Low cost construction & housing ideas (first draft, needs refinements)

There are lot of talk on housing (check the background list)

Please watch this talk Life is easy. Why do we make it so hard? Jon Jand…: http://youtu.be/21j_OCNLuYg

Please read the holistic issues around housing
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/implement/phsyical-social-environment/housing-quality/main


 The objective I would like to achieve are

Vision:

a) Aim '0' material cost, if not aim for minimal amount on material.
b) Aim design assistance so, labor cost can be reduced.
c) Build Rurual Infrastructure like schools, Roads and Pavements with 'Do It Your Self" Ideas and designs, so that villagers can develop their places on their own.
d) Build volunteer brigade to engage in rural infrastructure/training and as hobby and thereby contribute to nation building.

Objective:

To achieve the vision, I feel a series of steps are required. Most important I can think of them are..

a) Make cost vs benefit analysis for 20% of the material that is contributing to 80% of cost. Do this analysis with alternate options possible. Every owner should understand this data and make conscious choices, So he is justified in the value & benefit he derives. This will enhance the satisfaction of the owners.
b) Come up with open source collection of design choices for low cost housing. Also launch community based, assistance service. This assistance is social & voluntary man power contributed. The help ranges from Design, documentation, process & legal consultations. Volunteers can assist in house building labor as a hobby (like in west!).

Important candidates

1) Design

2) Gabion walls 

3) Plastic wrapped mud blocks

Practical Ideas

1) Good is good enough. While mud buildings, lime building have withstood for centuries, concrete buildings are collapsing in ones life time itself. Burdening owner with wrong choices is inflating construction prices. First step is to do right fitment. In rural areas construction can be horizontal, rather than vertical. For ex, a school, which is one floor can manage without pillars or concrete ceilings.
2) Mud block housing. Explore effective anti-insect and worm (especially geddalu) mixes to weed off the fear in choosing  mud blocks in construction. Popularize  interlocking mud blocks. Use design concepts of locking bricks to avoid cement as brick binders and to reduce construction time and enhance precision quality.
3) Come up with waste plastic recycling ideas. For ex. can we make shrink wrapping of mud blocks with waste plastic covers? The plastic disintegration takes 100s of years. As it is concealed and avoids sun, life is really long.  Wrapped mud block will be more resistant to water. Wrapping also helps in wastage reduction during handling.
4) Similar to plastic, can waste tyres can be encapsulated in cement-glass mixture to prepare roof tiles? The tyres are excellent water proofing material. It can reduces the weight of roofing, there by reducing load bearing capacity needed on wall.
5) Look at alternate options for plastering and painting.
6) Look at ideas that cut down labor hours, by better design and planning. I feel this can reduce cost of construction by 20%.
7) Popularize construction from container blocks for temporary housing. Rental models can be derived. This can address capacity issues for travel & leisure industry(seasonal necessity), Office for start up companies.. Farm houses ....etc...
8) Explore use of plastic bottles to create green houses. Really helps farmers.

9) Explore options to use vegitable binders (like rain tree pods) for stabilisation. Use plastic to wrap and avoid detoriation!
10) Explore fortified (Mixture of sand and sea shells) mud blocks for rural road construction
11) Come up with associated engineering designs for air conditioning, water circulation, water purification, electricity generation, rain water harvesting etc..
  a) Wind power can be employed for circulating water. This enables rain water circulation for purification an cooling the house
  b) Water can be used in hollow pillars. This increases water storage space and strength of pillar
 c) Slanting Solar paneling can help to reduce effect of water and sun on roofing and also provide electricity
 d) small scale bio-digester can provide waste disposal and additional fuel for cooking
 e) Automated green houses on roofs can provide vegetables and reduce heat and water effect on roofing

12) Gabion walls can be a good idea for fencing, house compound construction etc. This can be used in rural road construction also (it avoids concrete). Gabion walls can be used to reuse - demolished concrete structures). River side boulders can be used. If boulders are constly or not available, mud blocks rolled in cement can be used as filling material. See video link in background material.

13) Explore usage of nylon netting or jute netting. These netting can act as fibrous material to hold mud blocks and increase strength. Enclosed nylon brings long life.
14) Evaluate fiberglass and cement boards to reduce weight, where real concrete constructions are not required. How to surface them, so that the exterior get long life against sun and water
15) Terracota items. How to train villagers, so they can make their own piping for water and seweage

Rural Infrastructure

1) Develop technology such that, roads, check dams, farm fencing can be done using local materials. The Do It yourself, technology should help villagers to develop rural infrastructure on their own. If they do it on their own, they can repair it on their own. Many villages doesnot need tar/concrete roads. The infrastructure required could be like European cobbler stone roads (see picture)

Background material

1) Nice write up on low cost housing -> http://www.deccanherald.com/content/248463/low-cost-high-quality.html
2) Container construction -> http://expand-isbu.com.au/residential-single.html
3) Alternative to cement ->  http://www.sheltercentre.org/sites/default/files/PA_AlternativesPortlandCement.pdf
4)  Effect of using fly ash with cement -> http://www.ijert.org/download/7669/effect-of-partial-replacement-of-cement-by-fly-ash-with-using-nylon-fiber-in-concrete-paver-block
5)  3 day house construction using pre-cast material -> http://rajan-c-mathew.blogspot.in/2013/05/low-cost-pre-fabricated-houses.html
6) Interlocking bricks ->
 a)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY_5wkQRqEo
 b) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipozUYLy-BE
 c) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYErEl-PfTs ->

( I have an idea to combine these three with plastic )

7) Is Interlocking bricks stronger -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqgxTjGl-AU
8) strong structure from interlocking bricks -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAO01YfHADg
9) Interlocking brick making machine (manual) -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pk1MsZTDiU
10) How to build block wall without mortar -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAswNJyZjvM
11) Waste bottle construction, for compound walls -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqGSbnpsmio
12) 5L budget house plans -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCglA50tjOs
13) How self interlocking bricks increases productivity -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUGU_nCHvVI
14) $ 2000 (approx. 1Lakh) costing shipping containers are converted in to nice luxurious houses. Some adopted designs can make it possible to construct sub 5L houses in India -> http://awareness-time.com/a-shipping-container-costs-about-2000-what-these-15-people-did-with-that-is-beyond-epic/
15) In-situ pavement construction -> https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=639768112845114
16) Pavement laying with automation -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLDP6s5FPCk
17) School using reusable plastic bottles -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPxXH7rCSHQ
18) Gabion walls (meshed walls with boulders). avoids cement -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFjEWnA3Mtc
19) How to make pavement -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhpjkIf2GXQ
20) One old lady building patio & fire place with little help -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuOUKo5wS54
21) Cobblerstone pavement -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr6W2wycktM
22) Designer Cobbler stone laying -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mYAahqczOA
23) Epoxy resin for filling cobbler stones (2 people doing a circle) -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6hges7Ru-A
24) Artificial brick work look, no painting, exposed surface (material for plastering to avoid paint work) -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iiMFEkMoYU
25) plastic and coir fibers to reinforce mud blocks study papers -> http://www.researchgate.net/publication/267924726_STABILIZED_LATERITIC_BLOCKS_REINFORCED_WITH_FIBROUS_COIR_WASTES
26) IISC brochure on mud blocks (CST) ->  http://www.cst.iisc.ernet.in/Pages/Recent/cst_brochure.pdf
27) Plant based stabilizer commercially available (brand name stabilizer solutions Inc - http://www.stabilizersolutions.com) -> http://www.slideshare.net/sportechnic/stabilizer-101227102055phpapp01
28) About Mud Blocks and Chitra Vishveshwaran  -> https://biomearchitects.wordpress.com/page/3/

Understanding soil is only half the stor(e)y! Soil, a composition of sand,silt and clay(along with impurities and organic matter) is available in abundance in shades ranging from white to the seldom preffered black(cotton soil)…but experts say “it deosn’t matter if its black or white”for colour is not a reliable indicator of its strength.Clay is the active material, exhibiting a variety of moods-swelling,shrinking,cracking,depending on her relationship with water. Sand and silt are rather inert with no cohesive property.Because of this neutral behaviour,a high(atleast 70%)sand content is preferred.
To understand the percentage of sand in a particular sample,we take a known quantity
of soil and seive it in a 75micron mesh. The passing through mischief makers are clay and silt.Weighing the sand retained on top will give us the percentage. Once sand content is adjusted to 70%(by addition of quarry dust or sand),cement or lime is used as stabiliser.

Stabilised mud by definition is”mud which does not soften due to action of H2O,by use of a small quantity of binding agent.” Now the homogenous mixture(of soil+quarry dust+stabiliser)has to be compacted to increase density by applying pressure to soil in a mould which produces SMB(stabilised mud block).Alternately soil can be rammed
on site in a mould.These mud blocks undergo a crucial test(the wet compressive strength test).Its soaked in H2O for 48hrs and then tested by placing it in a machine and applying load.
Once crushing strength is determined, and blocks are certified satisfactory,they are ready for laying with composite mortar(cement+soil+quarry dust-1:2:3 ratio). These walls have to be well protected from rain.A good plinth level and overhangs will do the job in most cases. for the paranoid, a protective(silicone compound)coating should suffice.

29)  Enzyme stabilized Earth, no cement used example (Indian Company) : http://www.slideshare.net/BoronInno/boro-zyme-b-dbv1-concept-presentation-bricks-house
30) How to test suitability of mud for construction ->  http://www.archinomy.com/case-studies/712/mud-architecture-construction-details-and-techniques