Construction Technology: An Illustrated Introduction

Construction Technology: An Illustrated IntroductionEric Fleming
This primer on construction technology is aimed at people who have no background in construction or who have just joined the industry from college. It gives a comprehensive introduction to every aspect of low-rise construction and will be indispensable on all courses where construction technology is taught.The author demonstrates good practice and common faults using detailed drawings paired with clear photos and brief explanations of all the elements of the building process.
The book follows the sequence of construction:
and illustrates the most common technical problems that you will meet on site. A set of simple solutions is given for each.These are sound, tried-and-tested solutions; they will meet the current Building Regulations across the UK.
Site visits have become rare (due to Health & Safety and insurance considerations) and newcomers to the industry face the difficulty of interpreting a 2-D representation of very 3-D realities.The book addresses this problem of visualisation of construction scenarios and helps students relate the detail drawings to the actual construction by supporting as many of the drawings as possible with photographs of the pieces of work – both in a part- finished state and as the completed work.
foundations walls floors doors and windows
stairs roofs plumbing electrical
The front cover illustrates a solid blockwork wall and brick/block cavity wall as a substructure for a timber frame panel construction.
Eric Fleming is former lecturer in construction economics and building construction at Heriot-Watt University
If you’ve never set foot on a building site but need to know what works and what doesn’t, this book is for you!
Construction Technology an illustrated introduction
Cover design by Garth Stewart
Construction Technology an illustrated introduction •
Eric Flem ing
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Construction Technology
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Construction Technology: an illustrated introduction Eric Fleming Former Lecturer Construction Economics and Building Construction Department of Building Engineering and Surveying Heriot-Watt University
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First published 2005 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fleming, Eric. Construction technology / Eric Fleming.
p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 1-4051-0210-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Building. I. Title.
TH146 .F58 2004 690–dc22 2004008229
ISBN 1-4051-0210-1
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
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Contents
Introduction xi Acknowledgements and Dedication xiii Abbreviations xiv
1 Masonry Construction in Bricks and Blocks 1
Bricks and blocks standards and dimensions 2 Bricks 2 Terminology 2 Brick sizes 2
Nominal sizing 3 Durability of bricks 3 Mortar joints 3 Coordinating sizes 3 Types of brick by shape 4 Kinds of brick by function 4 Brick materials 5 Testing of bricks 5 The bonding of bricks to form walls 5 Convention on thicknesses of walls 8 Types of bond 9
Vertical alignment 14 Honeycomb brickwork 16 Quoins – an alternative definition 16 Half brick thick walls 16 Frog up or frog down 17
‘Tipping’ 17 Common and facing brickwork 18 Facing brickwork 18 Pointing and jointing 19 General principles of bonding 21 Blocks 22 Block materials 22 Concrete blocks 22
Dense and lightweight concretes 23 Autoclaved aerated concrete 23
Dimensions of standard metric block 23 Whys and wherefores of mortar 25
Cement 25 Lime 26 Sand 27 Water 27
Which mortar mix? 27 ‘Fat’ mixes 28 General rules for selection of mortar 29
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Mortar additives 30 Mixing in additives 30 Mixing mortar 31
Good or bad weather 32
2 Substructures 34
General categorisation of subsoils and their loadbearing capacities 37 Foundations 37
The principal considerations 38 Simple foundation calculations 39 The mass of buildings 39 Mass, load and bearing capacity 40 Foundation width and thickness 41 Reinforced concrete foundations 44 Failure of wide, thin, strip foundations 44 Trench fill foundations 45 Critical levels and depths 46 Level 46 Finished ground level 47 Bearing strata 48 Depths and levels 48 Step in foundation 49
Setting out 49 The site plan 49 Where do we put the building? 49 Equipment required for basic setting out 49 Setting out procedure 50
Excavation 53 Marking out the excavation 53 Excavation for and placing concrete foundations – and not
wasting money doing it 53 Building masonry walls from foundation up to DPC level 57 Ground floor construction 59
Detail drawings 59 Wall–floor interfaces generally 62
Precautions 62 Solid concrete floors 62
Single and double layer concrete floors with hollow masonry wall 62 Hung floors 64
Hung timber floors 64 Hung timber floor alternatives 66 Hung concrete floors 67
Blockwork substructure 71
General 73 Requirements 74
Walls – environmental control 75 Heat loss and thermal capacity 75
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Resistance to weather – precipitation 75 Air infiltration 77 Noise control 79 Fire 79
Dimensional stability 79 Walls of brick and blockwork 81 Insulation of external walls 84 Timber frame construction 88
Traditional timber frame 88 Modern timber frame construction 91
Loadbearing and non-loadbearing internal partitions 96 Expansion joints 99
4 Timber Upper Floors 103
Upper floor joists 103 Linear and point loadings on upper floors 112 Openings in upper floors 113
For pipes 113 For flues 114 For stairs 116
Alternative materials for joisting 118 Sound proofing 120
Modern sound and fire proofing 121 Support of masonry walls 123 Floor finishes 124 Ceiling finishes 124
5 Openings in Masonry Walls 126
For small pipes and cables 126 For larger pipes and ventilators 127 Large openings in masonry walls 127 Alternative sill arrangements 136 Threshold arrangements 137 Partitions of masonry 139 Openings in timber frame walls 141
6 Roof Structure 148
Roof classifications 148 Prefabrication 149 Trussed roofs 150
The trussed rafter 153 Verges meet eaves 159 Roof bracing 160 Flat roofs in timber 162
Insulation, vapour control layers and voids and ventilation 164 Traditional roofs 167 Roof insulation 169
7 Roof Coverings 171
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Plain tiles 175 Interlocking tiles 176 Timber shingles 176 Bituminous shingles 176 Pantiles 177 Spanish and Roman tiles 177 Edges and abutments 178
8 Doors 182
Functions of doors and windows – obvious and not so obvious 182 Types of door 184
Ledged and braced doors 185 Bound lining doors 185 Flush panel doors 187 Panelled doors 188 Pressed panel doors 189 15 pane doors 190
Hanging a door 190 Fire resistant doors 193
Smoke seals 195 Glazing 196
Ironmongery 196
9 Windows 204
Timber casement windows 205 Depth and height of glazing rebates 206 Timber for casement windows 206 Draught stripping materials 206 Hanging the casements 207 Joining the frame and casement members 209
Timber sash and case windows 211 The case 212 The sashes and case together 214
Vertical sliding sash windows 214 Glazing 218
For ordinary glazing work 218
10 Stairs 221
Landings 222 Steps 222 Balustrades 223 Measurements 224 Joining steps to stringer 225 Winders 227
11 Mutual Walls 228
Transmission of sound 228 Calculation of surface density 228 Wall types 229 Fire resistance 231
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Pipework 233 Pipe fittings – couplings and connections 234
Range of fittings 239 Valves and cocks 241 Services generally 243 Hot and cold water services 243 Soil and ventilation stacks 246 Overflows 246 Water supply from the main 246 Equipment 247
Cold water storage cisterns 248 Hot water storage cylinders 248 Feed and expansion tanks 251
Central heating 252 Piping for central heating systems 253 Emitters 255
Appliances 255 Waste disposal piping and systems 259 Insulation 262 Corrosion 263 Air locking and water hammer 263 First fixings 264
13 Electrical Work 266
Power generation 266 Wiring installation types 267 Sub-mains and consumer control units 268 Sub-circuits 270 Work stages 272
Electrician’s roughing 272 Earth bonding 273 Final fix 275
Testing and certification 275 More on protective devices 275 Wiring diagrams 276 Accessories 277
Appendices:
B Levelling Using the Dumpy Level 285
C Timber, Stress Grading, Jointing, Floor Boarding 291
D Plain and Reinforced In-situ Concrete 316
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E Mortar and Fine Concrete Screeds laid over Concrete Sub-floors or Structures 322
F Shoring, Strutting and Waling 325
G Nails, Screws, Bolts and Proprietary Fixings 328
H Gypsum Wall Board 341
I DPCs, DPMs, Ventilation of Ground Floor Voids, Weeps 344
J Drawing Symbols and Conventions 353
K Conservation of Energy 355
L Short Precis of Selected British Standards 356
Index 380
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Introduction
One of the many reasons for writing this book was the need to introduce students to a level of detail which they would gain only with practical experience on site or in workshops. The accusation that the text includes too much ‘trade’ material could be levelled, but bearing in mind that many of the students who might use this text will be potential builders, quan- tity surveyors and building surveyors, then the inclusion of the trade material is very nec- essary. One of the primary functions of cer- tainly the builders and quantity surveyors is the need to be able to assess the cost of any building operation. Unless they understand the processes to be gone through it is impossi- ble for these professionals to give an accurate cost. They don’t have to be able to physically do the work but they must know exactly what is involved. So this text is for the ‘early learner’ who has no background in the construction in- dustry. It is not intended to be an all embrac- ing text; the physical size of the book could not allow that. So the author has been quite selective in what has been included, the rea- soning behind the selection being the need to introduce the early learner to sufficient infor- mation to allow a general appreciation of the more common techniques used in domestic construction today.
Emphasis has been given to technical terms and terminology by having them printed in bold on at least the first occasion they are used. Where these terms are generally confined to one part of the UK, some alternative forms are given as well. References to Building Reg- ulations should be understood to mean all the Regulations which are used in England, Wales and Scotland at the time of writing. References to particular Regulations will have the suffixes (England and Wales) or (Scotland) appended. Where the reference is to earlier editions of
any particular Regulations, the date will be given, e.g. (1981).
A word about the drawings scattered through the text. None is to scale although, in the majority of instances, all component parts and components shown in any one draw- ing are in the correct proportion, with the exception of thin layers or membranes such as damp proof courses, felts, etc. which are exaggerated in thickness, following the con- vention in architectural drawing practice. Ap- pendix J shows some of the conventional sym- bols used. The reader should get to know these; they are common currency when drawn information has to be read.
For the student who has recently left school there may be confusion, for the teaching of the use of centimetres in schools does not match up with the agreement by the construc- tion industry to use only SI (Systeme Interna- tional) units where only the millimetre, metre and kilometre are used to measure length. On architectural drawings dimensions are given only in millimetres and levels in metres to two places of decimals. Students will be ex- pected to produce drawings in this manner during their courses. Following the conven- tion on drawings etc., no mention of the unit of measurement will be made in the text when these are in millimetres. Any dimension given simply as a number must be assumed to be in millimetres. Any other measurements will have the unit of measurement following the number, e.g. 14.30 m meaning metres; 10 600 kN meaning kilonewtons and so on.
There are already hundreds of books on building construction or on just one aspect of it, be it a trade, material or technique(s). There must be many more technical papers and leaflets and books produced by various organisations with an interest in the industry.
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They include the Building Research Establish- ment (BRE), Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA), Tim- ber Research and Development Association (TRADA), the British Standards Institution, all the trade and manufacturing associations – the list is endless, but those mentioned are reckoned to be the experts. So why has this au- thor chosen not to quote them at every oppor- tunity? Well, I have quoted bits of the British Standards where they were appropriate, but so much of the rest of the material is on a higher plane as to confuse the early learner in the art of construction. There is enough in here to get someone started on domestic construc- tion as it is today. Get that correct and then go on to read the more esoteric material, espe- cially when so much is about what has gone wrong in the past and how it was put right.
A couple of areas which are sorely neglected by too many students are:
Manufacturer’s literature – now widely available on the Internet
Using their own eyes.
On the first point above, there was a time not so long ago when manufacturers tended to have their literature about a product pre- pared by graphic artists who knew diddley- squat about building and so perpetrated some real howlers and horrors, so much so that many lecturers had to tell students to ignore that source of information until they could sort out the good from the ugly. There were notable exceptions and many will remember the competition to get hands on a copy of British Gypsum’s White Book or the reception given to Redland’s award winning catalogue on roofing materials – goodness, was it that long ago? Nowadays catalogues have to be considered as a serious source of information and they come out faster than any other form of information and so become almost the only way to keep up to date.
On the second point above, what better way to see how a wash hand basin is installed than to get underneath it with a good torch and have a good look. Look into the attic with that torch, probe into all the corners and see
how the roof is put together. Look at the doors and windows and how they interface with the walls and floors and the ceilings.
Experience in teaching the subject to school leavers has brought one difficulty to the fore which many students have – the inability to vi- sualise. Test this for yourself – describe some- thing to a friend and ask them to draw it as you speak. I’m sure you’ll get some funny results and some funny comments. It is a daunting task to be faced with technical con- struction drawings, especially detail draw- ings, and be expected to ‘see’ what is going on in terms of bricks, concrete in holes in the ground, joists and plasterboard, especially as you don’t know what these are in their raw state. Hence the inclusion in this book of pho- tographs of bits and pieces and of construc- tion. Fewer and fewer students get the oppor- tunity to see a building site, mainly due to the safety aspects of a site visit and ever increas- ing insurance premiums. And yet seeing for themselves is what so many desperately re- quire.
When starting this book a year or two back, the idea was to include a detail drawing along- side a photograph of what it looked like on site, hoping that this would in some small way make up for lack of on-site experience. While there are a lot of photographs, the result is not as good as had been hoped. The author could easily spend another year just getting the pho- tography up to scratch and would certainly do things differently. For this text I was unable to find herringbone strutting anywhere close to me so I made a mock-up of a pair of joists and put in timber and steel strutting. It makes the point adequately when viewed alongside the details. So many other photographs could have been of that type had I realised the value of mock-ups earlier.
If you think the book lacks something or has too much of one thing, or is a bit of a curate’s egg or whatever, please write to me care of the publishers. If there is ever another edition it would be good – indeed vital – to have con- structive feedback.
Eric Fleming
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Acknowledgements and Dedication
I must formally thank Mitek Industries of Dudley and Eaton MEM of Oldham for giving me permission to reproduce images and providing the images on disc to include in this book. Also Simpson Strong Tie and their branch at Stepps near Glasgow who very kindly supplied me with samples. I must thank John Fleming & Co Ltd, timber and builders merchants of Elgin, Keith Builders Merchants and Mackenzie and Cruickshank, hardware retailers, both of Forres, who all allowed me to take photographs of materials, components and ironmongery.
I must also thank the many family, colleagues and friends from the half century I spent in the construction industry who have contributed to the information on which I have drawn so freely in writing this text.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to Myra, who has given me great encouragement with the writing and who has not complained when the book came between me and the renovation work we are attempting on our battered Georgian home.
F. W. ‘Eric’ Fleming FRICS Forres Scotland March 2004
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Abbreviations
aac autoclaved aerated concrete ABS acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ach air changes per hour bj black japanned BM benchmark BMA bronze metal antique BOE brick on edge BRE Building Research Establishment BS British Standard BSI British Standards Institution CAAD computer aided architectural design CAD computer aided design CCU consumer’s control unit CH central heating CIRIA Construction Industry Research and
Information Association cs centres csk countersunk CW cold water DLO direct labour organisation DPC damp proof course DPM damp proof membrane ELCB earth leakage circuit breaker EPDM electronic position and
distance measurement EVA ethyl vinyl acetate FFL finished floor level FGL finished ground level FS full sheet galv. (hot dipped) galvanised HBC high breaking capacity H&C hot and cold HRC high rupturing capacity HW hot water IEE Institution of Electrical Engineers LH left-hand LPG liquefied petroleum gas
MC moisture content MCB miniature circuit breaker MR moisture resistant m.s. mild steel m&t mortice and tenon OPC ordinary Portland cement OS Ordnance Survey OSB oriented strand board PCC…