Technical evaluation and economic assessment method of damages and defects in fenestration of new residential buildings

Damage and defects in fenestratrion of new buildings generate multiple legal claims for the corresponding civil liability of building agents in Spain. Frames usually comply with the legally enforceable regulatory requirements. Judicial claims have origin in the defects that occur mainly in the installation on site, which entail the loss of technical performance, some of which could be verified by on-site tests, although not all. In this research, we develop tools to inspect windows quickly but systematically and to evaluate their damage and defects as objectively as possible, even in the absence of tests. We present tables with the performance failures, defects, and damages that we have found most frequently in our inspections of building openings. This tables can facilitate their inspection and identification. We present the method that we use to objectively assess the technical relevance of damage and defects in buildings openings. This method uses a scale of degree of affectation to the corresponding technical performance required for each window and the relation of this with the economic valuation of the reparation, which is the most relevant final parameter of any legal claim. Keywords: Windows, pathology, expert reports, degree of affectation