APPROPRIATE BUILDING MATERIAL TECHNOLOGIES
V.T.L. BOGAHAWATTE
National Building Research Oqptisation
9911, Jawatte Road
Colombo 5.
Housing is a high-priority area for all countries in the ?Towever, in recent times production of such materials
world. Population growth, urbanisation and the growth has not kept pace, with the increased demand of the
of insanitary dwellings all emphasise the urgency of the construction industry. This has led to the importation of
problem. raw materials, products and components resulting in a
considerable drain of valuable foreign exahange. Also,
The building materials industry plays a key role in solving the indiscriminate use of new and imported materials
economic and social objectives of housing since nearly with scant attention to their quality, performance and
50 per cent of the investment in the construction sector application probably made their optimisation less im-
is on building materials and components. In order that portant. In Sri Lanka, Portland cement is predominantly
the housing problems are solved in a practical way, it is used in low-strength applications, for foundations, plas-
necessary to adopt local materials and construction tech- ters and mortars. This wrong application of Portland
nologies that will minimise the use of scarce national cement escalates the cost of construction. The degree to
resources such as capital and energy. The local con- which Portland cement is wrongly applied in construc-
struction industry must recognise that the problems can- tion has reached alarming proportions, and it is esti-
not be solved by a quick recipe but instead requires mated that only 20 per cent of the worldwide use of
inter-disciplinary interaction among engineers, re- cement requires the strength of Portland cement (Jour-
searchers, architects, planners and builders. A multifac- nal of the Network, 1989). Furthermore, some of the
eted approach involving (1) indigenous building imported building materials such as asbestos and corru-
materials, technical knowledge and skills (2) promotion gated iron roofing sheets are unaffordable to the vast
of labour iatensive 'hechnologiesand (3) the development majority of the rural population.
of national policies and fiance mechanisms is required.
Finally, the spectrum of human settlement problems The use of timber adds another dimension to the prob-
must be addressed ranging from research and develop- lem. Our forest resources are dwindling at an alarming
ment on building materials, development of a viable rate. But first class timber species are still the prime
building industry base, entrepreneurship and social and commodities in wnstruction. The selection and use of
functionalaspects of low-cost housing. secondary and less durable timber species for building
are issues of utmost importance. The question that now
Choice of Building Materials arises is how appropriate is the choice of building mate-
rials.
Cement with its inherent advantagessuch as better bind-
ing properties, early strength development and availabii- The Searckfor a Solution
ity in ready to use condition became the obvious choice
during the last few decades. This has led to the decline In order to overcome the problems createti by the over-
of the use of traditional meterials such as earth, lime- dependence on cement and other imported building
stone and rubble. The establishmentof the steel industry materials, the production and application strategy of our
based on imported raw materials too had been contrib- building materials need to be redesigned. A number of
utory to this development. alternatives exist, some of which have been adopted in
other developing countries where socio-economic con- NERDC, IDB, NHDA and some national universities)
ditions are not too dissimilar to Sri Lanka. In summary, and abroad to improve the quality of building materials
these may be grouped as follows: tradition* used in housing construction. Some o: the
materials developed which are of immediate relevance
(1) Rationalisation on the production and use of ce- to Sri Lanka in view of their local availability as well as
ment, the relative simplicity and convenience of their process-
ing and application are outlined below.
(2) Production of blended cements with OPC and
other cementitious materials produced from clays (1) Lime-Based Cementing Materials
and agricultural and industrial waste.
Portland cement could be partidy replaced by lime-poz-
(3) Adoption of other appropriate building materials zolana mixtures. Technology for producing these mate-
and construction technologies such as rials L relatively simple, and can be used on a very small
scale. The pomlanas for lime-based cements may be
- use of bricks and blocks either natural or artificial. The fist group includes
among others siliceous and opaline shales. It is probable
- fibre reinforced concrete that such materials exist in Sri Lanka. Among artificial
pozzolanas the most common is calcined clay. Finally,
(4) Development of lime-based biders and products the ash from burnt rice husks, dried banana leaves z ~ d
sugar cane stalks have also shown good pozzolanic activ-
ity.
Traditional Materials
The technology used to produce artificial pozzolanas in
The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) its simplest form involves activating clay by firing to the
conducted an islandwide survey on rural housing in 19%. appropriate temperature followed by mixing and grind-
This survey rsvealed that earth (61.8%), burnt clay bricks ing with lime. The method of manufacture augurs well
(16.2%), rubble (8.1%), cement products (4.8%), with the rural development programmes of Sri Lanka.
cabook (4.1%), timber and other materials (4.6%) are
the materials used in superstruture walls of rural houses. (2) Soil Stabilisation
Earth construciion was mainly in the form of wattle and
daub (50.4%) with rammed earth (8.4%) and adobe Hand operated. blockmaking machines which can be
(r.696) confined to certain areas of the country. fabricated at a cost of about Rs. 7503/= have beer
developed for the production of cement or lime-
As regards roofing material, cadjan is the most popular stabilised soil blocks (NBRO, NHDA). Cured blocks
with 42.6% of the housing units using it as the prime give a compressive strength of about 2.8 Nmm * 2, which
material. Straw and palmyrah thatching have been wed is adequate for the construction of most single storey
in 4.1% and 1.6% houses respectively. Clay tiles consti- houses. However, greater attention is required in the
tute 33.8% of the houses while 10.8% houses are roofed evaluation of soils for blockmaking.
with corrugated sheets (Rural Housing Survey, 1984).
(3) Blended Cement
The majority of urban houses have brick walls (82%;
tiled roof cover (47.7%) and cement floors (78%) (Hous- Blended cement is a mixture of Portland cement clinl.e;
ing in Sri Lanka, 1976). together with active or inactive material ground fireiy to
produe the required cement. This 'ype af cement is
Appropriate Materials-Improvements through Rand D being produced in many countries all over the world.
Different materials being added are sand, rlce husk ash,
Considerable research and development work has been slag and a variety of industrial wastes. Research is un-
done in a number of institutions in Sri Lanka (NBRO, derway at the NBRO.
(4) Secondary Species of Timber tions of manufacture. The sheets can be used for semi-
permanent roofs in the same way as asbestos-cement
esearch on extending the life of non-durable timber spe- sheets. The production of sheets on a self-help basis on
cies through proper seasoning and chemical treatement the site probably makes it a viable product.
have heen undertaken at the NBRO. A solar seasoning
kiln has been developed in which timber has been suc-
cessfully seasoneci eliminating the use of fuel for steam
seasoning. 1. Housing in Sri Lanka, Marga Xese~reEStudiesd,
Marga Publication, 1976.
(5) Coir Fibre Roofing Sheets
2. Journal of the ~ e k o r kVol.
, 1, No. i, April 1989.
The tec5nology of production of coir fibre cement UNCHSICSC Publication.
bonded ioofing sheets has been perfected in many local
institutions (NBRO, IDB, Moratuwa University). The 3. Rural Housing Survey, NBRO Publication, 1984.
cost effectiveness f the material depends on the condi-
