Structural repairs

When the worry is the structure

Choose “structural repair” on the form when the question is whether part of the building is still doing its job: a crack that has widened, a slab that sounds hollow or shows exposed aggregate, a beam someone has already propped, a wall that is no longer plumb, a floor that deflects. Choose a renovation when the aim is to change the rooms. Choose roof repairs when the water is clearly from the covering and the structure underneath is not in doubt. If you cannot separate those, the form lets you say you are not sure. That is a better start than a confident label.

Micheletti Construction Limited reads the note. The work sits inside civil and building trades, the description on Alberto Micheletti’s public role as managing director since May 2012. We do not add a licence number, a software brand, or a patented repair system to make the paragraph sound technical. If a structural engineer’s design is required, we say so. This page is not that design.

What a crack is, and is not

Hairline cracks in plaster appear in new work as it dries and in old work as the seasons change. They are not automatically a reason to open the wall. A crack that runs through the blockwork, that is wider at one end, that has come back after it was filled, or that sits over a door or under a beam in a way that matches a load path, is a reason to look properly. We will not rank your photograph on this website. We will ask where it is, whether it has grown, and whether doors have started to bind.

Water changes the same conversation. A ceiling stain may be a sheet or a pipe. Rust stains on a soffit, concrete that has spalled, and reinforcement you can see are a different category. In Lagos, humidity and salt air give exposed steel less mercy. In Abuja and Ibadan the wet season is enough on its own if water sits in a crack for months. Covering the stain with a new ceiling is not a repair.

City settings, without a scare story

Lagos adds flooding. A wall can crack because the ground moved, because a tree root did, or because water stood against a foundation on a low street in Lekki, Ajah, or parts of the mainland. A roof repair will not fix that, and a structural repair that ignores the street level will be repeated. Tight plots in Surulere or Yaba mean the face of the building you need to see may be on a neighbour’s side. Say so.

Abuja’s newer districts — Gwarinpa, Lokogoma, parts of Jabi — include buildings that are young enough for “defects” and old enough for a first serious leak into a slab. Phase 1 houses in Maitama, Asokoro, Wuse, and Garki include older stock and later additions. An extra floor added years ago is a frequent companion of a crack. We ask about alterations. Harmattan is a kinder time to open concrete than the peak of the rains, if the building can wait. If it cannot, the temporary propping and the weather cover are part of the job, not an extra.

Ibadan’s older houses in Bodija, Jericho, Iyaganku, and around the university have been altered, loaded, and reroofed by successive occupants. A sagging sheet can be a roof problem or a sign the timber or steel under it has given up. Hills and surface water add ground movement that a coat of screed will not cancel. The habit of patching, which theIbadan page describes, sometimes hides the member that actually failed.

How to ask

Mark the timing honestly. Emergency means you are worried about safety or about water reaching a room now. Planning means you want a considered look. Tell us the city, neighbourhood, storeys, and whether the building is occupied. Photos of the crack, with something in the frame for scale if you can do it safely, help. Do not climb a failed roof to fetch one.

We will not name a resin, a jack, or a price on this page. Those are the output of a visit, not of a template. Request a quote and say what you have noticed changing. If the answer after a look is that the work is smaller than you feared, that is a good outcome. If it is larger, you will hear that before a cosmetic quote pretends otherwise.