Buildings Maintenance and Retrofits in Brazil: Discussions About the Use of Innovative Wall Systems

A part of construction works in Brazil uses wet techniques, with ceramic bricks and concrete blocks as the main examples. Having a high self-weight as one of their attributes, similar elements must be chosen carefully when retrofitting a building to avoid overloading the existing structure. In that sense, this paper proposed an analysis of innovative wall systems, focusing on their self-weight and comparing them to conventional options. The main goals were to understand the current state of the art and propel the discussion further about developing technologies with reduced self-weight as an advantage for retrofitting in Brazil. The study was initially structured by a thorough understanding of the national context regarding the most used conventional wall systems, followed by an approach of relevant technical regulations involving them and an investigation of academic works based on innovative alternatives. Data comparisons between both types of walls were conducted aiming at the system bulk density and a final analysis based on a hypothetical 100 × 100 cm wall was performed, with standardized thicknesses in order to properly compare them. Said analysis had to vary from quantitative to qualitative whenever an absence of sufficient information was found. Results showed that conventional and innovative panel-based wall systems had a higher potential to be incorporated in retrofits when it comes to bulk density, since they tend to present lower values than brick systems. The raw materials applied to their production could also interfere in such results. It was observed a lack of publications focused on analyzing the self-weight among construction elements destined to retrofit processes.