The Structural Strengthening of a Masonry Heritage Shop House using Glass Fibre Based Materials

Abstract

A two-storey masonry pre-war shop house in Taiping, Malaysia was badly affected by construction being undertaken at an adjacent lot. The building was in a serious state of disrepair and on the verge of collapse at the time of the investigation and temporary propping and a stoppage of adjacent works had to be imposed. For the remedial intervention a rapid approach was critical with materials and methodologies selected to incur minimum additional impacts on the building in terms of physical works and with flexibility on site. Several innovative techniques developed for the structural intervention of masonry buildings was considered. In this case the masonry wall cracks were repaired by a stitching method using the glass fiber rod maperod g which was considered a suitable material due to the compatibility of modulus of elasticity (40,800N/mm2) to the lime mortar, having good tensile strength of 760 N/mm2 to help bridge the cracks in case of further movement and is also corrosion resistant and will remain protected in future even though it is embedded in a highly porous masonry substrate. The materials used were easily transportable, flexible (ie) could be prepared to requirements on site and could be delivered to site quickly despite this being imported. The approach taken resulted in a rapid reinstatement of the building, minimised the risk of losing heritage features and matched the client’s overall objectives. The paper provides details of the approach taken and the basis for the remedial intervention.

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