is water,
it must be discharged and isolated.
 Machine rooms should be kept clean and tidy. No equipment excluding maintenance
equipment should not be stored in this area.
 The top of the car should be clean and emergency the lid and fan systems have to be
checked. No equipment should be put in this area.
 The elevator's general surfaces should be painted but working surfaces should be kept
unpainted.
DEM2209004 Page 5 of 21
Elevators nowadays are run by pre-set programmes. Changes in the programme can affect the
operation of the lift. During maintenance, settings are required to check the programmes to make
sure there are no errors in the programmes. The elevator settings that needed to be maintained are
(Imrak and Ozkirim, 2001):
 Brake settings
 Door settings
 Automatic doors, the door mechanism has to be inspected and set
 Door locks
 Switch settings
2.4. Elevator Ropes
An important component of an elevator installation is the rope. The elevator rope is made of
wire rope. Wire ropes are several strands of metal wire that are twisted into a helix to form a
composite rope, known as a laid rope. Large-diameter wire rope consists of several strands of rope
laid in what is known as cabling. A picture showing the layout of a wire rope is attached in
Appendix 3 (MechanicalJungle, n.d.). Elevator ropes are prone to wear and tear. The factors that
affect the wear and tear of elevator ropes are (United States Department of Commerce, 1942):
 Lack of rope lubrication

 Variable rope tensions
 Misalignment of sheaves
 Lack of maintenance of sheave grooving
 Poor brake setting
 Unduly high peak of acceleration and retardation
 Change in top and bottom hoistway clearances
Every maintenance requires the elevator rope to be inspected to ensure the ropes are in good
working condition. Many things require attention during the rope inspection. The rope needs to be
inspected for any distortion. This can be done visually as the distortion is pretty obvious. Some of
the common rope distortions are wave distortion, bird-caging, core rope fracture, kinking and
swelling. Images of the distortion are attached in Appendix 4. Whenever a distortion occurs, it is
necessary to replace the rope immediately. The elevator rope also needs to be inspected for any
protrusion of the wire cord. The method used for this inspection is the cloth rag test. A cloth rag is
dragged along the elevator rope to check for any broken wire cords. If the cloth rag gets snagged by
the rope, it means that a wire cord is broken. The inspector has to check whether the broken cord
can be repaired or does it require a total replacement (Katradis S.A., n.d.).
DEM2209004 Page 6 of 21
Another aspect to be inspected is the rope diameter. A reduction in the rope diameter shows
excessive abrasion, loss of core mass corrosion or inner wire failure. The correct method of
measuring a wire rope diameter is shown in Appendix 5. Generally, a reduction of 1/3 of the
original diameter will require a total replacement. A diameter reduction of less than 1/3 of the
original diameter will still require attention. Overall, a reduction in the diameter of the elevator rope
is a concern that should be acted upon. Lastly, the wire rope needs to be inspected for abrasion,
corrosion and pitting. During this inspection, three (3) stages of damage may appear (Katradis S.A.,
n.d.):
1. After cleaning, there is not any corrosion to be detected – no action is needed

2. There are signs of surface oxidation and the wire rope is rough to touch – clean, lubricate
and inspect the rope regularly
3. There are slack wires and heavy pitting that may lead to rope breakage – replace the rope
immediately
The picture of the three (3) stages of damage mentioned above can be seen in Appendix 6.
4 aspects require attention during elevator rope maintenance, storage, lubrication, cleaning and
reeling. For storage, the rope should be stored in an area that is clean, cool, dry and well-ventilated.
The rope should not be stored in an area that is wet, dusty and exposed to chemical fume. For
lubrication, elevator ropes should be lubricated periodically to prevent corrosion. For cleaning,
elevator ropes are exposed to dirt, grime and other contaminants and require them to be cleaned
using a wire brush. The reeling process is of high importance for the longevity of wire ropes. To
protect them from being damaged, the surface of the drum must be clean, smooth and dry. Improper
reeling may cause wire-rope strands to spread or get flattened, when in contact with one another, as
successive layers are being spooled and upper layers apply pressure on the lower ones (Katradis
S.A., n.d.).
DEM2209004 Page 7 of 21
3. Building Services Maintenance – Swimming Pool Maintenance
According to Britannica (n.d.), a swimming pool is a large structure that is filled with water for
swimming. A swimming pool is made up of a basin, to contain water, and a circulation system. The
circulation system can be further broken down into:
 Skimmers
 Main drain
 A motorized pump
 A water filters
 A chemical feeder (not necessarily present)
 Returns
A swimming pool system works by pumping water through the skimmers into the main drain.
The water then goes through the filters and chemical feeders and back to the pool to complete a
cycle. This water cycle allows the water in the swimming pool to be free of bacteria, dirt and debris.
In seasonal countries, the cycle system will also include a heater to keep the water temperature at a
certain level. The heater is installed before the chemical feeder (Pool Butler, 2018) A diagram of the
swimming pool system is attached in Appendix 7.
During normal operation, water will flow to the filtering system through the skimmer that is on
the perimeter of the pool and through the main drain that is installed at the deepest part of the pool.
The dirt and debris that sink into the pool will exit the pool through the main drain and debris that
floats will go through the skimmers (Harris, n.d.). In some swimming pools, they have installed a
couple of vacuum ports for manual pool cleaning. The vacuum ports will be attached to vacuum
cleaners that will vacuum water instead of air. Some dirt and debris that fail to drain through the
main drain will be cleaned up by the vacuum. Accumulation of dirt and debris on the pool floor can
lead to the build-up of bacteria and algae. The next stage in the circulation system is the filtering
stage (Compass, n.d.).
Before the water flows through the pump, the water will pass by a metal strainer that will catch
leaves and other large debris. This metal strainer should be cleaned regularly. Pictures of the metal
strainers are attached in Appendix 8. Next, the water will go through a dual sand filter. The sand
filter is arranged so that the water inlet is at the top and the water outlet is at the bottom of the sand
filter. The water will flow into the sand filter. Through gravity, the water will flow through the
sand. The sand will filter any dirt and debris that the strainer misses (Harris, n.d.).
DEM2209004 Page 8 of 21
The dual sand filter will over time be clogged with dirt and debris. Pressure gauges are installed
each at the inlet and outlet of the sand filter. Appendix 9 shows a picture of a dual sand filter.
During an inspection, if the inspector discovers that the pressure at the inlet is greater than the
outlet, it shows that the sand filter is clogged up and needs to be cleaned. The cleaning method is
backwashing (Harris, n.d.).
The next stage is chemical feeding. Appendix 10 shows how a chemical test is done. This can
be done automatically or manually. The purpose of chemical feeding is to destroy pathogens and
bacteria and to balance the pH of the water. A popular chemical used to disinfect the poll is chlorine
which comes in the form of calcium hypochlorite (solid) or sodium hypochlorite (liquid). The water
in a swimming pool ideally should be at a pH of 7.2 to 7.8. Too acidic can corrode metal
equipment, cause etching and irritate the skin. Too alkaline can cause scaling on the pool surface
and plumbing equipment and cloud the water. If the water is acidic, professionals will add sodium
carbonate or sodium bicarbonate to raise the pH. If the water is alkaline, muriatic acid or sodium
bisulphate is added to lower the pH. The chemical content of the pool should be regularly
maintained because every time someone uses the pool, they will add a new chemical that may
change the chemical content of the pool (Harris, n.d.).
DEM2209004 Page 9 of 21
4. Reference
Archi-Monarch (n.d.) About the Lift and their Components [online]

Available at: https://archi-monarch.com/about-the-lift-and-their-
components/#:~:text=Its%20components%20include%20the%20elevator,system%2C%20lighting%
2C%20and%20ventilation.
[Accessed: 1st May 2023]
Britannica (n.d.) swimming pool (definition) [online]
Available at: https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/swimming-
pool#:~:text=Britannica%20Dictionary%20definition%20of%20SWIMMING,a%20public%20swi
mming%20pool
Cash, W. (n.d) What Is Lubrication [online]
Available at: https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/28766/what-is-lubrication
Compass (n.d.) The Complete Guide to Swimming Pool Maintenance [online]
Available at: https://www.compass-pools.co.uk/learning-centre/news/the-complete-guide-to-
swimming-pool-maintenance/
Designing Buildings (2023) Maintenance [online]
Available at: https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Maintenance
EROS Elevator (n.d.) Key Elevator Components [online]
Available at: https://www.eroselevators.com/elevators-component.php
Harris, T. (n.d.) How Swimming Pools Work [online]
Available at: https://home.howstuffworks.com/swimming-pool.htm
Imrak, C.E and Ozkirim, M. (2001) Preventive and Planned Maintenance of Elevators [online]
Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292566409_Preventive_and_planned_maintenance_of_ele
vators [Accessed: 1st May 2023]
Johnson, M. (n.d) 3 Types of Hydraulic Oil for Elevators [online]
Available at: https://www.oilscrubber.com/-4q/3-Types-of-Hydraulic-Oil-for-
Elevators#:~:text=Petroleum%20based%20fluids%20have%20been,grade%2032%20petroleum%2
Dbased%20oil.
Katradis S.A. (n.d.) WIRE ROPE INSPECTION AND MAINTENANCE: A FULL GUIDE BY
KATRADIS SA [online]
Available at: https://www.katradis.com/wire-rope-inspection-maintenance/
DEM2209004 Page 10 of 21
MechanicalJungle (n.d.) What Is Wire Rope [online]
Available at: https://mechanicaljungle.com/what-is-wire-rope/
The Pool Butler (2018) Understanding the Pool Water Circulation System [online]
Available at: https://thepoolbutler.net/understanding-the-pool-water-circulation-system/
United States Department of Commerce (1942) Elevator Wire Rope Maintenance [online]
Available at: chrome-
extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/circ/nbscir
cular441.pdf [Accessed: 1st May 2023]
DEM2209004 Page 11 of 21
5. Appendix
Appendix 1
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Appendix 2
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Appendix 3
Appendix 4
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Appendix 5
Appendix 6
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Appendix 7
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Appendix 8
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Appendix 9
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Appendix 10
DEM2209004 Page 21 of 21

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DEM1644 – Building Maintenance and Service Assignment 1

SCHOOL OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT

ASSIGNMENT AND PRESENTATION

NAME : Ariff Rafzani Bin Azlan Shamsuri Musa

2. Building Services Maintenance – Lift Maintenance ----------------- 4

3. Building Services Maintenance – Swimming Pool Maintenance --

Unplanned maintenance is comprised of corrective, front-line, and proactive maintenance.

 Lack of rope lubrication

1. After cleaning, there is not any corrosion to be detected – no action is needed

Archi-Monarch (n.d.) About the Lift and their Components [online]

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