When constructing a foundation for a building, it is generally best to have a professional come in and do most of the work. There are some skilled do-it-yourselves out there, though, who can properly build a foundation for a small outbuilding. A civil engineer must to know the details of foundation construction as it’s the […]
Pile Foundation | Concrete Piles, Steel Piles, Timber Piles and Composite Piles
Pile Foundation A pile is a slender structural member made of steel, concrete or timber. In pile foundation, a pile is either driven into the soil and or formed in-situ by excavating a hole and filling it with concrete. There are piles made of different types of materials used in pile foundation. Generally four types […]
Mat or Raft Foundation | Advantages and Disadvantages of Raft Foundation
Raft Foundation Mat or raft foundation is a large slab supporting a number of columns and walls under the entire structure or a large part of the structure to lower the contact pressure compared to spread footing. When Mat/Raft Foundation is Recommended It is recommended for the following purposes. Bearing capacity of soil is low, […]
Concrete | Advantages and Disadvantages of Concrete
Concrete Concrete is an artificial stone-like material used for various structural purposes. It is made by mixing a binding material (as cement) and various aggregates (inert materials), such as sand, stone chips, brick chips, brick chips, pebbles, gravel, shale, etc with water and allowing the mixture to harden by hydration. Basic advantages and disadvantages of […]
How To Reduce The Cost of Building a House | Some Basic Concepts
Economical design is one of the most desirable factor in residential building planning and design. Civil engineers and architects work hard for making connection between the desires and the costs allowed by the owner of a project. There are some basic concepts that can be used for making a residential building economical under general circumstances. […]
Some Basic Principles of Building Planning
Why to do Building Planning? Planning in construction is the first thing to do. Proper orientation, healthy, beautiful, economical etc are our targets to achieve by planning building construction or any other construction work. Principles of Building Planning When we first start to plan a new building construction work to begin we definitely need to remember […]
Braced Cut – Types and Uses of Braced Cut
Braced Cut Braced cuts are the excavations that are laterally supported. The vertical side of the excavations are are supported by a sheeting and bracing system. It consists of relatively flexible sheeting placed against the excavation walls. The lateral thrust on the sheeting is resisted by the horizontal members in compression (struts) is known as […]
Water Leakage | Causes of Water Leak in Building
Water leakage or water seepage is one of the major causes of common building defects. If water leakage can be prevented, almost 80% building defects can be eliminated. The locations and causes of water leakage in building is given in the below chart. Water Leakage Location & Causes Water leakage is generally found in some specific locations of […]
Construction Defects in Building
Construction defect in building are seen in most of the age old buildings as well as the new ones. This happens for the lack of proper supervision during building construction. So it is always better to take help from a technical person constantly. These can be avoided if we become aware of such defects. Construction […]
Site Preparation Work | How To Prepare a Site For Construction
Site preparation is one of the preliminary works to be done for starting construction works. The selected construction site preparation need to be completed properly before the start of construction process. Site preparation The following factors are considered for the construction site preparation. The first step of site preparation work is to remove all the scrubs […]
Reinforced Concrete Beam Design : Failure Mode
In reinforced concrete beam design, failure is designed for safety. If the structure fails by sudden crushing, huge damage and loss of life may take place. So, it is designed so that structure would give a warning before collapse. Reinforced concrete beam failure may take place in 3 ways. Concrete failure: Crushing of concrete Steel […]
Reinforced Cement Concrete : Advantages of RCC
RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) is the combination of using steel and concrete instead of using only concrete to offset some limitations. Concrete is weak in tensile stress with compared to its compressive stress. To offset this limitation, steel reinforcement is used in the concrete at the place where the section is […]