PREFABRICATED BLDG.

COMPONENTS

Prefabrication

Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other

manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction
site where the structure is to be located. The term is used to distinguish this process from the more
conventional construction practice of transporting the basic materials to the construction site
where all assembly is carried out.

The term prefabrication also applies to the manufacturing of things other than structures at a fixed
site. It is frequently used when fabrication of a section of a machine or any movable structure is
shifted from the main manufacturing site to another location, and the section is supplied assembled
and ready to fit. It is not generally used to refer to electrical or electronic components of a machine,
or mechanical parts such as pumps, gearboxes and compressors which are usually supplied as
separate items, but to sections of the body of the machine which in the past were fabricated with
the whole machine. Prefabricated parts of the body of the machine may be called 'sub-assemblies'
to distinguish them from the other components.

The process and theory of prefabrication

An example from house-building illustrates the process of prefabrication. The conventional method
of building a house is to transport bricks, timber, cement, sand, and construction aggregate, etc to
the site, and to construct the house on site from these materials. In prefabricated construction, only
the foundations and floor slabs are constructed in this way, while sections of walls and roof are
prefabricated (assembled) in a factory (possibly with window and door frames included),
transported to the site, lifted into place by a crane and bolted together.

Prefabrication is used in the manufacture of ships, aircraft and all kinds of vehicles and machines
where sections previously assembled at the final point of manufacture are assembled elsewhere
instead, before being delivered for final assembly.

The theory behind the method is that time and cost is saved if similar construction tasks can be
grouped, and assembly line techniques can be employed in prefabrication at a location where
skilled labour is available, while congestion at the assembly site, which wastes time, can be reduced.
The method finds application particularly where the structure is composed of repeating units or
forms, or where multiple copies of the same basic structure are being constructed. Prefabrication
avoids the need to transport so many skilled workers to the construction site, and other restricting
conditions such as a lack of power, lack of water, exposure to harsh weather or a hazardous
environment are avoided. Against these advantages must be weighed the cost of transporting
prefabricated sections and lifting them into position as they will usually be larger, more fragile and
more difficult to handle than the materials and components of which they are made.
History

Prefabrication has been used since ancient times. For example, it is claimed that the world's oldest
known engineered roadway, the Sweet Track constructed in England around 3800 BC, employed
prefabricated timber sections brought to the site rather than assembled on-site. [citation needed]

The method was widely used in the construction of prefabricated housing in the 20th century, such
as in the United Kingdom to replace houses bombed during World War II. Assembling sections in
factories saved time on-site and reduced cost. However the quality was low, and when such
prefabricated housing was left in use for longer than its designed life, it acquired a certain stigma.
[citation needed]
.

The Crystal Palace, erected in London in 1851, was a highly visible example of iron and glass
prefabricated construction; it was followed on a smaller scale by Oxford Rewley Road railway
station

Current Uses

A house being built with prefabricated concrete panels.

The most widely-used form of prefabrication in building and civil engineering is the use of
prefabricated concrete and prefabricated steel sections in structures where a particular part or
form is repeated many times. It can be difficult to construct the formwork required to mould
concrete components on site, and delivering wet concrete to the site before it starts to set requires
precise time management. Pouring concrete sections in a factory brings the advantages of being
able to re-use moulds and the concrete can be mixed on the spot without having to be transported
to and pumped wet on a congested construction site. Prefabricating steel sections reduces on-site
cutting and welding costs as well as the associated hazards.

Prefabrication techniques are used in the construction of apartment blocks, and housing
developments with repeated housing units. The quality of prefabricated housing units had
increased to the point that they may not be distinguishable from traditionally-built units to those
that live in them. The technique is also used in office blocks, warehouses and factory buildings.
Prefabricated steel and glass sections are widely used for the exterior of large buildings.

Prefabrication saves engineering time on the construction site in civil engineering projects. This can
be vital to the success of projects such as bridges and avalanche galleries, where weather conditions
may only allow brief periods of construction. Additionally, small, commonly-used structures such as
concrete pylons are in most cases prefabricated.

Radio towers for mobile phone and other services often consist of multiple prefabricated sections.
Modern lattice towers and guyed masts are also commonly assembled of prefabricated elements.

Prefabrication has become widely used in the assembly of aircraft and spacecraft, with components
such as wings and fuselage sections often being manufactured in different countries or states from
the final assembly site.

Advantages of prefabrication

1. Self-supporting ready-made components are used, so the need for formwork, shuttering
and scaffolding is greatly reduced.
2. Construction time is reduced and buildings are completed sooner, allowing an earlier return
of the capital invested.

3. On-site construction and congestion is minimized.

4. Quality control can be easier in a factory assembly line setting than a construction site
setting.

5. Prefabrication can be located where skilled labour is more readily available and costs of
labour, power, materials, space and overheads are lower.

6. Time spent in bad weather or hazardous environments at the construction site is

minimised.

7. Less waste may be generated and in a factory setting it may be easier to recycle it back into
the manufacturing process, for instance it is less costly to recycle scrap metal generated in
a metal fabrication shop than on the construction site.

8. Molds can be used several times.

Disadvantages

1. Careful handling of prefabricated components such as concrete panels or steel and glass
 panels is required.
2. Attention has to be paid to the strength and corrosion-resistance of the joining of
prefabricated sections to avoid failure of the join.

3. Similarly, leaks can form at joints in prefabricated components.

4. Transportation costs may be higher for voluminous prefabricated sections than for the
materials of which they are made, which can often be packed more compactly.

5. Large prefabricated sections require heavy-duty cranes and precision measurement and
handling to place in position.

Feature-Prefab Structures
 

Feature-Prefab Structures

Readymade for construction

Felix Lobo takes a closer look at pre fabrication methodologies.

Prefabrication is the manufacture of an entire building or components cast in a factory

or on site before being placed in position assembling the structural units so that they
can be easily and rapidly erected. Prefabricated buildings are pre-cut, pre-drilled, and
pre-engineered before the actual building is constructed.

Prefabricated Structures (PFS) are useful for sites, which are not suitable for normal
construction methods such as hilly regions, and also when normal construction
materials are not easily available. PFS facilities can also be created at or near a site as is
done to make concrete blocks used in place of conventional bricks.

Structures which are used repeatedly and can be standardised such as mass housing,
storage sheds, godowns, shelters, bus stands, security cabins, site offices, foot over
bridges, road bridges, tubular structures, concrete building blocks etc, are
prefabricated structures.

The swiftly developing prefabricated structures' market in India has vast potential for
growth. The market is attractive and the presence and entry of several players in the
field confirms this fact. The sector is growing at a healthy rate of 10 per cent annually.
Despite the plethora of problems faced by the industry, most of the players are
optimistic about the future prospects of the sector. Saving on construction time will
make the sector further attractive for prospective customers. In the years to come, the
prefabricated structures industry is confident of total acceptance of this concept over
conventional means of construction of industrial factories. Prefabrication building
methodologies are ideal for low cost housing. In a building the foundation, walls, doors
and windows, floor and roof are the most important components. These components
can be analysed individually based on the needs. This will improve the speed of
construction and reduce the construction cost. Various types of foundations normally
adopted are: Open foundations; Rib foundations; Columns and Footings.

RCC raft foundation

Conventional methods using in-situ techniques are found to be economical and more
practical for low cost housing, which generally consists of low-rise structures. In seismic
regions, special attention is required to make the foundations continuous using
horizontal reinforcement. Prefabrication is not recommended for foundations in
normal situations.

Walls

In the construction of walls, rammed earth, normal bricks, soil cement blocks, hollow
clay blocks, dense concrete blocks, small, medium and room size panels, etc of
different sizes are used. However, bricks continue to be the backbone of the building
industry. In actual construction, the number of the bricks or blocks that are broken into
different sizes to fit into position at site is very large.

As a result of this, there is wastage of material and the quality of construction also
suffers. Increasing the size of wall blocks will prove economical due to greater speed
and less mortar consumption, which can be achieved by producing low density, larger
size wall blocks, and taking advantage of industrial waste like blast furnace slag and fly
ash. Several prefabrication techniques have been developed for walls, but these
medium and large panel techniques have not proved economical for low-rise buildings
as compared to traditional brickwork.

Floor and roof

Floors and roofs account for a substantial cost of a building. Therefore, any savings
achieved in floor/roof considerably reduces the cost of buildings. Traditional cast-in-
situ concrete roofs involve the use of temporary shuttering, which adds to the cost and
time of construction. Use of standard and optimized roofing components where
shuttering is avoided is economical, fast and better in quality. Some of the
prefabricated roofing /flooring components found suitable in many low-cost housing
projects are: Precast RC planks; Precast hollow concrete panels; Precast RB panels;
Precast RB curved panels; Precast concrete/fibrocement panels; and Precast RC
channel units.

Prefabrication as applied to low cost housing

In India, adoption of prefabrication building techniques has many merits, like

availability of materials, labour, and technical skills. Advantages of prefabrication are
multiple as the components are readymade and self-supporting, shuttering and
scaffolding is eliminated, with a saving in shuttering cost. In traditional construction,
the repetitive use of shuttering is limited, as it gets damaged due to frequent cutting,
nailing, etc. On the other hand, the mould for the precast components can be used for
a large number of repetitions, thereby reducing the cost of the mould per unit. In the
prefabricated housing system, there is saving of time, as the elements can be cast
beforehand during the course of the foundation being laid. Even after laying slab, the
finishes and services can be done below the slab immediately. In the conventional in-
situ RCC slabs, due to props and shuttering, the work cannot be done till these are
removed. Saving of time means saving of money. In prefabricated construction, there
is better quality control, shape and size of precast elements. Therefore, in structural
design, full advantage of the properties of cement and steel can be taken. There is
disciplined use of expensive materials like cement, steel and timber.

In precast construction, similar components are produced repeatedly, resulting in

increased productivity and economy in cost too. The construction is not affected by
rain, wind, and other weather elements. The work at the site is reduced to a minimum,
and therefore, work is qualitatively better, more reliable and cleaner. Because of faster
completion and reduction in time period of construction, the houses can be occupied
earlier, which means early returns on the investment.

Limitations of prefabrication: As the Precast elements have to behave monolithic on

erections, extra reinforcement may be necessary to take care of handling and erection
stresses. Temporary props may be required in some cases, before the in-situ concrete
joints achieve strength. Cracks may develop at the joints between the Precast and in-
situ concrete due to shrinkage and temperature stresses. To overcome them, extra
steel is required across the joint. As there are chances of leakage/seepage through the
joints between the precast components, extra care is required to make them leak
proof.
Criteria for selection of prefab in India: In India, the technology adopted for housing
components should ensure that the production and erection technology be adjusted to
suit the level of skills and handling facilities available under metropolitan, urban and
rural conditions. In other words, the structural systems and components selected
should ensure minimum material utilization with maximum structural advantage.
However, the component and systems so designed need to be manufactured and
erected by manual means in villages, semi-mechanical techniques in towns, and more
or less fully mechanical operations in the metropolitan cities.

In urban areas, the concentration of construction activity does not justify

prefabrication. The answer is hybrid construction combining standardised mass-
manufactured roofing and other components (at site) with in-situ brick walls or other
masonary structures. A wide variety of roofing methods to suit these requirements
have been developed and used on mass scale in many housing projects such as
funicular shell, cored slabs, RCC channel units, Precast cellular units, Precast RC planks
and joists, prefab brick panels and joists, RCC joists and hollow concrete blocks.

Mahaphant Fibre-Cement (South Asia) Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, is a part of Mahaphant

Group of Companies, based in Thailand. Established in 1974 in Bangkok Thailand, the
company is emerging as one of very few manufacturers of unique and environment-
friendly fibre cement and concrete products.

Its products include the environment friendly, non asbestos, fibre cement boards
manufactured with autoclave technology under high pressure steam curing process for
very high strength and dimensional stability under the brand name SHERA.

These Boards are manufactured as per ISO 8336:1993, type A and are therefore
suitable for interior as well as exterior applications. They are resistant to weather, fire
and termites, immune to water damage, sound insulation, low shrinkage, high
workability & non brittle. Shera is a unique composite of natural fibers bonded in a
high-grade silicate matrix giving stability in all climatic conditions. These fibre-cement
products offer necessary strength, stability and versatility in applications. Shera planks
offer the best substitution to natural wood. SHERA Decorstone offers the substitute for
Natural Stone. We also manufacture the concrete products in the category of concrete
roof tiles and artificial stone tiles for cladding & flooring applications. These products
are offered in unmatched range of colors and contemporary styles best suitable for the
décor of modern and classical style buildings. Along with the aesthetical characteristics,
these products also provide the best suitability for earthquake-proof building
structures.

Savvy Buildfab Pvt. Ltd. is a leading insulated roofing and cladding company that
manufactures insulated panels for wall cladding and roofing sheets with two side sheet
and insulation material like PUF, Glass Wool, and Rock Mineral Wool in between to
maintain better temperature, high strength, unique for cold rooms and sound
insulation. Also adept at Pre-Engineered Steel Buildings involving Design, Fabrication,
Erection, Erection and installation of Metal Building Systems, the products custom
made, easy, fast to erect and can withstand severe climatic conditions.

Turnkey projects for building for Industrial, Commercial, Institutional, Retail, Aircraft
Hanger, Shopping Centers, Warehousing, and Offices etc. are also undertaken. The
company has the expertise in Trapezoidal Roofing & Cladding in Galvanized, Galvalume
Bare & Precoated steel sheets. It manufactures Roof & Floor Deck Panels and Clip fix
Roofing System too that is leak proof.

Metallic False Ceiling Systems manufactured by us are in vogue. Metal Crash Barrier
are manufactured out of structural grade steel to provide safety on highway as well as
act as a guideline to drivers in rainy & foggy conditions and also during night driving.

 
EXAMPLES:-

Corrugated galvanized iron

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Corrugated galvanised iron roofing in Mount Lawley, Western Australia.

Tin roof to the crushing plant of an abandoned tin mine Northern Territory, Australia.

A corrugated iron Church (or tin tabernacle) in Kilburn, London.

Typical Corr. Galv. iron appearance. Note the large flake type patterns. Note also the fixing, when to
steel is a galv cup head type bolt tightened from underneath

Corrugated galvanised iron, commonly abbreviated CGI, is a building material composed of sheets of
hot-dip galvanised mild steel cold-rolled to have a linear corrugated pattern in them. The corrugations
increase the bending strength of the sheet in the direction parallel to the corrugations, but not across
them. Normally each sheet is manufactured longest in its strong direction.

CGI is lightweight and easily transported. It was and still is widely used especially in rural and military
buildings such as sheds and water tanks. Its unique properties were used in the development of countries
like Australia from the 1840's, and it is still helping developing countries today.

Pitch and depth

The corrugations are described in terms of pitch (the distance between two crests) and depth (the
height from the top of a crest to the bottom of a trough). It is important for the pitch and depth to be
quite uniform, in order for the sheets to be easily stackable for transport, and to overlap neatly when
making a join. Pitches have ranged from 25 mm (1 inch) to 125 mm (5 inches). It was once common for
CGI used for vertical walls to have a shorter pitch and depth than roofing CGI. This shorter pitched
material was sometimes called "rippled" instead of "corrugated". However nowadays, nearly all CGI
produced has the same pitch of 3 inches (76 mm).

Echo

Clapping hands or snapping ones fingers whilst standing next to perpendicular sheets of corrugated iron
(e.g. in a fence) will produce a high-pitched echo with a rapidly falling pitch. This is due to a sequence of
echoes from adjacent corrugations.
If sound is travelling at 344 m/s and the corrugated iron has a wavelength (pitch) of 3” or .0762m this
will produce an echo with a maximum wavelength of that order, which corresponds to a frequency of
4500 Hz or so (approximately the C above top A on a standard piano). The first part of the echo will have
a much higher pitch because the sound impulses from iron nearly opposite the clapper will arrive almost
simultaneously.

History

Early manual corrugated iron roller. On display at Kapunda museum, South Australia
 CGI was invented in the 1820s in Britain by Henry Palmer, architect and engineer to the London Dock
Company. It was originally made (as the name suggests) from wrought iron. It proved to be light, strong,
corrosion-resistant, and easily transported, and particularly lent itself to prefabricated structures and
improvisation by semi-skilled workers. It soon became a common construction material in rural areas in
the United States and Australia and later India, and in Australia also became (and remains) the most
common roofing material and is even used in urban areas (in which application it is usually painted) but
not as commonly as in rural areas. For roofing purposes, the sheets are laid somewhat like tiles, with a
lateral overlap of two or three corrugations, and a vertical overlap of about 150 mm, to provide for
waterproofing. CGI is also a common construction material for industrial buildings throughout the world.

Wrought iron CGI was gradually replaced by mild steel from around the 1890s, and iron CGI is no longer
obtainable - however, the common name has not been changed. Galvanised sheets with simple
corrugations are also being gradually displaced by 55%Al-Zn coated steel (GALVALUME® steel) or coil-
painted sheets with complex profiles. However CGI remains common.

PRODUCT 

Concrete Reinforcement

Welded Wire Fabric (WWF) as Concrete Reinforcement is by far the most potential and most efficient application. The welds in
plain cold-worked wires contribute to the bonding and anchorage values in concrete. The manufacturing process helps to facilitate
on-site installation and off-site fabrication, yielding higher productivity, better quality buildings; and safer, neater and conducive
job-site conditions.

In and environment of increased site-labour cost, VWM fabric provides developers, designers, engineers and contractors a
convenient and economical steel reinforcement for concrete structures.

Benefits:

Increased cost savings through higher

productivity
VWM fabric is a prefabricated steel product which
replaces traditional steel cutting and fixing. This
shortens the duration of a project at the work site
significantly, and also helps reduce dependence on
unskilled labour.
Reduced steel wastage
VWM  fabric is produced from coils, hence producing
less steel scrap, when compared with mild steel and tempcore bars.

Quality steel fixing

The spacing of the steel wires is uniformly controlled, eliminating human
error in manual steel fixing.

Improved work safety

There is no cutting and bending of bars on site. Hence, the delivered
welded fabric can be neatly
stacked in a small area near the structures in progress.

Simplicity
Design and work drawings are quickly and easily
   prepared.

Welded Steel Fabric is widely used for the following applications :

Building, Paving, Concrete Pipes, Precast Components

Building Construction

Welded Steel Fabric is used successfully and economically in practically

every form of reinforcement concrete construction in buildings such as
footing, slabs, walls, staircases, refuse chutes, beams, stirrup cages and
columns.
VWM fabric is adaptable for use for all types of building designs, including
office buildings, schools, hospitals, industrial and commercial buildings,
airport buildings, apartments and other residential buildings.

Paving

 Concrete pavements are exposed directly to atmospheric

 conditions, expanding and contracting with every change of
 temperature or moisture condition.
 In factory shed flooring and concrete pavements / roads
 weight of the slab itself, and the tendency of the ground to
 grip the concrete under surface, creates resistance to
 expansion or contraction tends to produce relieving cracks
 in the concrete slab. Welded Steel Fabric holds cracked
 sections tightly, permitting the transfer of load, maintaining
  evenness of surface, and safeguarding the strength and life
 of the pavement.

Concrete Pipes

VWM fabric is a standard reinforcing material used in the manufacture of concrete

pipes. Welded steel fabric is used because of its high strength and ability to withstand
heavy concentrated loads. Its long life and low coefficient of roughness permits the use
of minimum size of conduit laid on flat gradient without loss of velocity.
Fabric for Coating by Guniting / Re-plastering. As a bonding fabric during guniting
( Spraying of thick Cement-stand slurry with compressed Air ) and re-plastring required
for repairs and rehabilitation of structures. Guniting is also extensively used for coating
of pipelines, to significantly enhance their life against corrosion.  

Precast Components

The quality of construction work has improved significantly with the use of precast components.
Today, Welded Steel Fabric is widely used in precast components
ranging from architectural facades, parapet walls, lightweight partition panels, sun shades, staircases, refuse chutes, planks
( slabs ) to water  tanks, secondary roofing, U-drains and box culverts, etc.
  
Owning a house, be it through self construction or buying, is an agony and ecstasy. A few major reasons are,
spiralling prices of building materials, cost of labour, non-availability of materials in time, lack of financial  
resources, absence of commitment on the part of Government, population explosion, inordinate delay in
construction due to hesitancy on the part of constructors to adopt time-saving technologies and so on, imagine
that an individual goes to a constructor and pays money and over-night he is given a new house ready for
occupation. It is an extreme case of a dream. Still, the dream can be realised with many components of a house
being tailor-made, bought, and readily assembled in construction.

The post war reconstruction in Europe set a revolutionary trend in building construction by industrialising various
operations to produce ready to use components of a building, be it residential/institutional/industrial. Factories
have been established with a streamlined production of building components such as foundation blocks, wall
panels, beams, roof/floor slabs, toilet units, and practically any conceivable component. The objectives of
industrialized construction are to speed up construction, minimize works at site, use materials in a disciplined way,
improve quality, and increase productivity.

All developed countries have achieved the basic commitment of providing houses primarily through industrialised
construction. Although the Indian planners, architects, and engineers recognized this fact even two and a half
decades ago, large scale use of such new methods in construction, especially in housing, is practically nil.

Industrialized construction, simply means transferring substantial activities from the site to a factory where in the building
components are "prefabricated", than transported and erected at site. There have been a large number of high cost seminars
and symposia on this subject and also on low cost housing. But, the proceedings are appeared to have been left in cold
storage. Nothing spectacular has come out. Yet, there is an increasing awareness that a large scale industrialisation can solve
the present crisis of housing shortage.

Analysing why there is such hesitancy to adopt new techniques in house construction, a few reasons demand consideration.
There is an apprehension that a large scale industrialisation may throw the labour out of employment, since construction now
is traditional and labour-oriented; establishing factories requires huge capital investment and the investor is pessimistic on the
assured demand. The roads are ill-suited to transport heavy prefabrications. The sophisticated factory equipments/systems,
heavy machineries and equipment to produce and handle the precast components are not easily available. These reasons are
not tenable in the present situation when the backlog of housing shortage has assured a phenomenal proportion and the only
solution is to industrialise construction, at least partially, if not fully.

AGONY OF THE PROCESS

A partial prefabrication is a reasonable compromise between fully industrialised and conventional labour-extensive
construction. Any building construction has basically five major stages, namely, foundation, wall up to lintel level,
lintel and sunshades, wall above lintel, and roof slabs. While the construction work is fairly fast with foundation
and wall, it slows down first at lintel level and thereafter, significantly at roof level. The construction at this level
involves several operations, namely:

1. Erection of non-consumable, costly, temporary form-work/centering by carpenters.

2. Designing the steel reinforcement by an engineer.
 3. Steel fabrication by bar benders.

4. Arranging and stacking the consumable good quality materials: cement, coarse aggregates, sand and
suitable water within the available restricted space,

5. Mobilising concrete mixer, vibrator for compaction with respective operators besides doing scaffolding etc,

6. Set of unskilled laborers and masons to do the concreting job on a particular day with primary importance
to complete the job than to quality whereas, the concrete mix and laying standards matters a lot on
strength.

7. Concrete curing for a week/10 days not generally cared much particularly in multistoreyed structures
where it is practically difficult.

8. Stripping the centering.

9. Hacking the set concrete to receive plastering.

10. Plastering for a better finish and to make up the defects due to sub standard form work/honey combs.

11. Again curing the plastering for 7 to 10 days besides, blocking the full room with the standing props
preventing from doing any other independent jobs viz. door/window fixing, Wall plastering/flooring etc.,
till removing them from the room.

Any individual who has constructed a house would call it an agonizing experience, yet he would have enjoyed the
ecstasy of having constructed a roof of his own. To achieve good quality in site construction is yet another difficult
task. Quality in construction is always talked about, but seldom delivered.

The question is how to minimise agony and maximise ecstasy. The best way is to supply, not just the building
materials but, the building components itself, in a tailor made fashion as the ready-made wares are, especially for
roof construction. Considering the increasing phenomenal requirement on house construction both in rural and
urban areas, there is ample justification for establishing a large number of factories to produce building
components.

The R&D organisations, such as Central Building Research Institute, Roorkie, the Structural Engineering Research
Center, Madras and several academic, institutions have developed various schemes of roof constructions using
prefabricated components. A few schemes are worked out for precast channel units, funicular shells, precast
reinforced concrete battens with hollow blocks in clay or concrete, precast plate elements, etc. All these schemes
eliminate the site operation on form-work/centering and ensure good quality roof. As these are made in small and
medium sizes, they do not require heavy transporting/handling equipments. They can be handled and erected with
small machineries or even manually. These, when supplied as factory-made components can ensure high quality,
relieve the constructor from many skilled and unskilled labour-intensive and agonising site operations. High saving
in cost and time can be realised in stereo-type mass constructions.                            
Recently, on a visit to U.K. and France, I found many factories constructing their roofs with tailor made components
of either
(i) Precast - Prestressed Concrete Beams/Joints/Battens & Hollow Blocks or (ii) Precast - Prestressed Pre slabs or
(iii) Precast - Prestressed Hollow Cored Slabs. The production in their factories are in the range of 4000
Sq.M/43,000 sqft, every day with a minimum concrete strength of 650 ksc and goes upto 800 ksc as against to our
min. ISI requirement of 150 ksc. It is amazing! These components are produced in the factories using highly
sophisticated machineries with built-in high degree of quality control systems at every stage of operation.

Comparing the said three systems, the best suited one for our country seems to be the first, considering many aspects.

The products by this system suits to all our room sizes, can easily be carried by any builder building individual
house/flats/commercial buildings/etc., by our tempos or ordinary trucks, and even if the client wants, he himself can just do
the job as it does not demand any handling equipments at site and satisfy himself and achieve
(i) Cost Effectiveness by minimum 20 per cent,
(ii) Time Saving by minimum 80 per cent,
(iii) Better thermal and sound insulations and
(iv) enjoying the ease thereof.

                          
It is, therefore, essential that such factories need to be established in our country where the area-population-
demand rate is very high when compared with other countries and so, supply of building components at
appropriate time during construction only can to a large extent, minimise the agony and maximise the ecstasy of
owning a roof. Such established factores with the basic Batching plants, Concrete layers, Steam/Hot oil/Hot
water/Electric Curing systems can then diversify easily to the other concrete products such as Column foundation
blocks, Wall panels, Lighting/Transmission line poles, Paving blocks, Manhole covers etc., with just additional
moulds.

With the introduction of privatisation, the government should come out with better schemes for encouraging
private participation in industrialising house construction by liberalising import formalities for hardware, imparting
tax benefits to meet the increasing assured demand, etc., but at the same time it should ensure that our people get
the benefit of getting a house at affordable cost with least agony and maximum ecstasy. Financing institutions such
as HUDCO, TIIC, SIDCO, SIPCOT, TIDCO, IDBI, HDFC, ICICI can also play a major role by encouraging entrepreneurs
to start such industries.
LOCAL BUILDING MATERIAL

Building material

Concrete and metal rebar used to build a floor

Building material is any material which is used for a construction purpose. Just about every type of
available material has been used at one time or another for creating various human and animal
homes, structures, and technologies. This reference deals with habitats and structures including
homes.

Living spaces and their related structures have been created using myriad materials, from mud to
metal, and from plastic to grass. Today the production and assembly of various building materials is
a multibillion dollar industry, and environmental concern has recently surfaced about the effects of
such a massive resource extraction on a global scale.

Natural materials

Mud, rocks, and small plants are used as the most basic building materials, aside from tents made
of flexible materials such as cloth or leather. People all over the world have used these three
materials together to create homes to suit their local weather conditions. In general stone and
brush are used as basic structural components in these buildings, while mud is used to fill in the
space between acting as a type of concrete and insulation.

Some examples are the wattle and daub mostly used as permanent housing in tropical countries or
as summer structures by ancient northern peoples.
Mud and clay

The amount of each material used leads to different styles of buildings. The deciding factor is
usually connected with the quality of the soil being used. Larger amounts of clay usually mean
using the cob/adobe style, while low clay soil is usually associated with sod building. The other
main ingredients include more or less sand/gravel and straw/grasses. Rammed earth is both an old
and newer take on creating walls, once made by compacting clay soils between planks by hand,
now forms and mechanical pneumatic compressors are used.

Soil and especially clay is good thermal mass; it is very good at keeping temperatures at a constant
level. Homes built with earth tend to be naturally cool in the summer heat and warm in cold
weather. Clay holds heat or cold, releasing it over a period of time like stone. Earthen walls change
temperature slowly, so artificially raising or lowering the temperature can use more resources then
in say a wood built house, but the heat/coolness stays longer.

Peoples building with mostly dirt and clay, such as cob, sod, and adobe, resulted in homes that
have been built for centuries in western and northern Europe as well as the rest of the world, and
continue to be built, though on a smaller scale. Some of these buildings have remained habitable
for hundreds of years.

Rock

Mont Saint Michel

Rock structures have existed for as long as history can recall. It is the longest lasting building
material available, and is usually readily available. There are many types of rock through out the
world all with differing attributes that make them better or worse for particular uses. Rock is a very
dense material so it gives a lot of protection too, its main draw-back as a material is its weight and
awkwardness. Its energy density is also considered a big draw-back, as stone is hard to keep warm
with out using large amounts of heating resources.
 Dry-stone walls have been built for as long as humans have put one stone on top of another.
Eventually different forms of mortar were used to hold the stones together, cement being the
most commonplace now.

The granite-strewn uplands of Dartmoor National Park, United Kingdom, for example, provided
ample resources for early settlers. Circular huts were constructed from loose granite rocks
throughout the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, and the remains of an estimated 5,000 can still be
seen today. Granite continued to be used throughout the Medieval period (see Dartmoor
longhouse) and into modern times. Slate is another stone type, commonly used as roofing material
in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world where it is found.

Mostly stone buildings can be seen in most major cities, some civilisations built entirely with stone
such as the Pyramids in Egypt, the Aztec pyramids and the remains of the Inca civilisation.

Thatch

Thatch is one of the oldest of building materials known; grass is a good insulator and easily
harvested. Many African tribes have lived in homes made completely of grasses year round. In
Europe, thatch roofs on homes were once prevalent but the material fell out of favour as
industrialisation and improved transport improved the availability of other materials. Today,
though, the practice is undergoing a revival. In the Netherlands, for instance, many of new builds
too have thatched roofs with special ridge tiles on top.

Brush

Toda tribe hut

Brush structures are built entirely from plant parts and are generally found in tropical areas, such
as rainforests, where very large leaves can be used in the building. Native Americans often built
brush structures for resting and living in, too. These are built mostly with branches, twigs and
leaves, and bark, similar to a beaver's lodge. These were variously named wikiups, lean-tos, and so
forth.

Ice

Ice was used by the Inuit for igloos, but has also been used for ice hotels as a tourist attraction in
northern areas that might not otherwise see many winter tourists.
 Wood

Wood is a product of trees, and sometimes other fiberous plants, used for construction purposes
when cut or pressed into lumber and timber, such as boards, planks and similar materials. It is a
generic building material and is used in building just about any type of structure in most climates.
Wood can be very flexible under loads, keeping strength while bending, and is incredibly strong
when compressed vertically. There are many differing qualities to the different types of wood,
even among same tree species. This means specific species are better for various uses than others.
And growing conditions are important for deciding quality.

Historically, wood for building large structures was used in its unprocessed form as logs. The trees
were just cut to the needed length, sometimes stripped of bark, and then notched or lashed in to
place.

In earlier times, and in some parts of the world, many country homes or communities had a
personal wood-lot from which the family or community would grow and harvest trees to build
with. These lots would be tended to like a garden.

With the invention of mechanizing saws came the mass production of dimensional lumber. This
made buildings quicker to put up and more uniform. Thus the modern western style home was
made.

Brick and Block

Brick and timber construction

A brick is a block made of kiln-fired material, usually clay or shale, but also may be of lower quality
mud, etc. Clay bricks are formed in a moulding (the soft mud method), or in commercial
manufacture more frequently by extruding clay through a die and then wire-cutting them to the
proper size (the stiff mud process).

Bricks were very popular as a building material in the 1700, 1800 and 1900s. This was probably due
to the fact that it was much more flame retardant than wood in the ever crowding cities, and fairly
cheap to produce.
 Another type of block replaced clay bricks in the late 20th century. It was the Cinder block. Made
mostly with concrete.

THATCH:

Thatch" redirects here. For other uses, see Thatch (lawn) and Thatch (comic strip).

A thatched pub (The Williams Arms) at Wrafton, near Braunton, North Devon, England

Thatching is the craft of covering a roof with vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge, rushes and
heather. It is probably the oldest roofing material and has been used in both tropical and temperate
climates. Thatch is still employed by builders in developing countries, usually with low-cost, local
vegetation. By contrast in some developed countries it is now the choice of well-to-do people who want
their home to have a rustic look.

Advantages

Thatching materials range from plains grasses to waterproof leaves found in equatorial regions. It is the
most common roofing material in the world, because the materials are so readily available. With certain
types of thatching, particularly low rounded roofs, good acoustic insulation can make extremely quiet
living conditions.

Thatch is a competitive thermal insulator when applied thickly. A thatched roof will ensure that a
building will be cool in summer and warm in winter. Local techniques, such as the placement of a turf
substratum by the Scottish, can reduce air movement and improve insulation even further.

Thatch is a versatile material when it comes to covering irregular roof structures. This fact lends itself to
the use of second-hand, recycled and natural materials that are not only more sustainable, but need not
fit exact standard dimensions to perform well.
Thatching can be sustainable -- if crops are managed ecologically, then the resource can be renewed
regularly. Many of the natural thatching materials are improved by regular harvesting. For example,
reeds, marram grass, broom, heather, and juniper all regrow in more usable forms. Thatch can be
recycled to be an excellent fertilizer.[12]

As local materials always tend to harmonize with the landscape surrounding their place of origin, thatch,
as a natural material, will always blend well with a rural environment. Thatch has an ecological
advantage because it is produced by natural processes that do not use scarce and expensive resources
of energy. (5)

Disadvantages

Thatched houses are more vulnerable to fire risk than those covered with other materials, and it is
therefore imperative that precautions be taken to reduce the risk. Insurance costs can be higher due to
this factor. The process of thatching is more labor intensive than other methods of roofing, affecting the
overall cost.[3]

Being an organic material, thatch is susceptible to decay and decomposition and precautions must be
taken to minimize the possibility of this process taking place. In warm, wet climates thatch is prone to
fungal attacks.

Animals can cause damage. Birds looking for food, gathering nest-making materials or nesting in the roof
itself becomes a greater possibility when the plant material is not processed appropriately for its
intended use. Rodents can cause extensive damage when present in the house. The quality of design
and building can greatly affect the performance of the roof. If built and/or maintained inadequately,
then problems such as vulnerability to wind damage and prolonged damp conditions are issues. [12]

Thatch can be maintenance intensive. The maintenance cycle varies based on thatch type, roof pitch,
the degree of shade or exposure and the kinds of materials used.

Thatched hut in Lesotho

Thatch has fallen out of favour in much of the industrialized world not because of fire, but because
thatching has become very expensive and alternative 'hard' materials are cheaper — but this situation is
slowly changing. There are almost 100,000 thatched roofs in the UK, and in some parts of England 1 in 4
new roofs are being thatched.

New thatched roofs were forbidden in London by the Normans in the 12th century, and existing roofs
had to have their undersides (within the roof space) plastered to reduce the risk of fire. The Great Fire of
London in 1666 had nothing to do with thatch. The modern Globe Theatre is one of the few thatched
buildings in London (others can be found in the suburb of Kingsbury), but the Globe's modern, water
reed thatch is 'icing on the cake' and actually lies over a fully waterproof roof built with modern
materials.