P.L.

C STATE UNIVERSITY OF PERFORMING AND VISUAL ARTS, ROHTAK

“DEPARTMENT OF URBAN PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE”

ASSIGNMENT -2

What are the Natural materials & Man made

materials in construction of Low Cost
Housing? Do the comparative analysis and
cost analysis of both ?

Submitted to- Submitted by-

Ar vijay prakash Amit chopra
16040101
Low Cost Housing Materials
Low cost Housing materials can be broadly classified into natural materials
and manmade materials according to the source of the building materials.
Building materials - Natural materials, Man-made material

• Natural materials : Mud, stone, sand, wood, lime, asbestos and

leaves.

Man-made materials: Cement, brick, tiles, metal, glass and plastic.

Natural materials
Mud
• It is the most commonly used material in
the house construction. Ever since man
felt the necessity of a house, mud is
widely used.
• Its main features are as follows.
• Abundantly available natural material.
• Cost is cheap.
• Easily made and repaired.
• Sufficiently lasting.
• Maintain equitable temperature both in
winter and summer.
• Highly useful for low-income people. The
use of mud mixed with chopped straw and
cow dung helps for coating the inner and
outer walls of the house. A thin coating of
mud and cement maintain the surface in a
good condition.

Stone
Stone is a natural material of construction and is
obtained from quarries.
Since prehistoric days, it has been used for
constructing different components of buildings
like foundation, walls, lintels, floors, roofs etc.

• The stones used for foundation and walls

should be sound and free from cracks and
decay.
• Stones of different forms such as granite,
marble, slate, sandstone and limestone are
commonly used as building materials.
• Waxing and polishing make them more
attractive. Gravel which are stones not larger
than 2cms is essentially needed for building.
• Care should be taken in using proper sizes of
stones and correct inter locking in the width
of walls.
Sand
• It consists of small grains of silica
and is formed by the disintegration
of rocks caused by weather. Sand
should have the following qualities.
• It is hard, durable, clean, free from
organic matter and does not contain
appreciable amount of clay.
• It does not contain harmful
impurities such as iron pyrites,
salts, coal, mica, alkaline or other
materials, which will affect
hardening.

Wood
Wood is the nature's most abundant
useful building material. It is
comparatively inexpensive, strong,
durable and easy to work. Mainly wood
is used for paneling, ceiling, roofing,
partitions, doors, windows and for
making veneers and plywood.

Plywood is made of odd number of

woodpiles or layers laminated with
plastic resins under high temperature
and pressure. It is used for doors,
cupboards and decorative paneling.

Deodar, teak, mango, jack, toon,

mahogany and bamboo are some of the
common Indian timber trees used for
building purposes.
 Lime
• Lime has been used as a cementing material since time immemorial.
• In India till recently, lime has been extensively used for all types of
construction purposes.
• Big palaces, forts, monuments, temples, bridges that were constructed
centuries back and that are still existing in good condition substantiate that
the use of lime for constructional purposes had reached perfection in the
past. Egyptian and Romans made extensive use of lime. Even tough
cement has replaced the use of lime.
• Lime mortars have some advantageous properties like good workability,
plasticity, less shrinkage on drying and durability.
• Lime is cheaper and easily available.

Asbestos
• It is available in nature as a mineral in
Marwar , Garhwal (Uttar pradesh) and
Bhandra in Madhyapradesh.
• It is silicate of calcium and magnesium
found in the form of very thin fibres
which are elastic and capable of being
woven into fabrics.
• It can withstand high temperature and
acids without any change.
• It is used for roof, bathroom doors and
partitions.
• However it is not advisable to use
asbestos as a roofing material
essentially in our country since they
transfer heat.

Leaves
Grass, palm leaves and palmyrah
leaves are used for roof structure.
They are temporary and highly
inflammable.
Man-made Materials
Cement
Cement should be used for the purpose of durability and strength of
buildings. It has the quality to bind together loose particles of gravel,
broken stones or other aggregates.

Its quick setting property, strength and ease with which it can be used
under variety of conditions has revolutionized the concept of construction.
Hence it has become the most popular cementing material. Concrete is a
building material made by mixing cement, sand, gravel and water, which
becomes rockhard, when dry and set.

Brick
It is the most extensively used construction material because it is locally
available, cheap, strong, and durable and it has the good insulating
property against heat and sound. It can be moulded to any shape or size.

Tiles
Tiles used for construction are of different types such as flooring tiles,
country tiles and marble tiles. The Country tiles and

Metals
Metals and their alloys are the backbones of all engineering products used for
construction. Metals used for construction can be classified in to two categories.
Ferrous metals wherein iron is the main constituent. (e.g.) Cast iron, wrought iron
and steel.
Non-Ferrous metals wherein iron is not the main constituent. (e.g.) Aluminium,
Copper, zinc, lead and tin.

Iron and steel occupy the most important place in the construction of huge structures.
Steel is produced by combining iron and carbon chemically, heating it to red-hot and
cooling it suddenly. Steel is used as reinforcement in reinforced cement concrete.

Metal have great tensile strength and are lighter than wood. Metals are both
malleable (Capable of being beaten into any shape or rolled into sheets) and ductile
(Capable of being drawn into wires of variable thickness).
Glass
Glass has been extensively used for glazing
doors and windows, for insulation and for
decoration. Rapid advances in glass technology
have opened up new avenues for its use.

Glass plate is heated and then suddenly cooled

to temper it. This tempered glass is much
stronger and is used for glazing entrance doors,
or in making table tops, shelves, counters, etc.
Glasses are also used for sound proof
partitions.

Plastics

Plastic have become a versatile material of

modern times. Plastics are available in a variety
of forms to suit varied requirements. It is fast
replacing many conventional materials like
timber, aluminium etc. Plastics are used in
electric and sanitary fittings like electric points,
switches, holders, insulators, water closet seats
and domestic furniture.

While selecting the building materials, the

following factors are to be considered:
Utility
Ease of maintenance
Durability
Availability
Process of installation
Cost
Family's taste and preference
Fashions of the present day.
THE TRADITIONAL CONSTRUCTION
METHODS
• Foundation: Foundation is the lowest part of the
structure which is provided to distribute loads to the
soil thus providing base for the super-structure.
• Excavation work is first carried out, then earth-work
is filled with available earth and ends with watering
and compaction in a 6” thick layer.
• Cement concrete: Plain cement concrete is used to
form a leveled surface on the excavated soil. The
volumetric concrete mix proportion of 1:4:8 (cement:
sand: aggregate), with a 6” thick layer for masonry
foundation and column footings is used.
• Plain cement concrete is finished on the excavated
soil strata and mixed by manual process.
• Wall construction: Size stone masonry for foundation
is constructed for outer walls and burnt brick
masonry of a 9” thick layer for main walls and a 4 ½”
thick layer for all internal walls. Good quality table-
moulded bricks are used for the construction.
• Reinforced cement concrete slab and beam: The
normal procedure to cast reinforced cement
concrete slab is to make shuttering and provide
reinforcement and concreting. Good steel or
plywood formwork is used, with proper cover blocks
between bars. Both aggregate and sand used are
clean, with aggregate being ¾” graded. After the
concrete is poured, it is properly consolidated.
• Plastering: Plastering is used for the ceiling, inside
and outside walls. Joints are raked before plastering
and proper curing is ensured. y
• Flooring: For the flooring purpose, the earth is
properly filled and consolidated in the ratio of 1:4:8
(cement: sand: aggregate) concrete.
• Plumbing: Good quality plumbing materials are used
and passed hydraulic test before using it.
• Painting and finishing: Before the painting process,
surface is prepared with putty and primer and a
ready-made paint is used.
LOW COST CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGIES

It is found that cost-effective and alternative construction

technologies, which apart from reducing construction cost by the
reduction of quantity of building materials through improved and
innovative techniques, can play a great role in providing better
housing methods and protecting the environment. It should be noted
that cost-effective construction technologies do not compromise
with safety and security of the buildings .
• foundation Arch foundation is used in which walls are supported
on the brick or stone masonry. For the construction of the
foundation, the use of available materials such as brick or concrete
blocks can be made to resist lateral forces buttresses at the corner.
• Walling: Rat trap bond technology is used in the case study. It is
an alternative brick bonding system for English and Flemish Bond.
• Roofing: A filler slab roofing system is used which based on the
principle that for roofs which are simply supported, the upper part
of the slab is subjected to compressive forces and the lower part of
the slab experience tensile forces
• Flooring: Flooring is generally made of terracotta tiles or color
oxides. Bedding is made out of broken brick bats. Various patterns
and designs are used, depending on shape, size of tiles, span of
flooring, and client’s personal preference. y
• Plastering: Plastering can be avoided on the walls, frequent
expenditure on finishes and its maintenance is avoided. Properly
protected brick wall will never loose its color or finish.
• Doors and windows: As door and window frames are
responsible for almost half the cost of timber used, avoiding
frames can considerably reduce timber cost.
• A simplest frameless window consists of a vertical plank of about
9” wide set into two holes, one at the top and one at the bottom.
This forms a simple pivotal window. Wide span windows can be
partially framed and fixed to walls or can have rows of pivotal
planks
Cost analysis of the traditional construction methods and the
low cost housing technologies

Table 2: Cost analysis of the traditional construction methods and the low
cost housing technologies used in the case studies for 1m3 of roofing
 CONCLUSION
• The dream of owning a house particularly for low-income
and middle-income families is becoming a difficult reality.
• It is necessary to adopt cost effective, innovative and
environment-friendly housing technologies for the
construction.
• This paper examined the cost effectiveness of using low
cost housing technologies in comparison with the
traditional construction methods.
• Two case studies in India were conducted.
• It was found that about 26.11% and 22.68% of the
construction cost, including material
• labour cost, can be saved by using the low cost housing
technologies in comparison with the traditional
construction methods for walling and roofing respectively.
• This proves the benefits and the trends for implementing
low cost housing technologies in the industry.