Training Guide

Addressing Sanitation Challenge in poor urban areas through

sustainable technologies, gender integration and supportive policy
framework

ARTISAN CONSTRUCTION
TRAINING MANUAL

The document describes the basic building and construction that a standard sanitation
or building structure in general must meet and the process to be followed during
construction to achieve this goal.

2010 - 2011
Table of Contents

Part 1: Good Building Standards.................................................................................................................1

Gender Issues..........................................................................................................................................2

Foundations.............................................................................................................................................4

Coherent Structure...................................................................................................................................5

Building Materials...................................................................................................................................6

Structural Columns..................................................................................................................................6

Building Structure...................................................................................................................................7

Part 2: Construction Process........................................................................................................................9

Preliminary Works...................................................................................................................................9

Various steps............................................................................................................................................9
About the training manual

Institute of Environment and Water is implementing an IDRC supported research project in

Mirera Karagita that aims at addressing sanitation Challenge through Sustainable Technologies,
Gender Integration and Supportive Policy Framework.

The project focused on identifying challenges faced by the urban poor in accessing water and
sanitation services while approaching it from a gender perspective, assessing the state of WATSAN
infrastructure and its ability to withstand environmental challenges such as floods, identifying the impact
of poor sanitation to the urban poor and the general environment, assessing gender needs and
considerations in the choice of sanitation infrastructure, identification of Sanitation policy gaps at the
national and local council levels.

The sanitation infrastructure in the target towns was assessed and alternative sanitation
technologies were identified and piloted. This training manual was prepared to guide the skilling
of the artisans to implement the identified models. It provides a step by step process of
constructing sanitation facilities to be piloted. It also provides key factors that must be observed
before and during implementation.
Part 1: Good Building Standards
Before embarking on the construction process this manual will first give a brief overview of
good building practice that must inform any work done by any artisan. It is not purpose of this
manual to give a comprehensive course in building construction technology and materials.
Rather this is aimed at equipping the artisans with basic skills to enable them to carry out basic
construction to acceptable and safe building standards in an urban environment.
This manual is one of the products of an action research project undertaken in Kenya and
Uganda to develop standards for sanitation facility design and development in a manner that is
inclusive and assures gender sensitivity.
During the community-led design process that preceded this manual the community was taken
through a participatory planning process that included the following steps:

Situational analysis this involves the identification, profiling and mapping of

stakeholders and key actors followed by a process of bringing together these players
together in a joint planning team. Here the community planning team including the
development agency, the government, the informal and formal private sector etc work
together to clearly list and evaluate the development challenges and opportunities that
exist within the community. It should be highlighted how the various actors are affected
both positively and negatively by the prevailing circumstances. In this regard the focus is
water and sanitation. It would be important to identify profile and map the different
actors and relationships that exist within the sector. At this point it would be critical to
rank and prioritise the key challenges
Community visioning at this stage all the actors go through a process of developing
an ideal future state of their settlement in as far as water is concerned. The different
interest groups may have different visions of their desired future, but it is incumbent
upon the facilitator to guide the process without being overbearing. It would be helpful
to share examples from other parts of the world as a way of helping communities create
an exciting vision for the future. This vision that is finally agreed upon by the various
players must be exciting enough to act as an incentive to harness the collective effort of
the entire community to achieve it.
How do we get there? once the desired future has been agreed upon, then the
challenge is to develop strategies to get the community to this desired state within an
agreed time. Strategies must take advantage of the inherent community strengths and the
existing and emerging opportunities. The planning facilitator must be able to guide
communities to search deeper for solutions and strategies to achieve their goals.

Strategies focus on the following aspects:

Technology options for the delivery of water and sanitation

Management options for water and sanitation systems
Financing options for the developments

Another issue that needs to be pointed out at this point is that this manual needs to be ready with
close reference to the sanitation menu developed under this project. The document highlights the
various options available for development of sanitation facilities for a range of budgets. The
manual will not address the wide range of construction technologies identified under the
sanitation manual as this would go beyond the time scope allowable under this project.

Gender Issues
It must be emphasized that issues of inclusivity were central to this project and as such, gender
needs and concerns have been addressed throughout the design process, and will continue to be
addressed during the implementation of the design installations. In addition, efforts have been
made to ensure that challenges and obstacles that normally stand in the way of womens effective
participation in development and management of sanitation facilities are addressed.
During the community-led design process, gender considerations and those relating to children
and people with disabilities were key design parameters that the community design team had to
address. It is therefore the position of the authors of this manual that before the construction
process begins, it must be preceded by a communityled design process that addresses among
other issues, gender needs.
Some of the issues that were addressed during the design process include:
a) Gender in sanitation designs
Diverse needs of women & children privacy, hygiene, security and safety by ensuring
that at household level toilet slabs are easy to clean, lockable doors, bathrooms are
provided (must be fitted with hooks too hang clothes and towels); at communal level
female toilets should be fitted with hooks to hang handbags, should be secure and with
guaranteed privacy. A dressing and baby change area is also necessary and need to be
provided. For all types of sanitation facilities, handwashing facilities should be provided.
Needs of the poor cost of sanitation facilities by exploring as much as possible ways of
utilizing the local building materials so as to bring down the costs of construction.
Needs of people with physical challenges including the elderly in terms of access
challenges and use of these facilities. In this regard, ramps and other supportive
mechanisms need to be put in place to cater for such needs. In the communal facilities,
the designs should always include separate facilities for the physically challenged that
can also be used by the elderly.
The sizes and layouts of the latrines to meet the needs of women, disabled, children and
the elderly
b) Womens participation in construction activities
Emphasis was laid on the need for equal participation of women and men. An affirmative
action of 50% womens participation was ensured throughout the consultation and
construction process. During the process, both male and female artisans were consulted,
and their capacities assessed. It emerged that there were very few women trained and
skilled in masonry and in plumbing. However, a number of women expressed interest and
they were incorporated in the training and construction process. Women were trained and
their services as unskilled masons were utilized.
These among other issues need to be considered alongside the other cross cutting issues of
functional requirements, technology options, financial considerations, local authority bylaws and
guidelines, religious and cultural considerations etc. It is with this in mind that we embark on
developing broad guidelines of the construction process that will make it easier for communities
to implement their own sanitation projects.
The Sanitation Menu developed earlier is what can pass as the design manual. Here we shall
concentrate on what needs to be done during the construction process to make the structure
sound, assuming that the design process was already followed as provided for by the sanitation
menu.
Any building is a combination of a number of components that together make for a coherent
structure. A construction manual that we have developed here is different from a design manual.
Below is an analysis what the important components of any building must address so as to meet
minimum design and building standards:

Foundations
A safe building structure must have a strong foundation.
The ground under the building has to
bear the weight of a structure. If it is
weak soil, the foundations must be
made stronger. It is for this reason that
construction in Naivasha was preceded
by soil tests carried out by a geologist.
The designs we developed were
informed by these findings. If the
building has more than one floor, as in
the case of the communal facility,
 which the community hoped they could extend in future subject to financing, the
foundation must also be made stronger.
Foundations are best when continuous under the structure as this ensures equal settlement
of the soil as it adjusts to take the weight of the building. If this is not addressed it will
result in fatal cracks and ultimate collapse.
Is the building built on sand, rock, clay?
Soil for a good foundation that can carry the weight of a structure must be well drained so
that it is dry and not waterlogged. This is the reason why during construction we remove
the top soil before the foundation starts.
Waterlogged soil can become liquefied in an earthquake - turn to a semi-liquid so that
structures sink into the ground.

Foundations must be designed

specifically for the sanitation facility
in its location, according to:
o The size of the structure,
number of floors, weight of
construction materials
o The foundation ground
o The height of the water table
o The possibility of liquefaction
Each structure must have a ground water, household water, and roof water drainage plan.
Foundations are to be made of crushed rock laid on solid ground, well cemented, with a
slab of reinforced concrete laid on it that has connections for the house structure cast into
it, brackets for wood structure, reinforcement for concrete structure.
Rounded river or sea stones are not to be used unbroken for foundations.

Coherent Structure
The Building needs a Coherent Structure
If the structure is coherent and strong, it
protects the whole house.
A regular structure
An integrated structural ring beam around
tops of doors and windows connected to
columns
An integrated structural ring beam around top
of walls connected to columns
Triangular gable end walls must be
structurally supported
This illustrates good structural design
principles for a reinforced concrete
structure and brick wall building. A
complete structural frame around the
building is tied in to the foundation, the
walls and the roof structure. Doors and
windows have a beam over them to carry the
weight of the wall above and to strengthen the
columns. The top of the walls is also tied
together with the columns, by a second
reinforced concrete ring beam, and end
walls are strengthened.

Structure elevation

The building floor must be elevated above the surrounding area, with special
consideration for possible area flooding, either by ground water or rain storm.

Building Materials
Sand - must be coarse, clean, and without stones. It should not contain dust.
Gravel - must contain broken stones, not plain rounded river stones. The maximum stone size for
house construction concrete is 20mm.
Water - must be clean and free of salt and algae.
Concrete:
No vegetable matter is to be mixed into concrete, no grass, wood, leaves, or roots.
It must be well mixed. Use a minimum of water. It must be stiff. If the mixture flows like
water, it has too much water.
It must be vibrated or tamped with a round rod to ensure proper filling of the form and
proper cover to all reinforcing.
Reinforcing steel - deformed steel or twisted deformed steel is best for structural use.

Structural Columns
Must be vertical, and must be constructed before wall construction, and made in one part.
Must be integrally connected to the foundation.
If made of reinforced concrete, must contain 4 bars, one at each corner, of minimum size
12mm and minimum spacing 120mm.
 Vertical steel must have hoops around the outside, of a minimum size of 8mm.
Column hoop steel must be covered with a minimum of 2cm of concrete all round.
Hoops must be spaced at no further apart than the width of the column.
To avoid a stone rich mixture at the bottom of the column, the first mixture should
contain a higher proportion of cement and sand, and less stones.

Building Structure
The building must have a regular structure.
The structure must be strongly connected from foundation through walls to the roof
trusses.
For a reinforced concrete structured house, an integrated ring beam around the top of
doors and windows must connect between and into the columns.
A second reinforced concrete beam must connect the top of all walls with the columns.
Ends of hoop steel must be bent 135,
Triangular gable end walls of houses must be structurally supported.
For a wood structure, wood posts must either be connected directly to the foundation, or
if above stub walls, must be securely bolted to a metal bracket concreted into stub walls.
Tying wall material to structural columns

Wall material must be tied to the building structure with metal ties.
Metal wall ties are to be hooked at the end.
All wall openings are to be tied to wall material.
For reinforced concrete frame buildings with brick walls, ties are to be cast into columns
at 400mm spacing, and are to be a minimum of 8mm diameter.
Joining walls and roof
In a reinforced concrete structure, column reinforcement should protrude sufficiently
from the top of columns to be able to be wrapped around roof trusses, and nailed to them.
For wooden houses, or in the absence of sufficient protruding steel, a steel strap should
tie the roof trusses securely to columns.
Roofing and roof truss joints
All houses are to have completely framed pitched triangular roof trusses.
Roof trusses are to be placed over columns and tied to them.
Most roof truss joints, and particularly central ones, are to be bolted, not nailed.
Roof truss joints of three or more elements are to have a metal strap joining each roof
component.
Wood blocks are to be used for fixing purlins to roof trusses.
 Joints in roof structural wood are to be made with step joints, not with 45 cuts.
Joints in roof structure are not to be made near the middle of a span.

Cross bracing of walls and roof

All wooden parts of a house structure are to be cross braced, stumps, walls, and roof.
Wood roof structures are to be cross braced in both directions.

Drainage
A comprehensive drainage plan must be part of each house design. This must include
drainage of ground water and household water, as well as of roof water.
All drains must have a constant fall towards a common drain.
Drains must be covered or have bridges for access across them, where needed.
The bottom of drains should have a V formation to minimize water accumulation due
to improper fall or debris in the drain.
Part 2: Construction Process
In the previous section we took time to run through briefly what requirements each building
component must meet in order to make a coherent and strong structure. In this section we shall
outline the construction process in a step-by-step basis.

Preliminary Works
A construction site is a risky environment and must be secured form the rest of the community
members. This is important as it ensures that non-workers are protected from falling objects and
any other potential accidents that can occur on site.
Further the community must be protected from
construction dust which can be harmful to the
environment and other people. For this reason it is a
requirement that all sites must be secured through
hoarding (fencing off the site using corrugated
metal sheets) before construction can start. Another
important regulatory requirement is the construction
of a temporary toilet facility to serve the
construction workers during the construction
period.

Various steps
Step 1: Marking out the Foundation
Tools and equipment required:
Measuring tape
Balls of string
Wooden stakes
2 y 4 nails
A level
Carpentry square

Activity Objectives:
To mark off the corners and the walls of the house in order to define the size and exact
location of the structure.
To determine the level of the floor and to level the floor as well.

Activities:
 MARKING THE FLOOR LEVEL - Once the fundi has placed the corner pieces, help
him to determine the level of the floor using string. The construction blueprint indicates
the floor level. Lay the hose on the ground and fill it with water to ensure that this
demarcation is correct.

MARKING THE DITCHES - Outline where the ditches will be with chalk, using the
string as a guideline.

LEVEL THE FLOOR - Level the area where the floor will be by 15 cm, and then level
the area where the sidewalk surrounding the structure will be.
Precautions:
Avoid moving the string that serves as the initial reference mark.
Be careful not to leave nails on the ground or poking out of stakes, as people could step
on them and get hurt.
When removing the string, do not move the stakes, as these will later be used to mark
where the wall will be.
Step 2: Excavation
Tools and equipment required:
Measuring tape
Shovel
Pick
Gloves

Activity Objectives:
To excavate trenches where the foundation will be
laid.
To demarcate how much land will need to be
compacted.

Activities:
ELIMINATE VEGETATION - Use the pick to remove all roots, grass, rocks, remains of
earlier structures, etc. that affect the area where the structure will be built.
EXCAVATION - Dig ditches with a width of 30 cm and a depth of 65 cm (at least). If the
ground is not suitable for construction, then the ditches should be deeper. The exact
profundity will depend on the
measurements taken while marking the
foundation.
Precautions:
 Avoid standing on the edges of the ditches as they might collapse. Protect the areas
already excavated to prevent accidents.
Do not increase or decrease the dimensions of the ditch.

Step 3: Compaction
Tools and equipment needed
Bucket
Shovel
Compactor

Activity Objective:
To make the ground stronger and more solid in order
to ensure the quality of the floors and the foundation

Activities:
MAKING THE CEMENT MIX - Make the cement mixture for the foundation with a
soil:cement proportion of 20:1. Shovel the mixture into the ditches, 1 layer at a time.
Each layer should cover the bottom of the ditches in a uniform way and be 15 cm thick.

COMPACTING - Use the compactor to compact the layers, adding water in a uniform
way and letting it dry to achieve the optimum humidity. Press the compactor on the
ground, without letting it fall through gravity as this could create air bubbles that could
affect the foundation in the future.
Precaution:
Make the mixture according to the established proportions, using the designated buckets
rather than any other instrument that could alter the measurement.

Step 4: Steel Reinforcement

Tools and Equipment Required:
Table or flat surface for bending the rebar
Pliers
Activity Objective:
 To create the rebar structures and ties that will be used to reinforce the foundation and the
concrete walls.

Activities:
CUTTING AND BENDING THE REBAR - Cut and bend the rebar for various
components of the steel framework in the foundation and the walls, always following the
masons instructions. You may bend the rebar pieces into staples in the shape of a
square, the letter U, and the letter L.
TYING THE STAPLES - Place and tie the staples on the rebar rods, always alternating
them so that every other one or every other four staples (depending on the type of staple)
faces a different direction, according to the masons directions.
PLACE THE IRON FRAMEWORK - Help the mason fulfill this task.

Precautions:
Use gloves when handling the steel and the
pliers.
Bend the rebar properly to avoid the staples
being more closed or more open than the
masons specifications.

Step 5: Foundation
Tools and equipment required:
Wheelbarrows
Shovels
Small buckets
Activity Objective:
To build the foundation, this is the base
of the house and will support the walls.
Activities:
LAYING THE STEEL
FRAMEWORK - Position the steel
framework in its correct place2 in.
or 5 cm. above the soil - in the ditches.
Also position the vertical rebar, which
will reinforce the walls.
 PREPARING THE CEMENT MIXTURE - Make a batch of the appropriate cement
mixture every 30 minutes, and transport it to the ditches using buckets or wheelbarrows.
Precautions:
Do not use the concrete mixtures if they were prepared more than 30 minutes earlier.
Prepare the cement mixture according to the designated time frame and using the
indicated proportions.
Step 6: Walls
Masonry walls can be done out of bricks, stones,
or concrete bricks joined by mortar made out of
sand, cement and water. As a general rule bricks
must be of good quality without visible cracks,
be of true size and shape and with straight edges
and even surfaces to improve workmanship and
reduce mortar wastage during laying. Good
building stones on the other hand must be hard,
tough and compact grained and uniform in
texture and colour. In the case on concrete
blocks, its use will determine its size and quality.

Tools and equipment required:

Trowels
Buckets
Shovels
Scaffolding
S-shaped rebar tool
Plumb-line
Level
Gloves
Activity objective
To construct walls for the structure that will provide security and privacy for the users
Activities
TRANSPORTING MATERIALS - Move blocks, sand, cement closer to the house. Hand
up buckets full of the concrete mixtures when the masons request them, but be careful not
to overload the scaffolding.
PREPARING CEMENT MIXTURES - Make mortar for laying blocks, cement mixture
for filling the U-shaped blocks and cement mixture for filling the holes in the blocks
where vertical rebar has been placed. The cement mixture should be runny.
 FILLING HOLES IN THE BLOCKS - Fill the holes in the blocks where vertical rebar
has been placed, pushing the cement mixture down into the crack with a small piece of
rebar as you proceed to make sure that no air bubbles or empty spaces are created.
CLEANING THE MORTAR JOINTS - Use the S-shaped rebar tool to clean the mortar
joints of excess cement before the mortar dries.
Precautions
Do not spread the mortar across long sections of that wall. Otherwise it will dry before
the blocks are laid.
The four walls will be built simultaneously, row by row
The blocks must be clean and completely dry.
Make sure that the vertical rebar stayes correctly placed in the center of the blocks as they
are filled with cement.
Wear gloves when carrying the blocks.

Step 7: Roofing
The main function of the roof is to keep the elements out of the house. But the most important of
this is to keep away water. In this regard one key principle in roof design and construction is to
get water of the roof as quickly as possible without allowing it any opportunity to stand on the
roof. As such pitched roofs are preferred to flat roofs in this country.
Tools and Equipment required:
Hummer
Plumb-line
Level
Gloves

Activities
Determine the pitch/slope of the roof
Layout the trusses on the ground
Hoist the trusses into pace and align them using the level and plumb-line
Fix the parlins on the trusses depending on the roofing material
Fix the roofing sheets using roofing nails and the hammer
Precautions
Be careful when hoisting the trusses into place to avoid accidents
Wear gloves when transporting the roofing sheets to reduce the possibility of cuts
Do not drive the nails in the roof valleys