Building Construction

Building:
A roofed and walled structure built for permanent use, as for dwelling. building construction involves the art and business of assembling materials into structure.

Parts of a Building:

• Sub-structure or Foundations
• Super-structure.

Foundation: It is that part which is in direct contact with the ground and located below the ground level. It transmits all the loads from super-structure to the supporting soil. Hence, foundation is the most important part of the building.

Shallow Foundation: It is the depth of foundation is less than its width, also known as open foundation.

Type of Shallow foundations:

• Grillage: It is provided for heavily loaded steel stanchions in soils of poor bearing capacity. The depth of foundation is generally limited to about 1.5 m.
• Raft Foundation: It is shallow foundation which covers the entire area underneath the structure and supports the walls columns.

Footing: The structural unit constructed in masonry or concrete under the base of wall or a column which distributes the load over a large area is called the footing.

Strip Footing: It refer to a footing that provides a continuous longitudinal bearing.

Combined Footing: A footing that supports two columns is know as combined footing and if it supports more than two columns it is known as a continuous footing. When two footing are joined by a beam it is known as a strap footing.

Type of Deep Foundation:

• Pile Foundation
• Pier Foundations
• Well Foundations or Caissons

Bearing Piles: The piles that transmit the load coming on to suitable bearing stratum are called end-bearing piles or simply bearing piles. 

Friction Piles: The piles that transmit the load coming on it through the friction developed between piles, surface areas and the surrounding soil are called friction piles.

Compaction Piles: These piles do not take any of the load by themselves, but improve the bearing capacity of the surrounding soil through compaction.

Sheet Piles:These are used to reduce the seepage and uplift under hydraulic structure.

Batter Piles:These are used to resist large horizontal or inclined forces.

Cantilever Sheet Piles:These are used to resist large horizontal of coffer dams.

Bed: The lower face of brick or stone is called bed.

Masonry Structure: The construction works of stone, brick or tile, which are hardened by heat are known as masonry structure.

• Stone Masonry : Quarried out building stone is given rough shape at the quarries itself and transported to the site of work.
• Brick Masonry: The construction of brick units bonded together with the help of mortar is called brick masonry.

Flooring:

Timber Floors: These floors are seldom used. In cold storage's however, these are extensively used.

Cement Concrete Tile Floors: Cement concrete flooring tiles have good strength, durability and resistance to wear. these floors good looking and easy to make. The tiles used may be 

• Plain Cement Tiles
• Plain Colored Tiles
• Terrazzo Tiles

Brick Flooring:  In warehouses stores and godowns brick floors are provided where bricks are laid flat or edge arranged in herringbone fashion or set at right angles to the walls.

Flag Stone Flooring: A sand stone with uniform thickness of 4 to 10 cm is called flag stone.

these stone slabs are used to provide flooring.

Some other varieties of flooring's:

• Mud- floors
• Linoleum floors
• Mastic asphalt floor
• Terrazzo flooring cast-in-situ
• Rubber floor
• Cork tile flooring  

General: 

• Stairs: A stair is series of steps suitably arranged for purpose of connecting different floors for a building.
• Tread: The horizontal part of a step on which foot is placed in ascending is known as tread.
• Riser: The vertical portion of step providing a support to the tread is known a riser.
• Quoin Stretcher and Quoin Header: If the length of quoin is parallel to the wall it is called a quoin stretcher and when it is perpendicular it is called quoin header
• Basic: The surface of the wall exposed to weather is called face, which is not exposed called back. 
• Still: The bottom surface of door or a window opening is still.
• Lintel: The horizontal member spanning the window or door opening in a wall and supporting the masonry above the opening is called a lintel.
• Plinth: The horizontal projection at the base of the wall is called plinth.
• Reveals: Jambs are vertical sides of a finished opening for the door or window, and exposed vertical surfaces left out after the door and window has been fixed in position are called reveals.
• Corbel: A projected stone meant to support joist or truss is called corbel.
• Cornice: A projection of ornamental course near the top of the wall or near the junction of wall and roof is called cornice.
• Coping: The covering over and exposed top of a wall is known as coping.
• Throating: The groove made on the underside a projecting element such as sill, cornice etc., so that rain water can be drained clear of the wall is known as throating.  
• Toothing: The bricks left projecting in alternate courses to provide bed for the future extension of the wall is called toothing.
• Tee Junction and Squint Junction: A junction at which two walls meet at 90 degree is called a Tee-junction, and at an angle other than 90 degree it is called squint junction.
• Crown and key: The highest point of arch is called crown and the voussoir at the crown is known as key.
• Spandril: The curved triangular portion between the extrados and the horizontal line through the arch is called spandril.
• Span: horizontal distance between supports is the span.
• Haunch and Arcade: The lower half of the arch between the crown and the skewback is known as haunch. A continuous row of arches with intermediate supports as piers is called an arcade.
• Riser: The vertical portion of the step between two successive treads is called the riser.
• Flight: A continuous series of steps between landings is called the flight.
• Landing: The level platform at the bottom or end of a flight is known as a landing, which facilitates change in the direction of stairs, breaks the monotony in straight stair and provides respite for the users.
• Nosing: The rounded off projected part of the tread beyond the face of the riser is called nosing.
• Scotia: It is moulding provided under the nosing to improve the elevation of the step and to provide strength to nosing.
• Flier: An ordinary step rectangular in plan is called a flier.
• Winders: A group of tapering steps radiating from same point are called winders.
• Roof: It is the uppermost portion of the building. It gives protection to the building from sun, rain and wind. The roof may be flat or inclined. The roofs with inclined surfaces are also known as pitched roofs.
• Head and Sill: In a door or window frame, the top horizontal member is called the head and the bottom one is called the sill.
• Horns: The projections of head and sill beyond the outer vertical edge of the frame are called horns. 
• Style and Rails: In a shutter, the vertical outer member is called the style and the horizontal members are called rails.
• Plastering: A thin coat of mortar applied to the wall surfaces called plastering. 
• Crazing: Development of hair cracks in an irregular pattern of a plastered surface is known as crazing.
• Flaking: Patches of plaster not adhering to the previous coat is called the flaking.
• Pointing: Ranking the joints in masonry to a depth of about 2 cms and filling them with rich mortar is known as pointing.
• Ventilation: The removal of impure air from a building by replacing it with fresh air from outside is called ventilation.