# Failure Modes in Electricity and Telecommunication Facilities in Dwellings in Spain
## 2 Materials and Methods
### Characterization  
All complaints were analyzed and protocolized, totaling 154 cases. The facilities studied were electricity and telecommunications. The following descriptors were used to classify them: type of fault, pathological origin, and type of dwelling. Thus, the faults were classified into three groups of faults:  
* Alterations and malfunctions (F1): inadequate or inefficient operation of an installation, such as part of the ducts are strangled or diminished, inefficient installation, the control panels do not function properly, communication between common and private branches of the dwellings, presence of faults in control elements, and alteration of the design parameters of the systems;
* Incorrect or lack of placement of elements (F2): elements are missing in the installation in question or are in an incorrect layout, parts have been installed in inaccessible places, pipelines not appropriately closed, inappropriate layouts or in unsuitable places, inadequate closure of the vertical service duct, moving parts, and ducts connected to the wrong location; and
* Water ingress through construction elements (F3): water gets inside the elements or channeling of the installation, the effect of water on the materials of these installations, filtrations to conduits due to the breakage of components, the entry of water through fracture points due to mechanical actions or due to the movement between parts and coupling elements, the loss of watertightness between poorly connected water pipes affecting the electricity or telecommunications conduits, and the presence of damp due to capillarity in the walls affecting boxes or couplings of this type of installation. The pathological origins that caused these faults were categorized and classified into these four types:  
* Shortcomings and omissions in the installation (O1): all or part of the constituent elements necessary for the operation of the installation have been dispensed or systems have been installed without their devices;
* Anomalies in the installation (O2): an element or set of elements has suffered damage;
* Deteriorated or misplaced couplings (O3): the union between parts has not been executed correctly due to a lack of connection or incorrect handling of couplings; and
* Deficient or inadequate materials (O4): disposal of elements and/or materials that are unsuitable, deteriorated, or unfit for the function they must perform. The types of dwellings studied were as follows:
* Apartment blocks (T1): a building in which the height above the surface predominates and its primary use (excluding the ground floor) is to be inhabited by two or more families;
* Attached houses (T2): a building that is inhabited by a single family and, constructively, has direct contact with other houses forming a row, with the houses all having individual access from the street and being independent of each other; and
* Detached houses (T3): a building that is inhabited by a single family and, constructively, is not in direct contact with other houses or buildings, having specific access from the street, although they are usually surrounded by a plot of land with a private garden. An interrelation matrix between the types of faults and the pathological origins that caused them was made based on the above classification and with regard to the entire set studied. This conceptual matrix was never intended to replace the knowledge of the people who carry out the inspections or their rational judgement on each situation. The objective was to have a support base for less seasoned engineers for consultation after the results of this research are validated. Traditionally, other authors have used interrelation matrices in diverse fields for inspection and diagnosis of construction units, such as flat roofs [30], pitched roofs [31], masonry walls [32], etc. Besides marking whether there is (or can be) a technical interrelationship between a fault and its causal origin, these matrices try to assess the constructiveforce that links them.