Foundation

• The ground under the building has to bear the

Title: Good Construction Practices weight of a house.
• If it is weak soil, the foundations must be made
Date: stronger.
• Foundations are best when continuous under
the house

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Foundation - contd. Bad foundation

• Soil type on which building is built - sand, rock,

clay should be ascertained.
• Soil for a good foundation that can carry the
weight of a house must be well drained so that it
is dry and not waterlogged.
• Waterlogged soil can become liquefied in an
earthquake - turn to a semi-liquid –structures may
sink into the ground.
Good structure –bad foundation
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Good concrete foundation Layout excavation and soil filling

• Mark the boundaries prior to excavation.
• Use a right angle and line-string to mark perpendicular lines
at various distances for foundations and columns.
• Always maintain the depth and level of the excavation with
water and plinth level.
• Sometimes, the underground water seeps into the
foundation pits. Drain out the water before the foundation
concrete is cast.
• Creating drains beside trenches or shallow sumps at the
corners is recommended.
• The water collected in the trenches/sumps can then be
drained using a dewatering pump or bucket.

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 Layout excavation and soil filling-
filling-contd. Coherent structure

• Excavate until you reach the hard strata, as indicated in the design
drawings.
• Clean and water the bottom surface, before it is rammed.
• It is advisable to lay 2-3 inch thick plain cement concrete below the
RCC foundation.
• In case of black cotton soil or soil types with low load bearing
capacity, use pile foundations or continuous foundations.
• Fill in the trench up to the floor level when the foundation is cast or
plinth is constructed, by soil filling. Murram filling is a good choice.
• Filling should be done in layers of maximum 6" thickness, sprinkling
each soil layer with water before compaction, using a ram or plate
compactor. If murram or good quality clay is not available, use sand
for filling with adequate watering
• The Building needs a Coherent Structure -structure of
columns and floors which are all joined to each other in a
regular format.
– 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

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Good structural design - principles Masonry Wall

• 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.
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• Restrict window/door openings to minimum so that
walls can better resist seismic loads
• Ensure window or door openings do not exceed
dimensions in code.
• Make sure that the total length of openings does not
exceed 50% of the length of wall between consecutive
cross walls for single storey buildings 40% for 2-storey
buildings, and 33% for 3-storeyed.
• Make sure that top level of door and window
openings is constant to enable lintel bands to be
easily placed over total length of wall face.
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Good structural design - example Good structural design - example

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 Bad structure
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Bad structure
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Good design with good materials , practices
Even with the best design, poor construction
practices and wrong materials can prevent a
house from protecting its residents
The choice of building materials, such as
sand and gravel, affect the strength of the
building, and care must be taken to choose
the best materials. Mixing good clean
ingredients with as little water as possible
makes strong concrete
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Bad structure
• The columns are very poor, made in many stages with gaps in
concrete in between
• The columns are also too small because the bricks were laid first,
the columns were made to fit within the thickness of a brick, and
there was not enough room for properly covering the column
reinforcement.
• There is no ring beam over the window, which has a wooden frame
that has been placed in the wall after most of the window opening
was made, making it very weak to a lateral force from a hazard
impact.
• If the wood of the window frame deteriorates, the wall will begin to
crack and may then collapse.
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Bad structure
• Another example of a reasonably designed
house which has too little attention given to
bracing the walls against lateral forces.
• No strengthening is provided around openings in
the walls and the total length of openings is too
much.
• They will be subject to cracking under stress,
which will be hard to repair
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Quality test for the material
• Fine aggregates:
– Sand used for concrete should be free from cay lumps and silt
content should be with in the specified limit (3% by weight)
– Coarse sand should be sieved to remove stones, fine particles and
dust.
– If the sand comes from a dirty or sea water source, it must be
•
washed.
Coarse aggregates:
– Coarse aggregate should well graded, it should not be too much flaky,
and free from dust coating and other impurities.
– Aggregates should be free of plant wastes like leaves and twigs.
• Cement:
– Cement used for concrete should be fresh it should not contains
lumps. Cement stored for longer should be tested before use.
• Water:
– Water of potable quality should be used in mixing. In no case
seawater should be used for RCC.
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 Steel rods
• Steel rods should be free from loose rust, oil paints,
and mud and cut, bent and fixed properly. The bars
should be placed and maintained in position by
using proper cover blocks, spacers, supporting bars
and laps.
• For general house construction, 6 to 20 mm
diameter bars are used. Mild steel bars and
deformed bars are used, with the latter used most
commonly nowadays.
• Thermo-mechanically treated (TMT) and corrosion-
resistant steel (CRS) bars with added features give
added advantage.
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Shuttering
• The formwork or shuttering should be rigid and
closely fitted with sufficient strength to support
wet concrete. It should be leak proof to prevent
the cement-sand-water mix from leaking. The
face of the formwork should be treated with
form release agents available in the market.
• They are made of either steel plates or water
proof plywood.
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Cover blocks
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Steel rods
• The steel must be stored above the surface of the
ground upon platforms, skids, or other supports and
shall be protected from damage and deterioration.
This prevents excessive rusting that would occur if
sitting directly on the ground. It also prevents mud
and dirt from collecting on the steel.
• It is preferable to store different sizes (dia) in
separate stacks.
• When placed in the work, reinforcement shall be
free from dirt, paint, grease, oil, or other foreign
materials. Reinforcement shall be free from defects
such as cracks and laminations
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Cover blocks
• Cover blocks are placed to prevent the steel rods from getting
exposed to the atmosphere, and to place and fix the
reinforcements as per the design drawings.
• Cover block should have strength similar to the surrounding
concrete, with the least perimeter so that chances of water to
penetrate through periphery will be minimized. Provision of
minimum covers as per the Indian standards for durability of the
whole structure should be ensured.
• Normally covers blocks are made of cement sand mortar (1:3) ratio
with minimum water for M 20 concrete.
• Shape of the cover blocks could be cubical or cylindrical. Thickness
of block indicates thickness of the cover. Normally, cubical cover
blocks are used. As a thumb rule, minimum cover of 2” in footings,
1.5” in columns and 1” for other structures may be ensured
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Concrete batching
• Mixture proportion appropriate for the job (either
nominal or design) should be used.
• Correction for the moisture content / water
absorption in aggregate should be given and total
water content in the mix should be adjusted
appropriately.
• Incase of volume batching bulkage correction for fine
aggregate should be given.
• Slump appropriate for the job should be maintained.
Too little or too much slump would spoil a otherwise
good concreting job
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 Checklist for concreting work –column
Workability for various jobs – IS:456:2000 reinforcement
• Marking of location and center of columns should
be done properly for the exact positioning..
• Column reinforcement should be perpendicular to
the plinth or floor slab (or at an angle s per the
drawing e.g.. V-columns) as per the required height.
• Arrangement of reinforcement and ring spacing
should be checked if they are as per the RCC
drawing.
• Reinforcement should be bound tightly with
binding wire at lapping points.
• Cover blocks should be placed properly.
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Columns Ring steel bent at 135º

• Bars should be anchored in the foundation.
• End of ring end should be bent 135º into the
center of the column.
• All reinforced concrete columns should be made
in one part before walls are built up. They should
not be made in small steps as walls are built up
• Column steel must be covered with a minimum
of 40- 50 mm of concrete all around

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Lap length Lapping

• Lap length is provided at the junction where an old

bar that terminates and joins the new extension bar.
Lap length of about 50 times the diameter of the bar
is considered safe. All laps should be staggered and
not provided at one place.
• If the required lap length is not available at the
junction owing to space and other constraints,
couplers or the correct method of welding should be
used to join the bars

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 Lapping Anchorage length
• This is the additional length of steel of one
structural member necessary for insertion with
another member at the junction. For example,
the beam with the pillar, or the pillar with the
foundation. The required length is similar to the
lap length mentioned above or as per design
instructions

Acceptable Splicing Pattern- 33% (4 of the 12 bars) within the box are spliced

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Coolum shuttering Vibration -compaction

• Size of columns should be checked as per the drawing, while
assembling shuttering.
• Diagonals and plumb on both sides should be checked.
• Supporting system should be adequate and should be checked
properly to avoid the bulging during concreting.
• Level up to which the concreting is to done should be marked.
• All the joints should be sealed properly to avoid the leakage of
cement slurry.
• MS clamps should be placed at every 60 cm. Interval.
• All the shuttering should be oiled in thin layer from inside to
prevent sticking of concrete.
• Concrete vibrators are not used only to consolidate the
concrete for maximum density, but they also internally
blend the different lifts of concrete together into a single
solid mass with few to no air pockets and no lift lines on
the finished exposed surface.
• After deciding whether to use internal or external
vibration, there are four things to consider in making an
appropriate choice: frequency, amplitude, power, and
size.

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Vibration of concrete Improper vibration

• Under Vibration
– Honeycombing
– Excessive entrapped air
– Cold joints
– Subsidence cracking
• Over vibration
– Segregation
– Sand streaks
– Loss of entrained air
– Form deflection
– Form damage or failure

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 Effect of compaction on strength After casting
• The de-shuttering of column should be done
after 24 hours.
• Honeycombing if any should be rectified
immediately.
• Date of casting and column no. should be
written on column.
• Adequate curing should be done preferably
for a period of 10 days.

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Beam – column junction Formwork stripping

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Form and Slab Curing

• Curing has a major influence on the properties of hardened
concrete such as durability, strength, water-tightness, wear
resistance, volume stability, and resistance to freezing and
thawing
• Proper concrete curing applications involves keeping newly
placed concrete moist and avoiding temperature extremes
for at least three days.
• A minimum of ten day curing time is recommended.
• Begin the curing as soon as the concrete has hardened
sufficiently to avoid erosion or other damage to the freshly
finished surface.
• This is usually within one to two hours after placement and
finishing
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 Curing column Curing by plastic wrapping

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Membrane Curing Spray curing membrane

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Effect of curing on strength Curing methods

• Keep water on the concrete during the curing period.

These include
– ponding or immersion,
– spraying or fogging, and
– saturated wet coverings.
• Such methods provide some cooling through
evaporation, which is beneficial in hot weather.
• Curing can also done by
– covering the concrete with impervious paper or plastic
sheets,
– applying membrane-forming curing compounds

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 Curing - considerations
• application equipment required,
• materials available,
• size and shape of the concrete surface

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