Environmental and Construction Factors that Promote Premature Deterioration of Coastal Housing in Veracruz, Mexico
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37636/Keywords:
Compound Damage Index (CDI), Confined masonry, Premature deterioration, Coastal popular housingAbstract
The premature deterioration of reinforced concrete structures in coastal areas results from the combined action of the aggressiveness of the maritime environment and the deficiencies of informal construction. The present work identifies and quantifies the determining factors of deterioration in houses on the central coast of Veracruz under the hypothesis of a multicausal model, based on an exploratory diagnosis in 65 structures located in eight coastal localities. A standardized protocol was applied that included visual inspection, compressive strength with a sclerometer, coating thickness with a vernier caliper, and depth of carbonation with phenolphthalein. To integrate the deterioration variables into a comparable metric, the Compound Damage Index (CDI, scale 1-10) was constructed. The results reveal an exponential decay relationship between the IDC and the distance to the coast: structures less than 150 m registered an average IDC of 8.23/10, compared to 1.51/10 in those located between 500 and 948 m. However, 84.6% of the furthest structures presented active corrosion, confirming that distance does not protect when coatings are insufficient. The average carbonation depth exceeded or equaled the coating thickness in the four exposure zones, with a maximum gap of 2.1 cm in the area closest to the coast and an exact convergence of both values (2.4 cm) in the farthest zone. Confined masonry was more vulnerable than monolithic reinforced concrete, with 97.9% of castles affected compared to 61.5% of columns. Unsupervised self-construction, the use of well water without quality verification, and maintenance with simple mortar on corroded steel act as amplifying factors of environmental deterioration. The results open lines of research aimed at the development of alternative protection systems, such as base coatings, supplementary cementitious materials, ecological pastes with low permeability, etc., that are economically accessible and compatible with the conditions of self-construction prevailing in Mexican coastal areas.
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The authors make their research data available; these may be requested via email at dreyesg@itsm.edu.mx.
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