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Bernard Lefebvre
Joined: 02 Jun 2004
Posts: 20
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 Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 12:57 am Post subject: Low cost housing |
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As part of on-going discussions on low cost housing
Recently, Clark Boyd a technology correspondent for the BBC was reporting that some American scientists, engineers and architects thought that there was a better way to rebuild Afghanistan using polystyrene. The project is lead by the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists to replace mud bricks which have been used for centuries. The article can be read at:
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/3528716.stm >
Extracts from the FAS research and development paper.
<< Styrene pellets are a worldwide commodity and can be expanded by a factor of 25 into sheets using a comparatively inexpensive (~$200K) plant. The walls and roofs (made of the same material) are light-weight, easily assembled, and very inexpensive. They are remarkably strong in earthquakes and fail gracefully. The panels require no wood beams for wall or roof structures. The cement-coated styrene provides all needed load-bearing. Haddock came up with a building panel called Thermasave, a panel with a 4- to 12-inch-thick core of expanded polystyrene sandwiched between two half-inch sheets of cement. On a construction site, the 120-pound, 4-by-8-foot panels.>>
To bring the foam concept to Afghanistan, Henry Kelly turned to Shelter for Life International, a nonprofit group that has been building homes in Central Asia since 1979. They plan to build 20 test homes this summer in Kabul with imported foam walls held in place by wire mesh and hand-plastered with cement. The next step is to raise $100,000 to build a fabrication plant in Kabul, where styrene beads, easily imported from Pakistan or India, could be steamed into polystyrene blocks and sliced into sheets.
The FAS scientists figure a 226-square-foot home with 10-inch-thick walls would require $523 in foam and another $370 in concrete, in line with the $1,000 cost of a traditional mud-brick home. >>
Simple calculations indicate that 112 panels (4 in. thick) could be imported in a 20 ft container (only 20 ft containers can be shipped to Kabul as per road conditions from Pakistan). Shipping a 20 ft container to Kabul cost approx. $4,000. with an additional $1,000. for purchasing the container (as containers cannot be brought back from Afghanistan). Then the shipment cost of each panel would be approx. $45.
A 256 square foot home built out of 24 panels of 4 ft x 8 ft x 4 in. thick would cost in transportation $1,080. – not including the cost of the materials! Or a factory at $200 K or $100 K could be installed in Afghanistan!
Polystyrene is petroleum based - a non-renewable material.
One can only wonder on the appropriateness of the technology offered for low cost housing in Afghanistan by the FAS.
The research and development paper of the FAS can be read at:
http://www.fas.org/main/content.jsp?formAction=297&contentId=64
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VWall
Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 17
Location: Phoenix, AZ USA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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What is low cost housing? Does that mean one design to be used for everybody everywhere? Does it matter if it is ugly or beautiful? Does it have to include some number of rooms, or a certain area? Must it include all the modern necessities (electric lights, water, glass windows, etc)? How long must it last in normal use?
I suggest that the above questions are really important. Perhaps we can collect some questions that should be investigated before attempting to define "low cost housing". I will begin:
1. Why are the people unable to erect houses for themselves?
- Do they live in a war zone?
- Is the area subject to natural disasters?
- Does the political climate or other condition prevent them from earning a livable income?
- Are they refugees, vagabonds, bums, or otherwise transient?
- Are they in the habit of destroying their possessions? (That is a major problem for some people in US cities.)
2. How long might the proposed houses be needed?
- Will they last that long?
- Will they be pleasant enough that people will continue to live in them when they can afford something else?
- What about fire hazards?
- What about insects or vermin?
3. What weather must the houses endure?
4. What exactly does "low cost" mean?
- Materials?
- Labor?
- Shipping expenses?
- Training?
- Maintenance?
5. How does durability relate to overall cost?
6. Do the people have some cultural requirement relating to house construction? (About 50 years ago the US government erected prefabricated houses on indian reservations. The indians didn't know what they were and built their hogans beside them.)
7. Is the housing to be paid for by someone other than the occupants, and do their priorities differ from the occupants?
8. How will the existing political structure be affected by improved housing?
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Bernard Lefebvre
Joined: 02 Jun 2004
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 9:31 pm Post subject: Affordable Housing |
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A better definition for low-cost housing would be affordable housing for poor or low-income individuals and families. It does not necessarily mean individual houses and it also include rental housing. This definition would include a wider range of housing types in terms of their costs relative to lower income segments of the population of different areas and countries. Affordable housing would then include housing that lower income families can afford to build themselves or participate in their construction as some form of equity or acquire through some form of aid as in housing cooperatives or afford to rent with their income.
Of course housing projects should include basic utilities such as electricity, water and sanitation. Affordable housing units should be built with strong and durable materials so that they can last with a minimum of maintenance at least 20 to 25 years or a period corresponding to the term of loans and mortgages.
As an example, the Thai government is currently promoting through banks a five-year program to construct one million low-cost (affordable) housing units at a maximum cost of $10,000./unit including land and utilities. There are two types of units of approximately 40m2: condominium/apartment units of various types ranging from four to eight floors and single houses. Through a bidding process, the housing projects are developed by the private sector. With a 15 years mortgage, the monthly payment for these units is approximately $100. which is an affordable amount for lower income families in Thailand.
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Bernard Lefebvre
Joined: 02 Jun 2004
Posts: 20
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VWall
Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 17
Location: Phoenix, AZ USA
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| Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 2:45 pm Post subject: Low cost building material? |
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India's condoms pop up in the strangest places
August 14, 2004
Despite a population explosion and a growing AIDS problem, free condoms are being used in unusual ways, writes Rahul Bedi in New Delhi.
Millions of the condoms distributed free in India to combat AIDS and a soaring population are being used for other purposes such as waterproofing roofs, reinforcing roads and even polishing saris, say health workers.
In fact, only a quarter of the 1.5 billion condoms manufactured each year in India were being "properly utilised", said a report by doctors at King George's Medical University in Lucknow.
According to two university reports, rural villagers have used them as disposable water containers to wash, after relieving themselves in the fields. India's military have covered gun and tank barrels with condoms as protection against dust.
Of the 891 million condoms meant to be handed out free, a considerable proportion were acquired by road-building contractors who mixed them with concrete and tar and used the mixture to construct roads, rendering road surfaces smooth and resistant to cracks.
Builders spread a bed of condoms beneath cement plastering on roofs, ingeniously preventing water seepage during the monsoon rains.
Weavers in Varanasi used around 200,000 condoms a day to lubricate their looms and to polish the gold and silver thread used to embroider the saris they produced. Sari maker Yusuf Bhai said they purchased the condoms from agents, who reportedly acquired them from agencies involved in family planning and AIDS prevention schemes.
The Government began distributing free condoms in the 1960s to stem India's galloping population growth.
The country's population stood at 1.03 billion on March 1, 2001, when the figure was last tabulated and is estimated to touch 1.46 billion by 2035, overtaking China's.
Top census official J. K. Banthia recently said India had added 182 million people between 1991 and 2001, which is more than the estimated population of Brazil.
India adds about 1815 people to its numbers every hour - around 15.67 million each year.
India also has one of the world's largest number of HIV positive cases and distributing free condoms is one way the Government seeks to combat this multiplying menace.
LINK
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HSN_FATHY
Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 10
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