Flooring

Filling in Plinth:

The function of filling in plinth is to raise the height of the ground floor above the level of the outside ground with a view to prevent ingress of dampness in the ground floor. Under normal conditions the plinth is filled with excavated earth and finished with 15 cm thick layer of sand on top. This layer serves the base on which the layer of base concreate is laid. A plinth height of 45 cms is considered adequate for normal construction. Anti-termite treatement is done to the top surface of the plinth filling.



Curious to learn what these Termites were all about I did some reading over the net. Here are some notes.

Termites have been in existence for millions of years. They are capable of survival under most adverse conditions and environments. Termites are divided mainly into two types:

a) Dry wood termites
b) Subterranean termites

Dry wood termites live in the wood and do not maintain contact with the ground. They normally build nests within the dry timber members like door/window frames, wooden furniture etc. and destroy them gradually. They are however not as common as the subterranean termites and they cause lesser damage to the buildings.

Subterranean termites on the other hand are mainly responsible for causing damage to the buildings and its contents. Unlike dry-wood termites they live in soil and require moisture for their existence. They build underground nests or colonies and form mud-wall tunnels or runways which serve as protected shelters for their movements. Termites usually enter the buildings through foundations or cracks in masonry.

Termites eat materials like wood, grass,etc and also attack materials such as leather, plastics, rubber, furniture, clothings, stationary etc. keeping in view the enormous damage caused by the termites it is desirable to take suitable measures for preventing ingress of termites into the building.

The commonly adopted method of preventing attack of termites to buildings consists in treating the soil beneath the building and around the foundations with soil insecticides. This treatment serves to create a chemical barrier between the ground and the parts of the building in contact with the ground thereby preventing the termites from approaching or attacking.

The treatment is carried out right from the stage of initiating the construction activities for the building. This operation consists in poisioning the soil underneath the building and around the foundations of the building with insecticide solutions. DDT is commonly used in India for anti-termite treatment.

Staircase

Staircase work began on 28th Nov.

I knew very little about staircases, so decided to go through a Building Construction book to understand the fundamantals of Staircase design. Following are some notes.

Definition: A stair may be defined as series of steps suitably arranged for the purpose of connecting different floors of a building.

If you thought that was too simple here is what I call a perfect technical definition of a Staircase :-)

"An arrangement of treads, risers, stringers, newel posts, hand rails and balusters so designed and constructed as to provide an easy and quick access to the different floors rendering comfort and safety to the users."

Classification: Stairs can be classified as;

i) Straight stairs, ii) Dog-legged stairs, iii) Open-newel stairs, iv) Geometrical stairs, v) Circular stair, vi) Bifurcated stairs

After understanding the different kinds of stairs I realized what we had designed was a "Dog-legged stair".

A Dog-legged stair consists of two straight flights of steps with abrupt turn between them. Usually, a level landing is placed across the two flights at the change of direction. This type of stair is useful where the width of the stair case hall is just sufficient to accomodate two widths of stair.

Designing stairs may be the trickiest part of the project. You need to figure out a few things, including the number of treads, the rise between treads, and the total run of the steps-the horizontal distance between the top and bottom of the stairs. Typically a Riser is 6 to 6.5 inches in height and the Tread is 11 inches to a Foot in width. So the stairs have to be perfectly positioned and must have the exact number of risers to be able to reach the first floor at 10 Feet height.

First the Risers and Treads are marked on the wall that supports the stairs. A wooden platform is then built to support the R.C.C. casting of the Stairs.




A firm foundation is laid in the beginning of the stair case for load bearning.




The casting was done on 30th Nov.

Lintel level

Following pictures show the progress of brickwork.

Set 1: Pictures taken on 10th Nov 2007





Once the brickwork attains 7 feet height its time to plan for the Lintel.

Lintel is a horizontal beam used in the construction of buildings. It usually supports the masonry above a window or door opening. Lintels may be made of wood, stone, steel or reinforced or pre tensioned concrete. They transfer the load vertically to the supporting walls.

Reinforced Concerte Lintels are most common in use on account of their durablility, strength and fire resisting properties. Nine inch wide R.C.C. lintel beams are constructed all around over the 7 feet high brick walls. The wireframes are made of 10 mm and 8 mm torque steel bars. A mix of cement concrete is poured into the wireframes.



Following is an illustration of the Lintel framework and Chajja of window/door.

Compound wall

Started work on the Compound wall in first week of November. The series of pictures below how the progress of work.

Foundation for the compound wall.



Brickwork

Brick work

Brick work started on 1st Nov 2007.


1. Taken from the East side. The gap in the brick-line (3.5 feet) is where the entrance door would eventually be placed.



2. View of the Foyer from the South side.

3. View of the Living Room.

4. Next picture is taken from the West side.

5. View of the Utility room attached to the Kitchen.

6. View of the Kitchen from the North-East side.

7. Dining room window overlooking the Kitchen garden. Picture taken from the South side.



8. Guest bedroom on the South-West corner.