BUILDING A NEW HOUSE
Written November 04. 2008 in
buy property in indiaN Natarajan lists out some factors that make constructing a house simpler. Building a house is a once-in-alife time project for most and right choice in design can make a house durable and maintenance free. The choice of materials used and professional services employed in constructing the house determine the cost and quality of construction The following factors need a careful consideration as they determine the cost of the project — type of foundation, type of super structure, and kind of wood used. Foundation The building foundation varies with the soil condition. An ideal soil condition needs minimum investment at this stage. The soil needs to be hard so that it takes the weight of the structure with minimal structure below the floor. Each soil type behaves differently when structures are built on it. In some places, the soil is loose and cannot take the load for several feet until a hard soil or rock is hit. One of the cost effective foundation is pile foundation. Some plots need soil treatment like soil compression to make them strong. Appropriate foundation type is chosen to suit soil of different types. Load bearing walls with redbricks or table bricks is the most popular when the soil is hard. The surface could be soft but as it is dug deeper soil is found to be hard. The house built on this type of soil does not require any concrete structure to support it from below the surface. The wall is broad at bottom of the foundation and becomes thinner as it grows up. Typically building structures have ground plus two floors. Sized stone masonry foundation suits hard soil like red soil that can carry a load of ground and two floors. The obvious disadvantage is that the structure cannot be altered as every wall bears the load above it. When the soil is loose for considerable depth before the hard soil is hit, the load being walls is not the right solution. A super structure with concrete and beams are built first and walls are filled in subsequently. Concrete Columns with footing is the solution when room sizes need to be altered without damage to the structure as a whole. These columns have footings which are again concrete structure extensions to the column. These footings distribute the total weight of the building to the earth. Pile foundation is used in surfaces which have loose soil with very less load bearing capacity. Like other foundation types, pile foundations are used for load bearing and load transferring systems. Components of the foundation are the pile cap and the piles. Materials used for piles are typically steel and concrete. Piles made from these materials are driven, drilled or jacked into the ground and connected to pile caps. Walls Walls are made with filler materials that offer a variety to choose from such as conventional red bricks made of clay, compacted earth bricks which are sundried and not baked, compressed cement concrete solid blocks, compressed cement concrete hallow blocks, granite is used for raising walls. This is a special case where the entire structure is made of granite and load bearing walls as foundation. Wood Wood is used for doors, door frames, window frames and, cupboards, kitchen cabinets etc. The variety of wood options include Teak: This is the first choice for its strength and durability. It is resistant to termites. Teak is expensive. Rubberwood: A cheaper and more affordable alternative to timber. Easy to saw and drill, and lighter than teak. There are chemical processes making the rubber wood more durable and to be produced in different colours. MDF: Medium Density Fiberboard often referred to as 'manmade' wood. Is dense, smooth, and free of knots common in natural wood. Working with MDF produces a lot of dust. Normally preferred for building wall panels, doors, and storage cabinets. There are a few other wood such as Rose wood, that are less often used because they are both expensive and not available everywhere. Courtesy:- TOI dtd:- 1st Nov 2008
