Alternative Building Materials PDF

# Alternate Building Materials - A Step Towards Green Environment This presentation was made by: Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana ## Need of Alternate Building Materials: * The demand for building materials has been continuously rising with the increasing need for housing both in rur...

# Alternate Building Materials - A Step Towards Green Environment This presentation was made by: Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana ## Need of Alternate Building Materials: * The demand for building materials has been continuously rising with the increasing need for housing both in rural and urban areas. * The resources used to manufacture construction materials affect the environment by depleting natural resources, using energy, and releasing pollutants to the land, water. * Commercial exploitation of traditional building materials by various industries has aggravated the situation. It has, therefore, become necessary to think over this problem seriously and to provide some sustainable solution to make the alternative materials available to solve the housing problem. ## Advantages over Conventional Materials: 1. Better functional efficiency 2. Cost effectiveness 3. Better durability 4. Ease of construction 5. Better finish 6. Minimum waste 7. Less maintenance cost 8. Minimum defects 9. Less energy intensive ## List of Alternate Building Materials: * Hollow Concrete Block * Fly Ash Bricks * Rice Husk Ash * Ferrocement * Tire Veneer * Plastic Wood * Synthetic Fiber * Recycled Agg. * Fly Ash * Bamboo ## Hollow Concrete Block (as brick) A picture of a hollow concrete block is shown. Concrete block is primarily used as a building material in the construction of wall. It is sometimes called a concrete masonry unit (CMU). A concrete block is one of the several precast concrete products used in the construction. The term precast refers to the fact that the block are formed and hardened before they are brought to the job site. In use, concrete blocks are stacked one at a time and held together with fresh concrete mortar to form the desired length and height of the wall. ## Advantages * Low Maintenance. Color and brilliance of masonry withstands outdoor elements * Load Bearing, strength can be specified as per the requirement. * Fire Resistant. * Provide thermal and sound insulation: The air in the hollow of the block does not allow outside heat or cold in the house. So it keeps the house cool in summer and warm in winter. * Economical. * Environment Friendly, fly ash used as one of the raw materials. ## Fly Ash Bricks A picture of fly ash bricks is shown. Fly Ash bricks are made of fly ash, lime, gypsum, and sand. These can be extensively used in all building constructional activities similar to that of common burnt clay bricks. The fly ash bricks are comparatively lighter in weight and stronger than common clay bricks. ## Advantages * Saves Construction Cost: Due to the uniform shape and size of the fly ash brick, it saves labor in laying bricks by about 15%. This translates into a reduction in labor cost in laying each brick, which is quite substantial. * Less Water Seepage and Dampness in wall: Due to high strength and less water absorption of fly ash bricks there are less water seepage and dampness in walls of the building. * Less Energy Consumption: Huge Energy is consumed in heating clay bricks in kilns. By using fly ash bricks much energy is saved in brick manufacturing. * Reduction in Air Pollution: Much fossil fuel is used in heating clay bricks in kilns. Burning such fuel generates air pollution and greenhouse gas (CO2), contributing to global warming. ## Rice Husk Ash / Pozzolanas A picture of rice husk ash is shown. Pozzolanas are materials containing reactive silica and/or alumina, which in their own right have little binding ability. Yet, when mixed with lime and water it will set and harden like cement. They are important ingredients in alternative cement compounds. Rice husks are a large by-product - one ton is produced per five tons of rice paddies, and it is estimated that 120 million tons of husk could be available annually on a global basis. ## Advantages * Increased compressive and flexural strengths * Reduced permeability * Increased resistance to chemical attack * Increased durability * Reduced effects of alkali-silica reactivity * Reduced shrinkage due to particle packing, making concrete denser. * Enhanced workability of concrete * Reduced heat gain through the walls of buildings * Reduced amount of super plasticizer - Reduced potential for efflorescence due to reduced calcium hydracids. ## Ferrocement A picture of ferrocement used in a building is shown. The term ferrocement is most commonly applied to a mixture of Portland Cement and sand reinforced with layers of woven or expanded steel mesh and closely-spaced small-diameter steel rods rebar. It can be used to form relatively thin, compound curved sheets to make hulls for boats, shell roofs, water tanks, etc. When used in house construction in developing countries, it can provide better resistance to fire, earthquake, and corrosion than traditional materials, such as wood, adobe, and stone masonry. ## Advantages * Low construction material cost: Ferro-cement construction normally has the lowest material cost of any of the common vessel construction materials. Typically, the material cost in ferro-cement is about 30% to 50% of that for steel. * Ease of fairing during construction: The fairing of the hull form is done during the plastering stage of construction. This means that the hull framing does not have to be as accurate as may be required with other common construction materials. * Low ongoing maintenance: With proper design and construction, ferro-cement vessels require only minimal ongoing maintenance. If not being moved through the water, it does not even require antifouling. * Intrinsically safer in the event of grounding: When subjected to severe impact (e.g., grounding), ferro-cement does not tear like some other materials. The concrete cracks but remains mostly secured to the steel mesh substrata. This can restrict the amount of water that ingresses into the hull. * Long operational life: Well designed and built ferro-cement vessel has demonstrated that they have an extremely long economic life. Fifty years or more is not uncommon. ## Tire Veneer (as flooring material) A picture of a rubber tire veneer is shown. Rubber tires play an essential role in modern life. Tires are essential globally, at all levels of development. Millions are discarded annually as the wear out relatively fast – this product makes use of recycling the material into a usable material for various types of applications. ## Advantages * It is an environmentally responsive flooring material resilient both indoors and outdoors. * It can be used in areas such as sports and recreation, animal housing, and high traffic areas outdoors. * A variety of consumer products can be made such as vibration dampeners and furniture surfaces internally. ## Plastic Wood A picture of a house made from plastic wood is shown. It is made primarily from high-density polyethylene (HDPE), recovered from the waste stream mainly in the form of used milk containers or recovered plastic bags, and from wood wastes (often planer shavings) that have been ground to a fine powder. A 50:50 mixture of plastic and wood is common. Plastic wood is 100% recyclable made of recycled plastic. ## Advantages * 100% resistant to rot. * Impervious to cracking and splitting (with correct installation) * Environmentally friendly and requires less maintenance. * Waste plastic and wood is used for manufacturing. * All woods may check, split, cup, crook, twist, and warp, and weather over time to a grayish color. Treated wood exhibits long-term durability in a deck surface application, lasting as long, or longer, than naturally durable, untreated woods. ## Reinforced Fiber Concrete A picture of a concrete countertop with fiber material is shown. Fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) is concrete containing fibrous material which increases its structural integrity. It contains short discrete fibers that are uniformly distributed and randomly oriented. Fibers include steel fibers, glass fiber, synthetic fibers, and natural fibers. ## Advantages * Improve mix cohesion, improving pump ability over long distances. * Improve freeze-thaw resistance. * Improve resistance to explosive palling in case of a severe fire. * Improve impact resistance. * Increase resistance to plastic shrinkage during curing. * Improve structural strength and reduce crack widths and control the crack widths tightly, thus improve durability. * Reduce steel reinforcement requirements. * Improve ductility. ## Fly Ash A picture of fly ash is shown. * Cement Application - Pozzolanic Characteristics * Geotechnical Applications - Engineering Properties * Filling Applications - Near Inert Material * Ceramic Application - Morphological Properties * Agricultural Applications - Physical & Chemical Properties ## Advantages * Saves Construction Cost. * Reduction in Air Pollution. * Good Compaction. * High range of OMC. * High internal angle of friction. * Free draining (less interruption due to rain). * No large lumps to be broken (easy to spread). * Light in weight (can be used on weak sub-grades). ## Now: Low Cost Housing ### Rural House A picture of a small house is shown. The house which is to be constructed in rural or village area is called a rural house. The house can be made cheaply and more efficient with the use of new alternate materials. In rural house we can use the fly ash brick because it is cheaply available and has more strength. In a rural house, we can use mud plaster because it can resist the temperature variation with tensile property. ## Advantages * In this house, we can use the timber as beams and columns because it is easily available in rural areas and has more strength * Plastering can be done with the help of mud. * The construction of the house is very cheap. ### Prefabricated House A picture of a prefabricated house is shown. 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. ## Process of Prefabrication The conventional method of building a house is to transport bricks, timber, cement, steel, and construction aggregate, etc. to the site, and to construct the house on site from these materials. In prefabricated construction, only the foundations are constructed in this way, while sections of walls, floors, 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. 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. ## Advantages * Self-supporting ready-made components are used, so the need for formwork, shuttering, and scaffolding is greatly reduced. * Construction time is reduced, and buildings are completed sooner, allowing an earlier return of the capital invested. * On-site construction and congestion is minimized. * Quality control can be easier in a factory assembly line setting than a construction site setting. * Prefabrication can be located where skilled labour is more readily available, and costs of labour, power, materials, space, and overheads are lower. ## Advantages Contd... * Time spent in bad weather or hazardous environments at the construction site is minimized. * 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. * Moulds can be used several times. ## Cost Reduction Areas There are different methods from which cost can be reduced. They give the same advantage - i.e. strength while we reduce the cost. Some of them are: * Plinth * Walling * Doors & Windows * Lintel ### Plinth It is suggested to adopt 1 ft. height above ground level for the plinth and may be constructed with a cement mortar of 1:6. The plinth slab of 4" to 6", which is normally adopted, can be avoided and in its place brick on edge can be used for reducing cost. By adopting this procedure, the cost of plinth foundation can be reduced to about 35 to 50%. ### Walling In view of high energy consumption by burnt brick, it is suggested to use concrete block, which consumes about only 1/3rd of the energy of burnt bricks in its production, and wall thickness can be reduced from 20 cm to 15 cm. Concrete block masonry saves mortar consumption. Speedy construction of wall results in higher output of labour. Plastering can be avoided, thereby an overall saving of 10 to 25% can be achieved. ### Doors & Windows It is suggested not to use wood for doors & windows and in its place, concrete or steel section frames shall be used for achieving savings in cost upto 30 to 40%. Similarly, for shutters commercially available block boards, fiber or wooden practical boards, etc, shall be used for reducing the cost by about 25%. ### Lintel The traditional RCC lintels which are costly can be replaced by brick arches for small spans and save construction cost upto 30 to 40% over the traditional method of construction. By adopting arches of different shapes, a good architectural pleasing appearance can be given to the external wall surface of the brick. ## Conclusion * The demand for building materials has been continuously rising with the increasing need for housing both in rural and urban areas. * Selecting environmentally attractive materials with reduced environmental impacts is primarily achieved through the practice of resource conservation and selection of non-toxic materials. * The resources used to manufacture construction materials affect the environment by depleting natural resources, using energy, and releasing pollutants to the land, water. * Commercial exploitation of traditional building materials by various industries has aggravated the situation. It has, therefore, become necessary to think over this problem seriously, and to provide some sustainable solution to make the alternative materials available to solve the housing problem. ## Conclusion Contd... * A review of the recent trends indicates that the growth in the area of building materials covers emerging trends and latest developments in the use of wastes, mineral admixtures in cement and concrete, substitutes to conventional timber, composite materials and recycling of wastes, at the same time ensuring desired response of materials to fire, long term performance and durability. * The most important feature governing the choice of material & form of construction for any component is its structural integrity. Whereas high specific strength and lightweight were often the dominant criteria to be achieved, particularly for aerospace applications, there is today an increasing emphasis on other criteria such as environmental durability, embedded energy, fire resistance. ## 4E's Principle has been followed: * Efficiency * Economical * Energy Conservative * Eco-friendly