BUILDING MATERIALS AND DRAINAGE SYSTEM

Building Materials
Building material is any material which is used for a construction purpose.

Natural Materials

Building materials can be generally categorized into two sources. Natural and
synthetic Mud, stone, and fibrous plants are the most basic natural building materials.

Stones

It is cheap and easily available. Following are the qualities of a good building stone.

1. Crushing strength: For a good structural stone, the crushing strength should be
greater than 100m/mm2.
2. Resistance of fire: The mineral composing stone should be such that shape of stone is
preserved when a fire. The free quartz suddenly expands at a temperature lower than
6000C.The limestone resists fire up to about 8000C and it then splits into CaO and
CO2
3. Specific Gravity: For a good building stone, its specific gravity should be greater
than 2.7 or so.
 4. Water absorption: All the stones are more or less porous, but a good stone,
percentage absorption by weight after 24 hours should not exceed 0.60.

Bricks

It is a one of the oldest building material and it is extensively used at present as a

leading material for construction because of its durability, strength, reliability, low cost, easy
availability, etc.

Qualities of Good Bricks

1. Absorption: A brick is taken and it is weighed dry. It is then immersed in water for a
period of 16 hours. After 16 hours the bricks should not exceed 20 percent of weight
of dry brick.
2. Crushing strength: The minimum crushing or compressive strength of bricks is
3.50N/mm2.

Classification of Bricks

1. First class bricks: Standard shape and size. These bricks are used for superior work
of permanent nature.
2. Second class bricks: These bricks may have hair cracks and their edges not be sharp
and uniform.
 3. Third class bricks: They are used for unimportant and temporary structures and at
places where rainfall is not heavy.
4. Fourth class bricks: These are over burnt bricks with irregular shape and dark
colour.

Lime

The use of limes as a cementing material has been made since ancient times. At
present, the cement replaced lime to a great extent.

Classification of limes

Limes are classified in to the following three categories.

1. Fat lime: This lime is also known as the high calcium lime or white lime. It is used in
whitewashing and plastering walls.
2. Hydraulic lime: this lime is also known as the water lime and it sets under water.
3. Poor lime: This lime is also known as the impure lime. It contains 30 percent of clay.

Cement

The natural cement is obtained by burning and crushing the stones containing clay,
carbonate of lime and some amount of carbonate of magnesia.

Varieties of cement

Acid resistant cement, coloured cement, quick setting cement, white cement.
Mortar

The term mortar is used to indicate a paste prepared by adding required quantity of
water to a mixture of binding material like cement or lime and fine aggregate like sand.

The above two components of mortar, namely, the binding material and fine
aggregate. Normally cement mortar proportional is 1:3 (cement and sand).

Cement Concrete

The cement concrete is a mixture of cement, sand, pebbles, or crushed rock and water,
which, when placed in the skeleton of forms and allowed to cure, becomes hard like a stone.
Properties of Cement Concrete

1. It has a high compressive strength.

2. It is free from corrosion.
3. It is proved to be more economical than steel.

Materials used in R.C.C. Work (cement: sand: coarse aggregate)

1. 1:1:2 and 1:1.2:2.4 for very high strength concrete.

2. 1:1.5:3 and 1:2:4 for normal work.
3. 1:3:6 for foundations and mass concrete work.

Timber

The timber denotes wood which is suitable for building or carpentry or various other
engineering purposes. It is mostly used in roofing material.

FERROUS METALS

It is used for making Structural members, roofing material, damp-proof courses,

windows, etc.
STEEL

It is used for Building construction.

DRAINAGE SYSTEM

DRAINAGE

Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an
area.

It is divided into two types.

1. Sewage
2. Effluent

Sewage

Sewage is includes kitchen, toilet, cleaning floor water. The removal of water is used
for producing biogas.

Effluent

Effluent water means waste water from processing side.

Design of drainage

The following factors should be considered

1. Slope of floor
2. Type of effluent
3. Topography
4. Future expansion.

Slope can be provided such that the waste collecting drains constructed in between
two processing. Outlet will be connected to one of the drains. It can also be provided towards
the centre of the hall where the drains are provided to collect waste from either side or it can
be made on the further end of the processing line keeping in mind that future expansion.
Topography means it can be made to flow with gravity from the outlet to treatment section.

Design

Sewage carrying pipes can be made up of PVC with size of varying from 100 to
200mm. In design of drainage systems traps are more important. Traps are used in here to
allow the flow and to avoid entering of insects. It avoids smell. There are may traps are
available such as bottle trap and rainy trap. Usually some portion of trap is filled with water
to allow flow.