A growing economy is often marked by a growing construction industry. Towns and cities expand to accommodate new residents and businesses that are attracted to a favourable centre for commerce. New buildings are the sign of new jobs and therefore money is destined to come in to the area. People often say that buildings seem to go up overnight, but the truth is that as soon as the hoardings go up and the piling begins we switch off to the fact that major constructions are underway. So what exactly happens behind the scenes when it comes to constructing a building?
Before any building can begin, it is essential to prepare the site for laying the foundations. All debris and plants must be removed and the area levelled. Once this has been done then the piling can begin. The type of soil determines the diameter, length and material used for the piling. The most common type used in house building is concrete piling, although steel and timber are also options. A concrete slab is then placed on the piling to form both the floor and the foundation. Alternatively, instead of a concrete slab, a crawl space can be constructed with piles of construction blocks and a timber floor built onto this.
Once the floor is in place walls can be constructed. A timber house is the easiest to build as the walls can easily be put together with wooden posts and ply wood. The posts are centred at regular intervals and gaps in the framing are left for joists and internal walls. Door and window spaces have extra timber supports and wooden headers are added to strengthen the construction. The roof is ready to go on once the exterior walls have been completed.
Trusses are used to form an apex roof. The benefits of a truss framed roof is that it is strong, cheap and rests on the external walls, which avoids the inconvenience of any of the internal walls being load bearing walls. The trusses are then covered with bitumen sheeting and the roof tiles are added. It is important to leave a breezeway for ventilation purposes.
Next the doors and windows are added to the structure by being fixed in place roughly so that the sidings of the timber house can be added. The overlapping wooden panels are added from the bottom upwards and fitted into channels that will keep the sidings in place whilst allowing for expansion and contraction with changes of weather. Sidings are nailed into place to keep them secure.
Before any internal walls can be constructed, the plumbing and electrics must be done. Pipes for waste water and freshwater, sewage storage, toilets, baths and showers must all be installed in the right place. Electric cables need to be run across joists and along exterior walls, fuse boxes placed in the right area and switches added. Once these are all in place the inner walls can be installed and the prettying up can begin.
Plastering and painting are the final things that need to be done to a house before all the personal things are added such as tiles and carpets, kitchen units and cookers. Building a good quality house takes time, but the important factors in the construction are rarely seen. It's the placement of the piling that is important, not the colour of the paint.
Author Resource:-
Dom Donaldson is a construction expert.
Find out more about Piling" target="_blank">http://www.deepdale-eng.co.uk">Piling and engineering and construction at Deepdale Engineering.
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