It’s important to ensure that buildings are properly maintained. We live in a world where natural phenomena like earthquakes exist. A building can house hundreds or even thousands of people, and they should be secure in the safety of the place. Hence, you need to find the most reliable building commissioning service provider in Portland, Oregon to guarantee that your edifice is in top shape.
Buildings have to follow certain codes or standards when they are built. They need to pass a strict evaluation before they are certified. There are safety concerns their owners and administrators have to address, and two of them are about fire and earthquakes. Have you ever wondered how they make sure the building is safe from these two? You may not have noticed, but it could be just in plain sight.
Fire Protection
Fireproof materials are mandatory when it comes to building a skyscraper. The main structure is made of metal beams and concrete that won’t give in to the flames. It can house tenants whether for commercial or residential purposes. There are strict guidelines from the building administrators that tenants have to follow when it comes to apparatus that are heat-producing. For example, most office spaces are only allowed a few appliances for cooking or heating up food. They mostly only allow stuff like microwave ovens, small toasters, and coffee makers. Anything more than that is not allowed, which makes sense because an office can house dozens of people. You can never tell if there is someone who wouldn’t know how to operate these properly. There could be dedicated spaces where more cooking is allowed, but they should have a robust exhaust system to let the smoke out.
Movies and TV shows often feature scenes where someone activates the sprinklers in a building. People may have an inaccurate idea of how they work. Water sprinklers are activated by heat, and they go off only in areas that need them. So if a water sprinkler starts spraying water in one room, the others that will be activated will be close and plenty enough to prevent the fire from spreading. It will not activate everything that is in the building.
Water sprinklers need to detect heat, not smoke, before they get activated. Smoke detectors are also required to be installed. While they only provide a warning to people, buildings tend to have more enclosed spaces, so smoke tends to hang around. The alarm will give people time to move away from it.
Earthquake Protection
It’s understandable if you find earthquakes scary especially when you are caught inside a building. There are safety measures to protect you from them, and they are engineering marvels. The building’s foundation is where it all is. This is how it works in a nutshell. The building is built on a plate, which under it can have springs or rollers. This isolates the structure from the ground. There should be space around to allow the plate to move. When an earthquake hits, it could either sway or roll around the extra space which has been calculated so that it is far enough from nearby structures. This ensures that it will not bump into its neighbors when this happens. Without this installation, the building will be directly shaken by the soil it is standing on.
These are protective measures that you have to admire. They are very elaborate and thought out well. With these, you are assured that you are safe in your building.
