MINIMUM STANDARDS It is obvious that cost of construction is directly proportional to the area covered. In low cost housing economy in the construction is a vital factor, but one should not lose sight of the fact that any economies effected are not worth, if the minimum requirements of basic physical comfort in the dwellings…
CAUSES OF DAMPNESS Dampness may be caused by: (a) Ground water (b) Rainwater and (c) Leakages from pipes. (a) Dampness due to Ground Water: All buildings are founded on soils. Soil holds water for along time. Sometimes water level may rise and come in contact with foundation. Due to capillary action moisture from ground rises into foundation, floor…
Stairs give access from floor to floor. The space/room housing stairs is called staircase. Stairs consists of a number of steps arranged in a single flight or more number of flights. The requirement of good stairs are (a) Width: 0.9 m in residential buildings and 1.5 m to 2.5 m in public buildings. (b) Number of…
Lintel is a horizontal flexural member which spans over the openings in the walls for doors, windows, ventilators, cupboards etc. The load of masonry above the opening is transferred to the wall by flexural action of the lintel so that frames of doors, windows etc. are not unduly loaded. The end bearings for the lintel…
Various windows used may be classified on the basis of materials used, types of shutters, types of openings of shutters and the position of windows. Timber, steel and aluminium are commonly used to make window frames. Timber may get termite attacks, steel may rust but aluminium do not have any such defects. However they are…
Various types of doors are in use which may be classified on the basis of arrangement of shutters, method of constructions, principles of working operations and materials used. Commonly used doors are briefly explained below: 1. Battened and Ledged Doors: Battens are 100 mm to 150 mm wide and 20 mm thick wooden boards. Their length…
The function of a door is to give access to building and to different parts of the building and to deny the access whenever necessary. Number of doors should be minimum possible. The size of the door should be of such dimension as will facilitate the movement of the largest object likely to use the…
Roof is the uppermost portion of the building which protects the building from rain, wind and sun. Various types of roofs used may be divided broadly into three types: 1. Flat roofs 2. Pitched roofs 3. Shells and folded plates. Flat roofs are used in plains where rainfall is less and climate is moderate. Pitched…
In olden days upper floors were made of timber floors or steel joist and stone slabs. For larger spans jack arch floorings were used. Jack arch floor consisted of I-section steel beams supported on walls and gap between I-sections beams filled with concrete arch. Nowadays R.C.C. floors are commonly used. It may consist of only…
Purpose of flooring is to get a good hard, level and beautiful surface for living. The floors directly resting on the ground are known as ground floors while the floors of each storey are known as upper floors.Ground Floor Apart from giving good finished surface, these floors should have good damp resistance. The ground surface is rammed…