Basic Construction Training Manual for Trainers Heini Müller Basic Construction Training Manual for Trainers Heini Müller Impessum Author: Heini Müller Copyright: Skat Foundation, St.Gallen, Switzerland 2004, 1st edition, 200 Copies Copyright waiver: Permission is granted to use the material found in this volume for educational and development purposes. Acknowledgement is requested. Layout: Martin Läng, Alex Büchi; Skat Foundation Skat Foundation SEWA Vadianstrasse 42 Self Employed Women‘s Association CH-9000 St. Gallen Sewa Reception Centre Switzerland Opp. Lok Manya Tilak Baug, Bhadra http://www.skat.ch Ahmedabad 380 001, India email: [email protected] email: [email protected] SRC Swiss Solidarity Swiss Red Cross B.P. 132 P.O. Box 2699 Rue des Maraîchers 8 Rainmattstrasse 10 CH-1211 Genève 8 CH-3001 Bern, Switzerland Switzerland http://www.redcross.ch http://www.bonheur.ch email: [email protected] email: [email protected] References of sketches 1. Elementary course on Building Construction and Materials SATA 2. Brick work Manual Laurie Baker 3. Building Construction Manual SKAT 4. Joints in Masonry Module MM13 Habitat Polytech, Richmar Foreword The devastating earthquake of January 26, 2001 caused tremendous damage to the lives and property of the population living in the northern and northwestern districts of Gujarat. In the wake of this humanitarian tragedy a large number of local, national and international organisa- tions engaged in relief and rehabilitation operations. A diverse range of strategies was adopted to meet the urgent needs of the suffering population to rehabilitate their lives and reconstruct their houses. In line with its principles, Swiss Red Cross promoted a process-oriented and community-centred approach, taking into consideration the actual needs of the people and the specific conditions of the area. Accordingly, the rural villagers, especially women, were identified as a pro-active force building on their own strength rather than becoming passive recipients of external aid. After a participatory assessment in three remote villages Antarnesh, Bakutra and Gadsai of Patan district, Swiss Red Cross decided to contribute to the rehabilitation of the lives of nine hundred families, through providing them with new, earthquake save houses, kitchens, toilets and water harvesting systems, called Naya Ghar (New housing). This infrastructure-focused improvement was mainly seen under the aspect of securing people’s livelihood by creating employment opportunities in the building sector. The following complementary organisations were engaged in the Swiss Red Cross and Swiss Solidarity supported Naya Ghar’ Project: n SEWA, (Self-employed Women’s Association) with its wide network of more than 500‘000 members in Gujarat was selected as the main local project implementing partner organisation. n DA (Development Alternatives), an India based NGO, in cooperation with Skat Consulting from Switzerland, were selected to ensuring the practicability and quality of the construction work. The earthquake unfortunately proved that local construction techniques and skill did not prevent houses from collapsing during the incident. This clearly indicated the urgent need to improve on both, construction technologies and especially on construction skill. For this reason the „Basic Construction Training Manual for Trainers“ has been developed by Skat in close cooperation with field based SEWA construction engineers to ensure that their needs and expectations are met. This Training Manual is the summary of basic practical con- struction know-how that is of crucial importance to transfer appropriate and new skills to local masons, supervisors and SEWA members in building earthquake resistant houses. It will help construction trainers to pass on relevant skills in constructing houses and improving infrastruc- ture in a practical manner, and offers a wide range of essential information. Beside the Swiss Red Cross and Swiss Solidarity supported Naya Ghar Project, this „Basic Con- struction Training Manual for Trainers“ will also serve other SEWA construction related projects. All partners actively involved in the creation and application of this Training Manual hope that trough it the new skills acquired by local masons, supervisors and SEWA members will lead to an better building standard and quality, preventing further loss of lives and property in this earthquake prone part of India. Peter Eppler Programme Coordinator Swiss Red Cross General Introduction When Gujarat has been hit by the horrifying earthquake in January 2001, international help for the reconstruction of houses and creation of livelihood was soon at hand and warmly welcomed by the needy one. The concerned government authorities and non-governmental organisations launched re- construction activities with an astonishing swiftness. The resulting focus of construction activities in Gujarat was demanding a huge number of skilled construction manpower that was regrettably not always easy at hand. This Basic Construction Training Manual for Trainers is tailor made for the specific capacity building / training needs of SEWA for the earthquake reconstruction programme that is, financed by the Swiss Solidarity Fond and implemented in partnership with Swiss Red Cross and technically coached by Skat_consulting. This manual is specifically focussing on the practical implementation level and provides a wide range of essential information as well as dos and don’ts for trainers to communicate to masons and supervisors during theoretical and on the job trainings. It also contains photos and sketches / drawings that add clarity to the context. These photos and sketches have been collected from various reference sources and are therefore, not of uniform character in its present form. This manual is divided into five separate modules. Module one explains the overall and essential parts of a building. Module two provides information about the quality benchmark and testing methods of building materials that are most commonly used in housing construc- tion in Gujarat. Module three describes the skilled working principles for; Mortar, Concreting, Brick masonry, Stone masonry, Curing, Plastering and Flooring. Module four describes essential working safety measures to avoid occupational accidents. And finally, Module five provides a list of literature where useful information regarding earthquake save house designing and construction principles are described. The merit of this manual lies in the modular structured documentation of information from a practitioner for practitioners that allows the design of various combination of required practical training. A very tiny fraction of active masons in Gujarat have received formal masonry training. Practical construction skill and information are transferred in an informal way. Because of this system, some practices that are actually wrong have now become “good practice standard” and therefore some present construction qualities are not up to professional quality standards in Gujarat. There is a genuine need and high demand for formal building construction training by masons. SEWA has recognised this as a high priority and expressed the necessity of professional and practical construction training material for their construction related programmes. This Basic Construction Training Manual for Trainers is the resulting outcome of their expression. 5 MODULE 1: Basic Building Parts .................................................................. 7 MODULE 1 MODULE 2: Building Material and Quality Standards .......................... 19 MODULE 2 MODULE 3: Principles of Construction .................................................... 33 MODULE 3 MODULE 4: Safety .......................................................................................... 83 MODULE 4 MODULE 5: Earthquake resistant construction practices .................. 89 MODULE 5 5 7 Basic Building Parts MODULE 1 Various parts of a building (Floor, wall, openings, roof, stair) 7 9 Basic Building Parts Content MODULE 1 1. Building...................................................................................................... 10 1.1. Foundation ................................................................................................. 10 1.2 Plinth .......................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Damp proof course (DPC).........................................................................12 1.4 Plinth beam................................................................................................12 1.5 Floor ...........................................................................................................13 1.6 Walls...........................................................................................................13 1.7 Openings.................................................................................................... 14 1.8 Stairs ..........................................................................................................15 1.9 Roof ............................................................................................................16 1.10 Surfaces / Finishes ....................................................................................16 2. Service facilities ........................................................................................ 17 2.1 Water supply..............................................................................................17