1. General Ideas
1.1. Size matters.
Choosing an appropriate size for your home is the most important step in controlling its economic cost. Each square foot may cost you 4500 LKR or more to build. There will be a cost for maintenance, light & coolness, etc. It makes good sense to think carefully about the space you need.
1.2. Acquire permits for construction
A building permit is a basic requirement in many areas, particularly for permanent construction. Other than that you may also need to comply with requirements of local government authorities (Urban Council, Town Council, and Pradeshiya Sabha).
You need to prepare a complete plan of your house including a plan view, side view & a few cross sections of the house as required, drainage plan, septic tank plan, electrical plan, etc. with the help of your engineer & architect. Note: Above indicated cost may vary over time and the material chosen.
1.3. Designs for life
Sustainability does not only relate to the environment, it is also to the community, future generations, and the quality of life of individuals. Design for a lifetime involves designing your home for the present but also ensuring it is adaptable to opportunities and challenges that may arise in the future such as safety, security, changing lifestyle choices, and responses. These are all important for the long-term viability of your home.
The interior of the house should allow easy movement between spaces. Avoid indoor air pollutants such as the usage of hazardous construction materials and poor design of bathrooms leading to not enough air circulation out from the bathroom.
What you do in the home can make the single biggest difference to your health…. Don’t let dust build-up, keep indoors clean… Many domestic accidents can be prevented with better building design. Most domestic accidents occur in the bathroom, kitchen, and staircase. There are many actions that you can take to improve home safety through design, fittings, and behavior.
- Round bench and corners
- Eliminate cross-traffic routes through the work triangle (area between burner, sink, and refrigerator)
- Use slip-resistant flooring and avoid steps in bathrooms.
1.4. Use daylight, It is free of charge
“We are all outdoor animals”
Although we spend most of our time indoors, we are really outdoor animals. So, our body is designed to be in outdoors. Fifteen generations ago, a period of little consequence in evolutionary terms, most of our associates would spend the majority of their waking hours outdoors, and buildings would primarily provide only shelter and security during the hours of darkness.
Daylight and health
A dramatic difference was observed with the occupants of the artificially lit building frequently receiving illuminance greater than 2000 lux. In the artificially lit building, illuminance values rarely exceed 100 lux.
Daylight is 20 – 40 times brighter then artificial lights…
It is widely recognized that daylight has special supernatural qualities. These are not normally found in artificial sources.
“The free admission of sunlight and air, to every part of the home brings you a healthy life”
It is uncontroversial to say that man has an almost universal love affair with gardens.
- We should bring more nature into our built environment.
- We should design those characteristics similar to which we have evolved in the natural world.
“The intake of daylight is to be optimized to reduce consumption of electricity. The window area amounts to 40% of floor area (against normal 20-25%), and the windows are placed in all possible facades”
2. Before putting Foundations
These days, land extents for house constructions are limited. So, using available land effectively is useful for you. It saves your time and the overall cost for the house. Therefore, in this chapter we will see what are the things to be concerned before putting foundations to your house.
2.1. Settingout of the Building
Consider orientation of your home as it matters a lot. By orienting it to a proper and suitable direction you can earn lots of benefits as follows.
- Increase solar access to North by facing courtyard and living areas.
- Avoid wasted open space behind your house.
- Take natural ventilation to your home by keeping enough openings
- plant trees around your house to get wind towards your home.
When orientation of the building is finalized, setting out is the first stage of construction in a site. This involves outlining the structure on the ground. For any new house mapping out is very important to avoid costly errors.
There are factors to consider when laying out the building plans on site such as size of the plot, neighbors, driveways, sun direction, planning requirements by the localauthorities, services required to the site like electricity water sewers, communication.
There are many methods to setting out the building on your land. Setting out commences from a plot corner and putting a peg. After that you can project a ninety degree angle to that peg and continue to setout the dimensions of the house as per the plan.
2.2. Foundation
Why, Foundation is the emost important part of a building?
A foundation is the most important part of a structure that transfers the loads from the structure to the ground. It is essential that the loads are spread safely and evenly over the supporting ground to ensure the stability of the building.
“A properly designed foundation will limit settlement…. Otherwise, it can cause issues in your building over period of years.”
Key functions of the foundation are:
- The foundation carries the weight of the house to solid ground.
- The foundation keeps the structure of the house above the ground.
- The foundation provides an anchor from wind and seismic forces.
- It keeps moisture out of the basement.
Differencial settlement of the building will cause cracks in columns, beams and walls.
Loads are transferred from roof, slabs, beams and walls to column and then to FOUNDATION, from the foundation the loads are transferred to the ground.
By today’s standards the foundations seem very shallow; in fact many text books from the time suggest that foundations should never be less than 12 inches (300mm) deep and often much more. A mix of approximately of 1:2:4 (Grade 20) cement: sand: aggregate is recommended for concreting of the fondations.
“Usually foundations width is made 3 times wall thickness in normal soil condition…”