Many building elements, due to their destination, are exposed to the influence of external environment, often very aggressive. Due to that such building elements should be protected in a special way. I have presented the outline of problems related with maintenance of building structures, taking into account the principles of sustainable building. I have paid extra attention to the characteristics of local environment conditions and to their influence on the response of selected building elements. Building materials should be characterized with such features that will assure that the structures, in which they will be installed, will meet the requirements referring to service features. In this paper requirements regarding structural-material solutions for structures, bases for diagnostic tests and the essence of repair and rehabilitation of building structures has been discussed.

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