ABSTRACT
Our aim in writing the original text was to provide a concise, coherent and comprehensive introduction to the causes, investigation and diagnosis of housing defects. There are a number of excellent texts on building failure but these tend to be either highly technical and/or aimed at specialist professional practitioners. We felt that there was a need for a more general text, aimed at all those students and practitioners who require a broad understanding of housing defects as part of a wider sphere of academic or professional activity. This group includes General Practice Surveyors, Maintenance Inspectors, Estate Agents, Housing Managers, Environmental Health Officers and Builders. The book will also provide a helpful introduction for those practitioners, eg Building Surveyors, who require a more detailed knowledge of building defects. The revised text, like the original, has three specific objects:
• to explain why, and how, defects occur, • to enable the reader to recognise and identify building defects, • to provide, where appropriate, guidance on their correct diagnosis.
