Builderz Focus

INTRODUCTION One of the important components of the building especially for those with more than one floor levels or building constructed at height is stairs . Stairs are building components which allow building users or households to move from one floor level to the other, so it is connector or communication path between floors or levels. Stairs are composed with series of steps at certain inclination angle to allow vertical movements inside and outside the building. Types of Stairs   Stairs can be classified into number of types as depending on its architectural design inside the building, the followings are some types of stairs that can be found in different buildings. Main parts of stairs . The following are standard requirements for each stair component, so as to have comfort and serviceable stair. Landing , this is horizontal slab between two or more  flights, which  is used as resting or changing in direction point. Riser , t is the vertical portion of step, wher...

WHAT IS FILL? First of all we need to understand the term  fills as used in construction industry. Fills these are earthen materials that are used to artificially raise the existing ground to a required level these can be dirty fill (soil fill), aggregates, rocks or crushed paved blocks. Hardcore fill Used as road bed to reduce capillary rise of water. USES 1. They are used to fill a dug hole or depression. 2. They are used to raise the existing ground level to a required one e.g fills in low laying grounds, fills as road layers. Soil Fill used as a road subgrade layer WHY WE NEED TO KNOW HOW TO CALCULATE ITS VOLUME PRIOR AND DURING CONSTUCTION 1. Help in preparation the unit cost of materials that used in determination of unit rate of work during bidding a tender. 2.Help to know number of trucks required to bring fill to site. 3. Help to amount of material required for a unit work during construction at site. HOW TO CALCULATE REQUIRED MATERIALS 1. Knowing important data In fill ma...

HOW TO CALCULATE AMOUNT OF  MORTAR  PER S.Q.M FOR BLOCK WALL The amount of cement paste required as mortar per square meter can be calculated through the following steps 1.       Knowing the dimension of the blocks to be used for construction. Here, let’s say we use the cement concrete block of size 150 x230 x450 where by 150 s the thickness of the wall. These dimension s (all dimension are in mm) help to find the area of one block forming wall surface as follows Area of one block = 230 x 450                              = 103,500mm 2 2.        Knowing the new dimension of blocks with cement mortar. New dimension of concrete block means the height and length of a block with the thickness of mortar which is 15m, then the new height id 245mm and new length is 265mm Fr...

DO YOU KNOW STEEL IS MEASURED IN MM BUT ORDERED IN KG? Steels or rebars for reinforced concrete are measured in mm from drawing and recorded in Bar Bending Schedule (BBS). Example of B.B.S Do you ever think how it is converted into kilograms or tonnes, as it is written or filled in Bill of Quantity (BOQ)? Example of B.O.Q  There is a simple formula that is used for steels or rebars conversion from mm into kg (D 2 /162), This is important as always we fill B.O.Q and ordering steel in terms of kilograms or tonne. This formula used to find the weight of steels per length measured, Therefore, Quantity in Kg/m = D 2 /162, where "D" is the diameter of steel in mm. For example If we have 106m of 12mm steel from structural drawing and BBS and we want to fill this quantity into B.O.Q we have to convert it into KG. Soln Quantity of steel per meter = D 2 /162              ...

1. PLASTER WORK ESTIMATION A man is plastering a  brick wall  The amount of cement mortar required for 1m 2 coverage on wall for a plaster work. Let the thickness of the plaster for one coat external rendering be 15mm. The volume of a plaster per square meter is given as shown below Volume = 1m x 1m 0.015m             = 0.015m 3 The dry volume of cement mortar for plaster can be calculated as follows Dry volume = Wet volume x Wet to dry conversion factor (1.25 - 1.3)                     = 0.015 x 1.30                    = 0.0195m 3 The mortar constituents can be calculated based on the cement sand mix ratio for example in our calculation we will use mix ratio 1:4 (cement: san...

DRAWINGS USED IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION Construction drawing is the general term used for drawings that form part of the production information that is incorporated into tender documentation and then the contract documents for the construction works. This means they have legal significance and form part of the agreement between the employer and the contractor. The main purpose of construction drawings is to provide a graphic representation of what is to be built. Construction drawings should be concise and coordinated to avoid, wherever possible, ambiguity and confusion. Delays and misunderstandings can be minimized by properly coordinating the drawings. Specifications will detail the materials, standards, techniques, and so on required to carry out the works. Construction drawings provide the graphical representation, indicating the arrangement of components, detailing and dimensions and so on. They may sometimes contain some of the information set...

The number of blocks required for wall can be calculated from the area of the wall which will be constructed by the block of certain size. The mean girth of the simple obtained as calculated from previous post is 28.85m The common (standard) size of the conc. block is 150 x 230 x 450; the wall length (mean girth) of building is multiplied by the height of the walls to find the total  surface area of wall, for a wall of height 2.8m with the opening as shown in the table below The table below shows windows and doors schedule for doors and windows used   Schedule for windows used PORTIONS WIDTH(m) HEIGHT(m) NUMBER(m) AREA(m 2 ) A 1.50 1.50 3 6.75 B 1.50 1.50 2 4.50 C 0.7 0.7 1 0.49 1.00 1.50 1 1.50 D 1.50 1.50 1 2.25 1.00 1.50 1 1.50 Total Area of All Wind...