Construction and Building Materials

Introduction to Building Materials

At the end of this article, you will be able to:

• Define building materials.
• Classify the types of building materials.
• Correlate the performance and selection criteria of construction and building materials.

Almost everybody who wishes to settle in there life dream to build their own home. An average person, spends half of his earrings in building his own house. In this process some get success while others do not. This is due to the cost of construction and specially in buying construction material. Selecting the right construction materials, is one of the toughest task of a construction engineer. Hence he or she has to know the

• Classification
• Performance and
• Economics of the building materials.

Only by being aware of this an engineer can use the construction materials in a sustainable manner.

Common Building Materials

Building materials are the materials to construct any civil structure. With the help of these materials, several civil structures are constructed. For example, buildings, damps, skyscrapers , towers etc.

These building materials are broadly classified into 2 main categories. They are:

1. Natural Building Materials.
2. Artificial Building Materials.

1. Natural Building Materials

The building materials that are available naturally are known as natural buildings materials. Examples: mud, stone, sand , wood, leaves, lime and fibres.

MUD - In the early stages when people started to build houses, mud was one of the first material they preferred. People used mud , cow dung and straws to build houses. Still this concept is used to build wall cladding and flooring of modem construction. Moreover the combination of mud and cement , provides excellent durability to the finishing surface.

STONE - Another important construction material is stone which has been used for ages. It is widely used in different components of building such as walls, floors, foundations and roof etc. Usually stones are optioned from natural bodies and processed to put into use. Some of the stones which are commonly used are granite, marble, sandstones, limestone etc.

SAND - With the rock when it is disintegrated, small grains are produced subsequently to form sand. The source of sand of construction is usually bits and reversed. Sands are use to create many building

WOOD - Nature's most abundant material is wood and it's most important material in all period. The main source of wood are Deodar, Teak and Bamboo. People use mainly for the construction of windows, doors, ceiling , roofing etc.

LIME - Due to its various benefits , lime is nick named as nature's cement. Though lime got replacement in most of the areas in construction, it continued to serve in the areas which are economically weak. In building construction they are used as a damp proofing material in floors and roofs.

FIBRES - Fibres are used in construction from ancient ages. The main sources are coconut husk, jute fibres, banana leaves etc. Some of the commonly used fibres in building construction are sisal fibre, coir fibre , bamboo fibre etc.

Performance and Economics of natural building materials.

Most of the natural building materials have a good durability due to their natural origin. Apart from that they are easily available to repair and maintain stable temperature irrespective of the seasons. Since such material are naturally available , natural building materials are very cheap when compared to the artificial building materials.

2. Artificial Building Materials

The materials that undergo human processing are artificial building materials or manmade materials. Some of the examples are cement, bricks, tiles, glass, metal, plastic etc.

CEMENT - Cement is widely used in construction today for its strength and durability. It has the ability to bind with loose particles such as gravel and broken stones. One of the main function of cement is it's quick setting property which made it most famous building material.

BRICKS - Another most extensively used material, brick is made up of killed fire material like clay. It has good insulation property against sound and heat and it's the most important quality.

TILES - Tiles are produced using hard wearing materials like ceramic. Tiles are used in flooring, roofing , paving.

GLASS - Glass is manufactured by heating soda , lime and sand. Glass is widely used as construction materials for glazing doors and windows in the form of template glass. Glass is used for sound proof partition.

METAL - One of the important backbones of all the construction products is metal and it's sub product. Metal is used as a construction material in 2 forms:

a. Ferrous Metal.

b. Non- Ferrous Metal.

Performance and Economics of Artificial Building Materials.

Most of the artificial building materials have good sensitivity as they are designed manually. Some materials like cement and metal have good durability and shear strength. When compared to natural materials they are little expensive and require proper knowledge before buying and putting into use. Some of the factors to be considered while selecting the building materials are:

• Utility
• Durability
• Availability
• Ease of maintenance
• Cost