Thursday, July 13, 2006
New Age Construction
Construction of a building always takes months together. Or does it? Welcome to new age constructions that are over in a matter of just 15 to 20 days
CONSTRUCTING A building, be it a house or an office, does not involve months of waiting, haggling with construction workers or worrying about an ever-exceeding budget anymore.
Fast track
With the new fast track modular construction method, a building can be completed in 15 to 20 days.
Compared with the conventional method of construction, which involves the use of bricks, water, sand and concrete, this system saves time. It can also be done according to the preferences of the customer.
The building material is either cement bonded with fly ash or with wood pulp. This material is lighter than concrete yet has the compressive strength of a normal brick, says
No vacuum
V. Unnikreshnan, Managing Director of Southland Constructions, one of the companies that deal with the designing and installation of the modular constructions. Since there is no vacuum within the material, the strength is much more than normal bricks, he adds.
Though the market is only waking up to the idea of building houses using this material, it is increasingly used to build extensions in houses.
For instance, an outhouse or a little room in a corner of the garden can be built in a day following this method. And, for building such a structure, the foundation needs to be only one foot deep.
Old buildings
In the case of very old buildings, which may have weak foundations, it may not be possible to build extensions using bricks, as the foundation may not be able to take the weight of metal, sand and bricks.
By installing a modular extension, this problem could be solved, Mr. Unnikreshnan explains.
Since the material is steam-cured and subjected to elongations and shrinkages while curing, cracks are not easily formed. Also, they are made following the tongue and groove technology, making them earthquake resistant. The guarantee for modular constructions is 25 years.
Advantage
Another advantage is that the structure built in this fashion can be relocated. There is no need for demolition as in the case of normal bricks. "While relocating, the extent of damage to the units is only five to ten per cent," says Babu C. Mathew, Project Co-ordinator of Southland Constructions.
However, modular constructions are not cheaper than the conventional method of construction.
But, time and the labour costs can be saved to a great extent, Mr. Babu observes. The floor space can be saved to almost seven inches from each side in a room. (The thickness of a normal brick is 9 inches.)
Saves space
"It saves seven times more carpet space than the conventional bricks. While the material is widely used in other countries for building houses, the awareness is only growing very slowly here," he says.
Vaasthu
Educational institutions and offices too use this material for building internal partitions. While aluminium and pre-laminated boards are the most commonly used materials in building partition walls, they are expensive and do not have sound insulation properties.
They are also termite-resistant. This material is 40 per cent cheaper than aluminium partitions. Roofs can also be built using this material.
With Vaasthu having caught on with the public, this arrangement has come in handy for houses and offices.
In certain readymade apartments, sometimes the location of the kitchen or the living room may not be ideal as per Vaasthu.
Minor changes
In such cases, minor changes can be brought into the rooms by building partition walls.
Since modular construction system is re-locatable, the partitions can be removed as and when required.
Also, the surface of the walls need not be plastered. It can be painted, wood panelled or have ceramic tiles stuck on them.
It is also fire-resistant thereby making it ideal in the construction of kitchen cabinets. There is no need to worry about termite attacks too, unlike wooden cabinets.
Not messy
In the case of modular constructions, there is no need to scout for skilled manpower and the construction process is not messy. It requires no water or sand, and so is also called dry construction.
"There is almost 50 per cent difference between the temperatures outside and inside a building constructed as per the modular system," Mr. Babu says.
CONSTRUCTING A building, be it a house or an office, does not involve months of waiting, haggling with construction workers or worrying about an ever-exceeding budget anymore.
Fast track
With the new fast track modular construction method, a building can be completed in 15 to 20 days.
Compared with the conventional method of construction, which involves the use of bricks, water, sand and concrete, this system saves time. It can also be done according to the preferences of the customer.
The building material is either cement bonded with fly ash or with wood pulp. This material is lighter than concrete yet has the compressive strength of a normal brick, says
No vacuum
V. Unnikreshnan, Managing Director of Southland Constructions, one of the companies that deal with the designing and installation of the modular constructions. Since there is no vacuum within the material, the strength is much more than normal bricks, he adds.
Though the market is only waking up to the idea of building houses using this material, it is increasingly used to build extensions in houses.
For instance, an outhouse or a little room in a corner of the garden can be built in a day following this method. And, for building such a structure, the foundation needs to be only one foot deep.
Old buildings
In the case of very old buildings, which may have weak foundations, it may not be possible to build extensions using bricks, as the foundation may not be able to take the weight of metal, sand and bricks.
By installing a modular extension, this problem could be solved, Mr. Unnikreshnan explains.
Since the material is steam-cured and subjected to elongations and shrinkages while curing, cracks are not easily formed. Also, they are made following the tongue and groove technology, making them earthquake resistant. The guarantee for modular constructions is 25 years.
Advantage
Another advantage is that the structure built in this fashion can be relocated. There is no need for demolition as in the case of normal bricks. "While relocating, the extent of damage to the units is only five to ten per cent," says Babu C. Mathew, Project Co-ordinator of Southland Constructions.
However, modular constructions are not cheaper than the conventional method of construction.
But, time and the labour costs can be saved to a great extent, Mr. Babu observes. The floor space can be saved to almost seven inches from each side in a room. (The thickness of a normal brick is 9 inches.)
Saves space
"It saves seven times more carpet space than the conventional bricks. While the material is widely used in other countries for building houses, the awareness is only growing very slowly here," he says.
Vaasthu
Educational institutions and offices too use this material for building internal partitions. While aluminium and pre-laminated boards are the most commonly used materials in building partition walls, they are expensive and do not have sound insulation properties.
They are also termite-resistant. This material is 40 per cent cheaper than aluminium partitions. Roofs can also be built using this material.
With Vaasthu having caught on with the public, this arrangement has come in handy for houses and offices.
In certain readymade apartments, sometimes the location of the kitchen or the living room may not be ideal as per Vaasthu.
Minor changes
In such cases, minor changes can be brought into the rooms by building partition walls.
Since modular construction system is re-locatable, the partitions can be removed as and when required.
Also, the surface of the walls need not be plastered. It can be painted, wood panelled or have ceramic tiles stuck on them.
It is also fire-resistant thereby making it ideal in the construction of kitchen cabinets. There is no need to worry about termite attacks too, unlike wooden cabinets.
Not messy
In the case of modular constructions, there is no need to scout for skilled manpower and the construction process is not messy. It requires no water or sand, and so is also called dry construction.
"There is almost 50 per cent difference between the temperatures outside and inside a building constructed as per the modular system," Mr. Babu says.
# posted by mashup @ 1:01 AM 
