LOW COST HOUSING

Cost Effective Eco-friendly Technology for Needy People

Prepared By – Suman Nandi

Roll- 13101101024
4th Year, B.Tech
Department of Civil Engineering
Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College
Under The Guidance of – Dr. Arghadeep Biswas
Flow of Presentation :
• Introduction
• Why Low Cost Housing Is Required ?
• Areas from Where Cost Can Be Reduced
• The Cost Factor !
• Selection of Materials
• Materials for Low Cost Housing
• Composites As Low Cost Building Materials
• Laurie Baker’s Improvements
• Glass Fiber Reinforced Gypsum Panel (GFRG) Building System
• Limitations of Use
• Conclusion
• References
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Introduction :
• Use of low cost building materials for construction of low cost housing increases the access to
buildings by low income group peoples.
• Low cost housing can be achieved by use of efficient planning and project management, low cost
materials, economical construction technologies and use of alternate construction methods
available.

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Why Low Cost Housing Is Required ?
• Growing population day by day,

• Increasing cost of land,

• Rising threshold cost of construction,

• Affordable housing for BPL people,

• Easy to build,

• Fulfills the needs of conventional houses,

• We need a solution that is fast, safe and economical too,

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Areas from Where Cost Can Be Reduced :
• Reduce plinth area.

• Use locally available material

• Use energy efficient materials which consumes less energy

• Use environmentally friendly materials

• Pre-plan every component of a house and rationalize the design procedure for reducing the size
of the component in the building.

• By planning each and every component of a house the wastage of materials can be avoided.

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The Cost Factor !

The building construction cost can be divided into two parts namely:
• Building material cost : 65 to 70 %
• Labour cost : 25 to 35 %
• In low cost housing, building material cost is less because –
• the use of the locally available materials.
• Selection of waste and recyclable materials and with an improved design.

• There is huge misconception that low cost housing is suitable for only sub standard
works and they are constructed by utilizing cheap building materials of low quality.

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Selection of Materials :

Low
Embodied
Energy

Locally Pollution
Available Preventing
Material
Selection
Criteria

Recyclable
Non
Toxic

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Selection of Materials :

Low
Embodied
Energy

Locally Pollution
Available Preventing
Material
Selection
Criteria

Recyclable
Non
Toxic

8
Selection of Materials :

Low
Embodied
Energy

Locally Pollution
Available Preventing
Material
Selection
Criteria

Recyclable
Non
Toxic

9
Selection of Materials :

Low
Embodied
Energy

Locally Pollution
Available Preventing
Material
Selection
Criteria

Recyclable
Non
Toxic

10
Selection of Materials :

Low
Embodied
Energy

Locally Pollution
Available Preventing
Material
Selection
Criteria

Recyclable
Non
Toxic

11
Selection of Materials :

Low
Embodied
Energy

Locally Pollution
Available Preventing
Material
Selection
Criteria

Recyclable
Non
Toxic

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Materials for Low Cost Housing :
1.Cement-Waste Slag Brick – The main feature of this is that a lot of waste slag
can be recycled and either natural curing or steam curing for bricks can be
adopted.

2.Lightweight Concrete Block Panel – This panel is used for walling system of
steel reinforced concrete. Main features are-

• These panels are easy to install

• As these panels are prefabricated, these can be installed rapidly

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Materials for Low Cost Housing :
3.Hooking Panel – This panel can be used for wall of low-rise and high-rise
buildings. Main features are –
• The wall is assembled by concrete hooking panel and steel hook,
• The house built with hooking panel is earthquake-proof and fireproof,
• Low-cost: RS-2400/m2 building area

4.Soil cement block technology – It is an alternative method of construction of

.
walls using soil cement blocks in place of burnt bricks masonry.
• This masonry doesn’t require plastering on both sides of the wall.
• The overall economy that could be achieved with the soil cement technology is
about 15 to 20% compared to conventional method of construction.
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Materials for Low Cost Housing :

5.Tata Blue Scope Steel – The Steel Building is easy to build. It helps to reduce
cost by-
• Reducing foundation cost due to lighter superstructure,
• Reduced cranage cost,
• Less labour requirement,
• Fast construction time, etc.

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Composites As Low Cost Building Materials :
• Jute fiber reinforced polypropylene composites,
• Coir fiber reinforced composites,
• Sisal fiber and wollastonite-jute pultruded composites,
• MDF composite containing coir fiber, cashew nut shell liquid
(CNSL) as natural resin and Paraformaldehyde as major constituents.

• Pultrusion is most cost effective method for producing composite profiles. It is

commercially applicable for light weight corrosion free structures, electrical non
conductive systems etc.

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Laurie Baker’s Improvements :

Building on
Sloping Side

Rat Trap
Window Bond
Opening

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Glass Fiber Reinforced Gypsum Panel (GFRG)
Building System :
• Glass fiber Reinforced Gypsum Panel = calcined gypsum + reinforced glass fibers.
• Gypsum is a waste by product of the fertilizer industry
• The panel was originally developed by GFRG Building System,
• Previously this panels were used as load bearing wall only but Prof. Devdas
Menon and Prof. A. Meher Prasad from IIT Madras improved these panels and
they used these panels as horizontal slab.
• This method of construction is not only less expensive(cost 2/3rd), but also less
time consuming,
• Waterproofing is an essential requirement of the construction at different stages.

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Glass Fiber Reinforced Gypsum Panel (GFRG)
Building System :

Foundation Construction
Support for Vertical Wall Placement of Roof Panels

Construction of second storey

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COMPLETED BUILDING, CONSTRUCTED WITH
GFRG PANEL, WITHIN A MONTH

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Advantages of GFRG Panel Over Conventional
Building :
• Less built-up area for the same carpet area.

• High speed of construction is achieved as panels are prefabricated.

• Significant reduction in use of cement, sand, steel and water

• Lower cost of structure: savings in materials, no plastering.

• Lower building weight (panel weight= 43 kg/m2),

• Buildings up to 8-10 storeys can be designed using this load-bearing system, without the
need for beams and columns and even earthquake resistant.

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Limitations of Use :

• The shorter span of slab (floor / roof) should be restricted to 5 m.

• It is ideal if the same floor / roof is replicated for all floors in multi storeyed structure. For any
variations, structural designer needs to be consulted.
• Curved walls or domes should be avoided. In case it is essential, use masonry /concrete for that
particular area.

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Conclusion :
It is now possible to build Speedy and Low Cost Housing for Rural without making any compromises
with the strengths or materials being used. All the above stated techniques and methods also help
in saving energy.

Low cost construction is a concept which is generalized and based on

three factors which are structural design, method of budgeting & cost
cutting and materials used. So, all these three factors must be
optimized for low cost construction.
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References :
1. https://theconstructor.org/construction/low-cost-housing-
construction-technique/14858/
2. https://www.masterbuilder.co.in/building-materials-for-low-cost-
housing-segments/
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUQEUcB7cMM&t=480s
4. http://www.engineeringcivil.com/low-cost-housing.html
5. ‘A Manual of Cost Cuts For Strong Acceptable Housing’ by
‘Ar.Laurie Baker’
6. 

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Thank You !

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