B-n-M

Question posted by one of B-n-M's readers, Muthiah in the comments section of one of our earlier posts titled: "[Readers' Q&A]: Difference between types of cement":

Hi!

Wan i know the difference of OPC and PPC cements

-Muthiah

Team B-n-M answers...

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Dear Muthiah,
This is a very common question people ask. As a quick reference, you can also go through the above-mentioned earlier post and its comments section to get the answer in brief.  Further, let us explain again for easy understanding of yours and all our other interested readers...

OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement) is the basic form of cement with 95% of it being the clinker and 5% being gypsum which is added as an additive to enhance the setting time of the cement to a workable 30 minutes odd or so.  This cement is the standard norm being manufactured and sold by cement manufacturers around the world. As the Understanding-Cement website puts it: "In particular, 'Ordinary Portland Cement' is the normal, grey, cement with which most people are familiar".

However, with changing times and with enhanced energy requirements and associated environmental implications that came along with, the thermal (coal based) power plants the world over started producing multitude of coal ash (commonly known as 'Flyash or Fly Ash'), which is a waste product otherwise, in the form of finely divided residue resulting from the combustion of ground or powdered bituminous coal or sub bituminous coal (lignite) and transported by the flue gases of boilers fired by pulverized coal or lignite.

Then, with the bitter fact the world faced about the disposal of fly ash becoming a serious problem in itself, and on the other hand this fly ash being found to have certain useful cementetious properties, the worldwide statutory and academic bodies allowed addition of up to 35% of fly ash in making the type of cement, commonly known as the Pozzolanic Portland Cement (PPC). This way, the waste product which could have become a serious environmental hazard, has now become a sought-after raw material for manufacture of modern day large-scale produced cement known as the Pozzolanic Portland Cement (PPC).

One common question relating to use of OPC / PPC that people usually ask us is:

Is PPC good to use for the construction of my house/ factory/ repair works/ heavy engineering works?

Some people have presumption that since PPC uses a waste product as an ingredient, it makes it less good than the good old OPC. However, on the other hand PPC has certain distinct advantages over OPC, as listed below:

• Low heat of hydration reducing chances of surface cracks
  
• Longer setting time making it more workable than OPC
• Ultimate strength higher than OPC
• Lower porosity imparting the concrete more water tightness
• Lower manufacturing cost compared to OPC
• Waste utilization making it more environmental friendly
  

Thus, it can be safely inferred that PPC (Pozzolanic Portland Cement) can be used invariably for all common uses that OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement) can be used including one's construction works, concrete works, repair works, finishing works (plastering, flooring, etc.), and the likes.

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WHAT IS COLD WEATHER CONCRETING?

Any operation of concreting, whether mixing, placing, casting, etc., done at about 5 deg.C atmospheric temperature or below is termed as Cold Weather Concreting. Special precautions are required to be taken so as to ascertain the desired qualities of the cast structures in such conditions.

EFFECTS OF COLD WEATHER ON CONCRETE

Before analyzing the remedial measures that one should take while carrying out concreting in extreme cold weather conditions, let us first try to understand what effects the cold weather may impart on the concrete as well as the cast structure.

The major effects which are generally noted are as following:

• Forming of Ice-Lenses: Severe damage may occur if concrete, which is still in the plastic state, is exposed to low temperature; thereby causing the ice lenses to form and expansion to occur within the pores of the mixed and poured concrete.
• Delayed Setting: When the temperature falls to about 5 deg.C or below, the development of concrete strength is retarded compared with the strength that is developed at normal temperatures. The hardening period necessary before the removal of forms is thus increased and the forms cannot be used rapidly.
• Freezing of Concrete at Early Ages: When concrete is exposed to freezing temperatures, there is a risk of concrete suffering irrevocable loss of strength and other qualities, that is, permeability may increase and the durability may be impaired.
• Repeated Freezing and Thawing of Concrete: If concrete is exposed to repeated freezing and thawing immediately after final setting and/or during the hardening period, the final qualities of the concrete are also affected.
• Stress Due to Temperature Differentials: Large temperature differentials within the concrete members may promote cracking and have harmful effects on the durability. Such differentials are likely to happen in cold weather conditions at the time of removal of forms, which more or less act as an insulation barrier

PRECAUTIONS & MEASURES TO BE TAKEN

The major precautions, which are required to be taken for Cold Weather conditions, are listed hereunder:

• The forms should be kept in position longer
• Rapid hardening cement should be used
• Covering the top of concrete surface as well as the forms with insulating material
• Ensuring that the concrete temperature is not less than 5 deg.C at the time of placing it.
• Making sure that the concrete is not placed against a frozen sub-grade or against reinforcement or forms covered with snow or ice.
• Heating the aggregates and water by means of steam or hot blowers.
• Making sure that the concrete is delivered to the point of placing at not less than 10 deg.C, followed by placing quickly and insulating; or making sure that concrete is delivered to the point of placing at not less than 5 deg.C, placing quickly and providing continuous heating to the concrete externally.

OTHER SECONDARY MEASURES

Besides taking the above points into consideration, certain other secondary measures and checks should be adopted:

• While heating the aggregates, the temperature of any particular individual batch should not exceed 65 deg.C. The heating of aggregates higher than 15 deg.C is rarely necessary while using mixing water at 60 deg.C.
• If coarse aggregates are free of frozen lumps, ice and/or snow, only sand should be heated up to a temperature of about 40 deg.C. The heating of aggregates can be done by embedded steam pipes for larger works, or with the help of steel drums embedded in heaped aggregates and filled with firewood in case of small jobs.
• To avoid possibility of flash set when either aggregate or water is heated to a temperature in excess of 40 deg.C, water and aggregate should be mixed together in the mixer before cement is added to it. The heated water should come into contact with the aggregate first and not the cement.
• The Mix design should separately be done for the cold weather conditions and additives if any should be used only on results of the extensive study of the trial mixes made on the mix design.

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Post Tags: Construction, Tutorials, Technical-Jargon

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WHAT IS HOT WEATHER CONCRETING?

Any operation of Concreting done at atmospheric temperature above 40 deg.C; or any operation of Concreting (other than steam curing) where the temperature of concrete at time of its placement is expected to be beyond 40 deg.C may be termed as Hot Weather Concreting. Special precautions are required to be taken so as to ascertain the desired qualities of the cast structures in such conditions.

EFFECTS OF HOT WEATHER ON CONCRETE

Before analyzing the remedial measures that one should take while carrying out concreting in extreme hot weather conditions, let us first try to understand what effects the hot weather may impart on the concrete as well as the cast structure.

The major effects which are generally noted are as following:

• Rapid Hydration: Higher temperatures result in rapid hydration of cement, increased evaporation of mixing water, greater demand of mixing water, and large volume changes resulting in cracks. Climatic factors affecting concrete in hot weather are high ambient temperature and reduced relative humidity, the effects of which may be more pronounced with increase in the wind velocity.
• Accelerated Setting: High Temperature increases the initial setting of concrete. The duration of time during which the concrete can be handled is reduced. Quick stiffening may necessitate undesirable re-tempering by addition of water. It may also result in cold joints.
• Reduction in Strength: High temperature results in the increase of the quantity of mixing water to maintain the workability with consequent reduction in strength.
• Increased Tendency to Crack: Either before or after hardening, plastic shrinkage cracks may form in the partially hardened concrete due to rapid evaporation of water. Cracks maybe developed in hardened concrete either by increased drying shrinkage resulting from greater mixing water used or by cooling of the concrete from its elevated initial temperature.
• Affected Curing: It is difficult to retain moisture for hydration and maintain reasonably uniform temperature conditions during the curing period.
• Difficulty in control of Air Content in Air-Entrained Concrete: It is more difficult to control the air content in air-entrained concrete. This adds to the difficulty of controlling workability. For a given amount of air-entraining agent, hot concrete entrains less air than concrete at normal temperatures.

PRECAUTIONS & MEASURES TO BE TAKEN

The major precautions, which are required to be taken for Hot Weather conditions, are listed hereunder:

• Sprinkling of the stockpiles of coarse aggregates with water and keeping them moist. This results in cooling by evaporation, and this procedure is especially effective when relative humidity is low. Such sprinkling should not be done haphazardly because it leads to excessive variation in surface moisture and thereby impairs uniformity of workability.
• Circulating refrigerated air through pipes or other suitable means may also cool coarse aggregates.
• Ice flakes may be incorporated directly into concrete as part of mixing water in such a way that ice is completely melted by the time concrete is mixed failing which, there can be possibility of ice melting after consolidation of concrete, thus leaving hollow pockets in concrete resulting in detrimental effects.

OTHER SECONDARY MEASURES

Besides taking the above points into consideration, certain other secondary measures and checks should be adopted:

• Forms, reinforcement, and sub-grade may be sprinkled with cold water prior to placement of concrete.
• Fresh concrete, as soon as laid, should be covered by fog sprays, wet burlap, cotton mats, or other similar means.
• Moist curing should commence once the concrete has attained some degree of hardening, sufficient to withstand any kind of surface damage.
• Continuous curing for a period of not less than 10 days should be done without fail since volume changes due to alternate wetting and drying promote development of surface cracks.

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We also accept knowledge sharing guest articles, generic contributions and knowledge-products marketing/sharing content for this blog.Contact: info@bricks-n-mortar.com, team@bricks-n-mortar.com for the same.

Filed under: Construction, Tutorials, Technical-Jargon

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HAVE ANY IDEA WHATS THIS 'WORKING CAPITAL' IS ALL ABOUT???

If not, then read on... And if yes, then also go through! :-)

.

Any construction firm, or in that matter of fact any kind of enterprise, is faced with a continual exercise of a periodic nature that involves deciding upon the amount and composition of the ready available funds in liquid form, which can be made available for meeting the day-to-day requirements of that enterprise. Such liquid capital is always planned apart from the fixed or permanent capital invested over the assets or businesses on a semi-permanent or permanent basis for longer durations of time, and with the intended purpose of earning long-term gains and revenue.

As such, the part of the total capital, which is left out of the permanent capital so as to meet the functional and day-to-day operational requirements, is termed as the Working Capital.

Need of Balancing Between Working & Total Capital

It is of utmost importance for the management and the managers to understand keeping the balance between the extents of the Working Capital with respect to the Total Assets of a particular enterprise.

The greater the relative proportion of the Liquid Assets, the less is the risk of running out of cash for meeting the usual work chores on a day-to-day basis; all other things being equal. However, it should also be understood that the more the assets are kept in liquid state, the lesser is the overall percentage of the totally available assets into the main business, thereby reducing the scope of the probable gains.

On the other hand, reducing the percentage of liquid cash enhances the enterprise’s chances of profitability, but at the same time also increases the risk of falling short of the ready available cash in hand, which may sometimes be required to cater for investing in the new project bids, as well as chances of increasing the risk of dishonoring the maturing in-house obligations also.

Changing Nature of Working Capital

One of the important features of the Working Capital is that it constantly changes its form from enterprise to enterprise depending upon a certain time period, type of business, nature of jobs in hand, nature of resources required to put in place, billing cycles, etc. As such, planning and arrangement for this form of capital needs to be continually reviewed and revised on a periodic basis analyzing the present commitments vis-à-vis the scheduled obligations of the near future.

Basics of Planning for Working Capital

Like mentioned in the previous paragraph, it needs a constant endeavor to plan for the working capital. This planning has to be based upon certain factors involving the enterprise’s business goals, operations, targeted profitability, risk appetite, etc.

The sources, which can be thought of towards planning the working capital, can be:

• Net gains and revenue from operations
• Sale of fixed assets
• Raising long term debt
• Additional issue of equity shares to the public and/or financial institutions
• Retirement of current liabilities below book value

These measures can help generating additional capital for the enterprise, which in turn can be allocated into required present and near future liquid capital requirements.

Determinants of Working Capital

Towards the end of this article, it also becomes essential to know the major determinants controlling the decisions of the corporate managements while planning for their enterprise’s working capital. A few of these major determinants are:

• Nature of business
• Seasonality and the product pattern.
• Construction process
• Turnover of circulating capital
• Prospective growth and expansion plans of the enterprise
• Business cycle fluctuations
• Receivables and payables of the enterprise

Inference

The readers of this article here at bricks-n-mortar, by now, must have got an idea on the concept and importance of the Working Capital in a business scenario. Cash planning is an integral and essential part of the construction industry management so as to keep the targets becoming a reality, and to meet the functional cash requirements at the same time. In a nutshell, enterprises which do not give due importance to working capital planning, are surely doomed not to survive for long. As such, adequate attention as well as importance must be drawn on this aspect by all professionals who want to grow big in their business and/or work fields.

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[Filed under "Tutorials, Technical-Jargon" category(ies) by Team@Bricks-n-Mortar.com]

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An engineering college going subscriber of bricks-n-mortar.com has sent us an email asking,
"WHAT IS A TENDER DOCUMENT?
AND WHAT, IN A NUT-SHELL, DOES IT COMPRISE OF ESSENTIALLY?"

Like George, we understand there are millions & millions of people who must have heard or read this word- "TENDER DOCUMENT", but who always wondered what this Document actually mean/ consist of.

Team@Bricks-n-Mortar today would let you know the basics of the Tender Document and its contents in brief so that the next time you read it somewhere, you are not ignorant anymore. So, lets start right away.....

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LETS KNOW THE VERY BASIC FIRST...

A project essentially comprises of the Owner, the Architect and/or Consultant, the Contractor and the Vendors & Suppliers. Any of the two agencies out of these when come together to work, they agree and commit to work on certain guidelines, which are in the form of a structured quasi-legal document, commonly known as the T
ender Document for that particular work.

In fact, bids and quotations for any particular project work are invited through a Tender Document only, which in later stages in converted into a Contract between the Owner and the successful/ shortlisted bidder.

CONTENTS OF A TYPICAL TENDER...

The tender document essentially explains about the project and its requirements to the intending bidders. The typical contents of a tender document are:

1. Preamble
2. Notice inviting Tenders
3. Instructions to the bidders
4. Form of submission
5. Documents required to be submitted along with the bid
6. Draft of the Agreement proposed to be signed between the two Parties
7. General Conditions of Contract
8. Special Conditions of Contract
9. Trade Specifications including that for Material & Workmanship
10. Bill of Quantities (BOQ)
11. List of Materials proposed to be issued by the Owner
12. Tender drawings and sketches

The above-mentioned contents are now described in brief hereunder so as to let the reader of this article understand what a particular head means in essence.

Preamble:

This part furnishes the general information about the project in brief to the intended bidders. It mainly states the scope of works desired to be executed.

Notice Inviting Tenders (NIT)

A typical NIT furnishes the following information to the Parties:

• Name of the work including the brief details of the same
• Estimated total project cost & time of completion desired by the Owner
• Name and address of the Owner for Tender submission and future correspondence
• Date, time and place by which the bids should be submitted
• The earnest money to be deposited with the bid
• Other relevant information as perceived by the Owner to be obtained from the bidder
  

Instructions to the bidders

This section provides the essential information to the bidders as what is required to be done; what some of the provisions & clauses mean; and what is likely to be the interpretation of these provisions and clauses.

Form of Submission

This section summarizes the instructions about who is authorized to sign the bid on behalf of the bidder, and in what form this authority is to be furnished. It is mostly a set format, which the bidder follows while submitting his bid, subject to he not having any deviations from the written lines.

Documents required to be submitted along with Bid

The Owner often requires certain quasi-legal information from the bidders for their records and legal purposes. These may include the Income Tax related information, Creditworthiness statement from the bidder’s bank, statement of engineering staff, equipment and other resources, experience certificates, etc. Such information lets the Owner know about the credentials of the prospective bidders.

Draft of the Agreement to be signed

The short-listed and selected Party, chosen to carry out the works after due evaluation process, is required to sign an Agreement with the Owner so as to enter into a contract. This Agreement is required by both the Parties involved to safeguard their respective as well as mutual interests. In this context, a draft of the same is formed an integral part of the Tender Document so that the bidder is aware of what it will contain, and can also suggest any changes and/or modifications therein if he does feel so to protect his interests.

General & Special Conditions of Contract

These are more or less a verbatim copied from the standard documents of the State or National Regulatory bodies with practically the same guidelines for almost all the projects of a certain kind. The purpose of providing these guidelines is to let the bidder understand the general technical and quasi-legal bindings that he shall be required have to follow once entering into the Contract.

Specifications & Bill of Quantities (BOQ)

The Specifications specify the guidelines based on which the works are to be carried out in terms of quality. The Bill of Quantities (BOQ) state the Item Rate works listed along with the estimated figures of quantities against the respective items. The bidders are required to state their quotes (rates) for these respective items, based on which their total bid amount is reflected for the Project. The other part of it also lists out the materials that the Owner intends to supply to the Contractor and the recovery rates for the same during reconciliation period.

Tender Drawings & Sketches

The indicative drawings and plans of the major building(s)/ structure(s) are furnished in this section so as to let the bidder envisage about the nature and extent of work involved in the proposed work/ project. The bidder can thus evaluate the necessary resources, material and project cost taking ample cues and planning from these tender drawings.

IN A NUTSHELL...

A Tender Document is therefore nothing but a set quasi-legal guidelines put together in a structured format depending upon various factors like project/ work type; size, scale and nature of the project; and related technicalities involved. Separate works need separate tenders to be floated, which essentially depend upon how many parties are planned to be involved for a particular work/ project. Inviting bids from contractors on the basis of tenders floated as such form the basis for actual work taking shape after the process of planning and conceptualization.

[Filed under "TechTalk, Readers' Queries" category by Team@Bricks-n-Mortar.com]

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A Civil Engineer, and even the common man now, is encountered with a term named: “Composite Floor” so often these days that it seems just another technical term which keeps on encountering every now and then.

So, what exactly is a composite floor?

To understand this element of civil engineering jargon, you would be surfed through a brief article hereunder so as to familiarize all of you with this terminology which you might come across anywhere in the property/realty bazaar~ be it a multi-storied apartment building, an industrial plant structure, an institutional building or even your new age home~ virtually anywhere and everywhere one may say.

This brief article aims to let you understand the basics behind construction of such composite floors and the purpose for which such floors are mainly used for. So, here we present...

A BRIEF TECHNICAL WRITE-UP ON THE COMPOSITE FLOOR CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM...

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General

A Civil Engineer is encountered with a term named: “Composite Floor” so often these days that it seems just another technical term which keeps on encountering every now and then.

So, what exactly is a composite floor? You would be surfed through a brief article hereunder so as to familiarize all of you with this terminology. To start with, let us first understand what purpose such a floor is mainly used for. So, here we go!

Purpose of Providing a Composite Floor

The main purpose of providing a composite floor is to negate the use of the conventional formwork and the necessary props and supports for casting of RCC floor, which need to be kept in place for the requisite number of days, and thereafter to be de-shuttered. Since the said floor is the first main floor of this structure, and at a height of approximately 29m from the ground, casting the floor with conventional shuttering is envisaged to be cumbersome. As such, so as to avoid the time-consuming propping arrangement for such greater height, and to speed up the construction work, this floor shall be cast as a composite floor.

What is a Composite Floor?

A composite floor comprises of a reinforced concrete floor slab and structural steel floor beams acting compositely together.

The scheme mainly consists of profiled steel decking working together with in-situ reinforced concrete. The decking rests over the structural steel floor beams network, which is erected with suitable means. This decking not only acts as permanent formwork to the concrete, but also provides sufficient shear bond with the concrete, so that the two materials act compositely together.

Composite Floor Beams

The composite floor beams (excluding the peripheral beams of the building which shall be RCC beams only) are generally hot-rolled steel sections or suitable built-up steel sections that are erected to make a beam-network, and which act compositely with the slab.

The composite action is normally achieved by welding shear connectors (or studs) through the steel decking and onto the top of the beams before pouring the concrete.

Steel Decking (Deck Sheets)

Decking shall generally comprise of 2mm thick MS folded (profiled) deck plates, with a nominal crest to trough height of approximately 44mm, though the specifications and details may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. The deck sheets shall be primed with Red oxide Zinc Chromate primer.

The deck sheets are hoisted, placed and erected over the floor steel beam sections by means of welding or studs or other suitable means. The shear connectors also help in keeping the decking in place. The decking is cut to shape making proper slots for openings, bases of column projecting above slab level including providing extra supports wherever required.

Shear Connectors

The shear connectors provide sufficient longitudinal shear connection between the beams and the cured concrete so that they act together compositely.

These can be made of 10, 12 or 16mm in diameter steel rods bent in an anchor-lug like shape, and can be fixed by welding.

Casting of Floor

The designed reinforcement is then placed and fixed over the decking sheets. Suitable formwork is provided for the sides of the floor and around the openings, after which the concrete is placed.

Floor/Beam End Limits

The end limits of floor slab and the building peripheral beams are generally matched by a concrete lip-wall section so as to furnish a flush outer surface. This gives a clean finish from the outside from Architectural point of view.

Concrete Embedments

All steel embedments required in the cast surfaces (viz., insert plates, edge angles, curb angles, etc.) shall be fixed at required positions and levels prior to pouring of concrete over the fixed deck sheets.

Indicative Scheme of Casting

For the purpose of illustration, a sequence proposed can be:

a) Cast the RCC beams leaving the dowels for the lip-wall as indicated in the Tender drawing mentioned above, with the insert plates embedded cast in-situ therein wherever shown in the detailed drawing(s).

b) Cast the lip-wall section by re-arranging the forms upto the soffit of the floor slab (i.e., upto the level of the deck sheet).

c) Erect the floor structural steel members, taking due care not to damage the cast lip-wall sections.

d) Erect and fix the deck sheets followed by fixing of reinforcement and required embedments.

e) Fix forms for sides of the floor slab, and for openings and cutouts as per the detailed drawing.

f) Cast the floor slab ensuring requisite quality control and surface finishes.

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This is post is presented in relation to a query received by us from one of our subscribers Mr. Anil Biswas.

[Filed under "TechTalk, Technical-Jargon" category by Team Bricks-n-Mortar.com]

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One of our readers, Mrs. Jacob, has sent us a query seeking the difference between
Floor Area, Carpet Area & Built-up Area of a house.

This is something which every person who wants/ plans to buy a home must know beforehand so that he/ she can have a better deal with the builder/ seller of that particular house/ apartment/ building etc. This is utmost important because the total cost of the deal is worked out based upon one of these area figures only  
[i.e., TOTAL COST = TOTAL AREA x CALCULATED RATE PER UNIT AREA]
As such, it becomes prudent to get accustomed with the various terms used in the realty transactions, like plinth area, covered area, carpet area, built-up area, super built-up area, super area and so on, since the jargon used may leave the customer totally confused and uncertain of what he would be finally getting after getting through the deal putting in his/her hard-earned money.

We, your friendly B-n-M Team, shall chalk out hereunder what the common different terminologies are used for stating the area of a particular house when someone is buying/ selling or even calculating the property tax on it.

The common terminologies used by builders/ sellers/ authorities are:

1. FLOOR AREA (or PLINTH AREA, or COVERED AREA, or BUILT-UP AREA)
2. CARPET AREA,
3. SUPER BUILT-UP AREA

1. Floor Area (Or Plinth Area, Or Covered Area) : It is the area calculated by multiplying the outer-to-outer dimensions of the floor; not considering the boundary walls, but definitely taking into account the house outer walls as well as the inner walls. As such, this term implies to the area covered under outer-to-outer walls of the house.

2. Carpet Area : It is the area which implies to the total clear usable area inside of the house. It is calculated by subtracting the area occupied by the outer and the inner walls of the house from the Total Floor Area. This term, therefore, indicates the area where actually one can walk into, or in other terms can lay a carpet into.

3. Super Built-up Area : It implies to the actual area exclusively for use by the owner (read purchaser or end-buyer) including various floors, and with proportionate addition of the common areas like lobby, staircases, shafts, lift wells and other circulation areas, areas under common facilities like basement, sub-stations, security room, garbage chutes and can you believe even window projections. The area under stilt is also sometimes included in the super area calculations.

Making sense out of these terms, it becomes prudent that the end-buyer must make himself/herself clear as what he/she will get out of a deal as a potential buyer. One can easily realize its importance understanding how each square foot (sq ft) calculated in a particular deal can directly translate into significant amounts that need to be spent purchasing the property.

Hope our dear reader Mrs. Jacob will now have a better idea while making a deal. Hope our other readers also do get benefited understanding this basic realty jargon.

Blog Post Title: [Readers’ Q&A]: What’s the Difference between Floor Area, Carpet Area & Built-up Area?
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Introduction

Construction safety is one aspect, which like quality, is most of the times given minimal attention by the management as well as the personnel at any construction site. Or else, the policies are often well drafted on papers and reports, but seldom put in practice at work sites. The construction firms may give ‘quality’ a serious thought a few times, but the irony is that ‘safety’ is most of the times ignored very easily.

One of the main reasons behind this behavior of the managements and the personnel of the executing agencies could be attributed by the fact that they fear being penalized for neglecting quality in monetary terms, since quality is somewhat which can be very visible at least in the finished products. On the other hand, safety aspects are put on the back burner easily assuming that nothing adverse can happen at work-site. The other adverse factor igniting this attitude is the fact that even in case of some mishaps taking place, it is the insurance companies, which make up for the loss up to the insured value. As such, the contracting firms almost lose nothing more than a meager penalty and/or compensation to the affected.

Understanding the Importance of Safety

It is a general misnomer among the industry personnel and managements that safety practices are more or less designed to save the losses to a life, or a process set-up, or the likes. This certainly is a very narrow view of the overall requirement. The safety and the safety management as a whole must include not only an accident and the resulting injury or loss of limbs/life/etc., but also the socio-economic effects of such instances, which by any means have larger impact to all concerned. In this context, it must be imperative to adopt a holistic approach towards any and all practical factors that may affect the good health as well as the well being of the work force, establishments, and other material assets.

Important Measures To Implement

With the continual rising awareness and requisites put in place by the regulatory bodies worldwide, there has been an endeavor to follow safety guidelines by some of the Managements, Construction firms, Project Owners and the workforce alike. A few of the important measures that are now the requisites for projects, and which are also becoming a part of the signed Contracts are:

· Imparting safety awareness to the workforce of all levels, be it the managers or the ordinary labour

· Promotion of an active safety culture on site

· Ensuring the provision of adequate time and content with regard to health and safety

· Ensuring that hazard identification and risk assessment are carried out throughout the various stages of the project

· Ensuring that first aid and the health & safety monitoring procedures are developed and maintained by quality staffs on a continual basis at work places

· Ensuring the consideration of health and safety issues within the preparation of design and carrying out of the works on site

· Ensuring that staffs at all levels are aware of their responsibilities for health and safety, and who advise and assist others in executing of such responsibilities

· Ensuring that all those working on site have taken part in site safety induction drills

· Ensure that emergency procedures are developed, are in place, and are understood by all parties

· Ensuring that a positive health and safety culture is promoted at all areas of the workplace

· Ensuring that accidents/incidents are adequately investigated and recorded so as not to get repeated

· Conduct frequent health and safety inspections and safety management audits, and following up on actions framed thereafter

Practicing Safety: A Must For All

Observing and practicing safety policies and measures can save numerous lives and enormous amounts of capital that go wasted mostly due to negligence and carelessness. Safety measures should not be seen as mere formalities, but an integral part of any and every work routine.