Building a house? Always play by the rules

Once you have finalised the city and the locality where you want to settle down, purchased the plot and hired the services of an architect to prepare plans and drawings and be with you throughout the construction, it's time to concentrate on the house plan and further aspects of construction. In addition to the guidelines mentioned in the last column, here are a few more one should stick to…

Finalise house plan carefully

Once the construction starts, it's very difficult to make changes in the plan. Therefore, finalise the plan carefully. Work out your requirements and tell the architect who will present a few options before you. Take your time and examine the plan at different time intervals and discuss it in the family. Visit the houses of friends and note the points that appeal to you. You may not have noted these earlier but would now register in your mind. Look for openness and opt for lesser rooms than squeezing their size. Don't sacrifice bathrooms' size. Look for a bedroom in front with a large window through which you may see the main gate of the house. Keep two entries from the front.

Welcome light and ventilation

Always allow natural light and fresh air to flow in. Houses that remain dark during the day are neither healthy nor attractive. Large-sized windows not only usher in light and air but look attractive and trendy also. Choose to provide large-sized windows with fixed as well as openable parts. Provide large-sized fixed glass panels with toughened glass. Choose to have window grills, though the trend is to avoid them. 

Ensure there’s no dampness

Often, the house builders are distressed at the dampness they note in lower portions of the walls after some years of construction. It makes the paint come off the walls and doesn't go despite repeated coatings of waterproof materials. This dampness rises through capillary action from the foundations due to defective damp proof course laid over them. Defective damp proof course doesn't act as an impervious layer. Any cracks in it during construction or afterwards make way for the moisture to rise. Therefore, always take extra precaution in providing vertical and horizontal damp proof course and plaster on foundations below plinth level to ensure zero rise of moisture to walls. 

Avoid unsupported heights

 Brickwork in walls is started after the laying of damp proof course on foundations. Here, take care that all walls are raised together and any single wall is not raised beyond one meter without support. Such an unsupported wall, not meeting the cross walls, will have the tendency to collapse when wind velocity is high. Ask the contractor and masons to follow the rule.

Go for stable scaffolding

As the height of walls is gained, scaffolding has to be erected along the walls to create platforms for working at heights. Ensure the use of pipes and clamps instead of wooden verticals to raise the scaffolding. Clamps can hold the vertical and horizontal pipes tightly while wooden verticals are to be tied with rope that may give way. Take care that each pipe is erected securely on firm ground, preferably by using bottoms providing larger base area of 4 inch x 4 inch to each pipe. Avoid resting the ladders along freshly raised walls as brickwork may not have gained enough strength. Make proper arrangement for stepping off the ladder on to the platform or slab at the top.

Slab safety most crucial

 Once the walls have been raised to slab level, arrangements for laying the RCC slab are to be made. House builders consider the laying of the slab as a major event in the construction of house and attach maximum importance to it. Equivalent importance should be attached to its safety also. Supports for shuttering should be provided at close intervals and if vertical pipes are used, these must be firmly erected on firm ground. These days, a practice of using girders to support the shuttering continues unabatedly, though it weakens the masonry in courses just below the slab level as girders are supported on newly erected walls. Never fill packing material between a support and shuttering plate to fill the gap. Seal the shuttering joints completely against leakage of cement slurry to keep it strong and to avoid its failure due to less quantity of cement retained in it.

 — The writer is former HOD and Engineer-in-Chief, Civil Engineering Department in a Punjab PSU

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Don’t violate bylaws

Never violate building bylaws. Make that clear to the architect. Having peace of mind is better than having extra floor coverage in front and back. Large violations result in the non-issuance of completion plan by the authority concerned. Avoid the tendency to extend the building line beyond the permissible limit. Take care of the window and roof projections; these must not exceed dimensions in the bylaws. A good architect can produce a beautiful and artistic building plan without violating the byelaws. He will also advise you against unreasonable temptations.