Steel Balustrade Design.

Steel Balustrade Design.

Balustrades are rail fixtures that are fixed along the edge of a building opening or passage.

They have 2 uses:

1. To prevent people from accidentally falling down especially in high rise buildings passages.
2. To add aesthetic value and appeal to a building.

A well designed balustrade should be well anchored on the concrete slab so as to reduce any chances of causing an accident if a person were to lean on it.

To anchor securely, the number of steel columns at the bottom that will be anchored to the ground should be many and closely spaces.

See the picture below.

steel balustrade design

balustrade design

The bottom section of the steel should be shaped in a fish-tail shape so as to hold strongly into the concrete. If possible, some sections should be welded to the steel reinforcement inside the slab.

A well designed balustrade should also not have wide spaces in between steel sections. This is to prevent instances where small children can fit within the balustrade spaces and accidentally fall over. The spaces should be between 50mm and 150mm to prevent this.

The recommended balustrade height is 1.2 meters from the ground level.

I personally recommend 1.5 meters height for levels above the ground floor level. This is because the height discourages people from tending to sit on the balustrade hence reducing the chances of any accidents.

Steel balustrades can be designed in so many ways. An easy way to make them appeasing is to use the steel thickness to come up with a good design as shown in the picture above.

By use of 3 different thicknesses,10mm, 25mm and 50mm, this breaks monotony and achieves the desired aesthetics.

Frank Gichuhi.

Architect.

http://www.housedesignwebsite.com

Sample Construction Contract

http://www.a4architect.com/2010/04/15/standard-tender-document-for-procurement-of-works-building-and-associated-civil-engineering-worksconstruction-contract/

Sample Construction Contract Agreement

FORM OF AGREEMENT

THIS AGREEMENT, made the _________________ day of ________ 20 ______ between________________________________________________of[or whose registered office is situated at]__________________________________________

(hereinafter called “the Employer”) of the one part AND

________________________________________________________of[or whose registered office is situated at]_________________________________________

(hereinafter called “the Contractor”) of the other part.

WHEREAS THE Employer is desirous that the Contractor executes

________________________________________________________________________

(name and identification number of Contract ) (hereinafter called “the Works”) located at______________________________[Place/location of the Works]and the Employer has accepted the tender submitted by the Contractor for the execution and completion of such Works and the remedying of any defects therein for the Contract Price of Kshs___________________________[Amount in figures],Kenya Shillings_____________________________________________[Amount in words].

NOW THIS AGREEMENT WITNESSETH as follows:

1. In this Agreement, words and expressions shall have the same meanings as are respectively assigned to them in the Conditions of Contract hereinafter referred to.

1. The following documents shall be deemed to form and shall be read and construed as part of this Agreement i.e.

(i)                 Letter of Acceptance

(ii)              Form of Tender

(iii)            Conditions of Contract Part I

(iv)             Conditions of Contract Part II and Appendix to Conditions of Contract

(v)                Specifications

(vi)             Drawings

(vii) Priced Bills of Quantities

3.       In consideration of the payments to be made by the Employer to

the Contractor as hereinafter mentioned, the Contractor hereby

covenants with the Employer to execute and complete the Works and remedy any defects therein in conformity in all respects with the provisions of the Contract.

1. The Employer hereby covenants to pay the Contractor in

consideration of the execution and completion of the Works and the

remedying of defects therein, the Contract Price or such other sum

as may become payable under the provisions of the Contract at the

times and in the manner prescribed by the Contract.

IN WITNESS whereof the parties thereto have caused this Agreement to be executed the day and year first before written.

The common Seal of  _________________________________________________

Was hereunto affixed in the presence of  ________________________________

Signed Sealed, and Delivered by the said  ______________________________

Binding Signature of Employer  ________________________________________

Binding Signature of Contractor  _______________________________________

In the presence of  (i)  Name_______________________________________

Address_____________________________________

Signature___________________________________

[ii] Name _______________________________________

Address_____________________________________

Signature____________________________________

Frank Gichuhi.

Architect.

http://www.a4architect.com

+254721410684

info@a4architect.com

How to Start a Machine-cut stone manufacturing business.

How to Start a Machine-cut stone manufacturing business.

Demand for machine-cut building and construction stone is very high in Nairobi and Kenya in general.

Currently, one has to wait for an average of 2 days to get an order as the queue is usually very long. The Lorries in the video below are all waiting to get a chance to load. Most of them will get their chance the next day.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp_Tk4ALYsA

In Nairobi, the best machine-cut stones are found in Juja near Thika area.

The most prudent method of acquiring land is to approach a land owner and lease a few acres of land.

You then acquire the stone cutting machine.

The machine has diamond cutting teeth which can easily cut through stone. See the video below.

The machine is laid on a rail track. The rail track sets the size of the stone. The most common stone sizes are 200mm thick, 150mm thick and 100mm thick. All stone size prices are the same.

Price

The stone price varies with the quality of stone. When the quarry is new, i.e. the stones on the top layer of the quarry are soft; these can go for as low as 15 shillings each.

A Caterpillar Dozer is used to level the ground for the stone –cutting machine to move on. See the video below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2jeW0qx1Dw

The stones on the lower section of the quarry are hard and sell for 27 shillings per piece.

A piece is of dimensions 200mm by 400mm by 200mm.

Structural tests

The soft stones can not be used on external walls or where the building structural design is made such that the masonry walling carries the load.

If used for structural walls, this can lead to the building collapsing. If used on external walls, they sip water into the house when it rains.

How to check the stone quality.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS-0_B6V4sE

In the many years of experience in the course of my constructions, I have deduced an easy way to recognize a strong stone form a weak stone. A strong stone contains specs of glittering sand.

A weak stone contains specs of white spots.

Another easier way is to lift the stone till shoulder height and drop it against another stone. If it crushes, then its weak. The disadvantage of this method is that some porous stones will not break when dropped against other stones but when rained on, they sip in water into the house and get weak over time when exposed to rain. These kinds of stone should be used internally or when used externally, should be plastered.

Frank Gichuhi

Architect.

Points to Check before buying a plot.

Points to Check before buying a plot.

1. Encumbrances. Check with the Ministry of Lands if there are any Caveats put on the plot.

2. Ascertain ownership.
Check with the Ministry of Lands who is the registered owner of the land. Its also prudent to check with the neighbors to get the physical appearance and current contacts of the owner.
In Kenya, there has been incidences where people steal the identity of the real land owner and sell to unsuspecting customers. By confirming the owner from the neighbors, this will reduce such a risk.

3. Ability to appreciate in Value.
Most land appreciates in value. The prospect of new infrastructure will play a big role in increasing the value of the land.
Currently, land in Juja, Thika, Kenya is appreciating very fast due to the construction of Thika road into a several-lane highway and construction of a by-pass on the behind side of Juja. There is also the fact that Wilson airport is planning to relocate to this area.
Land in Kitengela, Athi River and Syokimau is also appreciating very fast with the completion of Mombasa road Highway.

4. Check with the Meteorological department.
Check to see if the land sits on a wetland. Some land can be actually on a dried up seasonal river , lake or swamp. If you are not careful, once the rains start, the whole plot gets submerged or the building gets swept by the river floods.
Areas such as Runda and Membley estate, Thika road are prone to such plots. With a good structural design, the building can be raised with collumns to a level above the flood water level.

5. Check the soil type.
If you are planning to build a house, foundations with black cotton soil are more expensive since all the soil has to be excavated from the site. This is due to the fact that black cotton soil expands when it rains hence pushing the floor slab and foundation up. It then shrinks when it dries hence pulling the floor slab down.This expansion and contraction results in structural cracks.

If the black cotton soil is more than 1.5 meters deep, it becomes too expensive to excavate it. A good solution is to use the suspended foundation where collumns are sunk and footed at stable ground. The collumns are raised till just above ground level then the ground floor suspended on the columns. This reduces the excavation to only at the collumns.

Red soil is more stable so foundations can be laid on stable excavated ground 1.5 meters deep.

Areas with volcanic soils such as Nakuru will require a different type of foundation called a raft foundation for high-rise construction. Once the soil is excavated, a concrete slab is laid on the bottom and collumns emanate from there. This creates a very stable foundation to support the building.

Frank Gichuhi
http://www.prismafrica.com

Points to Check before buying a plot.

Points to Check before buying a plot.

1. Encumbrances. Check with the Ministry of Lands if there are any Caveats put on the plot.

2. Ascertain ownership.
Check with the Ministry of Lands who is the registered owner of the land. Its also prudent to check with the neighbors to get the physical appearance and current contacts of the owner.
In Kenya, there has been incidences where people steal the identity of the real land owner and sell to unsuspecting customers. By confirming the owner from the neighbors, this will reduce such a risk.

3. Ability to appreciate in Value.
Most land appreciates in value. The prospect of new infrastructure will play a big role in increasing the value of the land.
Currently, land in Juja, Thika, Kenya is appreciating very fast due to the construction of Thika road into a several-lane highway and construction of a by-pass on the behind side of Juja. There is also the fact that Wilson airport is planning to relocate to this area.
Land in Kitengela, Athi River and Syokimau is also appreciating very fast with the completion of Mombasa road Highway.

4. Check with the Meteorological department.
Check to see if the land sits on a wetland. Some land can be actually on a dried up seasonal river , lake or swamp. If you are not careful, once the rains start, the whole plot gets submerged or the building gets swept by the river floods.
Areas such as Runda and Membley estate, Thika road are prone to such plots. With a good structural design, the building can be raised with collumns to a level above the flood water level.

5. Check the soil type.
If you are planning to build a house, foundations with black cotton soil are more expensive since all the soil has to be excavated from the site. This is due to the fact that black cotton soil expands when it rains hence pushing the floor slab and foundation up. It then shrinks when it dries hence pulling the floor slab down.This expansion and contraction results in structural cracks.

If the black cotton soil is more than 1.5 meters deep, it becomes too expensive to excavate it. A good solution is to use the suspended foundation where collumns are sunk and footed at stable ground. The collumns are raised till just above ground level then the ground floor suspended on the columns. This reduces the excavation to only at the collumns.

Red soil is more stable so foundations can be laid on stable excavated ground 1.5 meters deep.

Areas with volcanic soils such as Nakuru will require a different type of foundation called a raft foundation for high-rise construction. Once the soil is excavated, a concrete slab is laid on the bottom and collumns emanate from there. This creates a very stable foundation to support the building.

Frank Gichuhi
http://www.prismafrica.com

Ergonomic design for Furniture

Space needed for a piece of furniture is calculated from the design and shape of the furniture. The architect studies the piece of furniture, designs,how it will be placed inside the room and draws it in plan, and elevation.
Architects have studied ergonomics in detail so they easily know the average dimensions of a human being and the average dimensions of furniture.

For example, a working table is 900mm high. These dimensions have come up after architects have done a lot of research over hundreds of years and have come up with time-saver standards for most dimensions.

Different furniture has different space requirements. A lounge chair will require a different space from a working chair.

In a working chair, the person sitting on the chair will have to be mostly upright on his back as he performs the task on his desk. His desk will correspond with the chair and will be in the level of 900mm height which is the most comfortable for a person in the upright sitting position.

After in depth study of ergonomics, furniture is designed according to the uses.

The size varies slightly according to continents-Asians are much smaller than Europeans and Africans so their furniture is slightly smaller than ours her in Kenya.

Invite an architect to study your space requirements and the use of the furniture so that he can come up with the best egonomic and aesthetic design for your furniture requirements.
Design software such as ArchiCAD has an inbuilt furniture space calculator that has derived the information from the architectural ergonomic research.

Frank Gichuhi
http://www.prismafrica.com
Nairobi, Kenya.

Can your furniture cause cancer?

Manufactured boards are boards made from wood products such as ply wood, chip board and Medium Desity Fibre[MDF] board.

They usually come in a standard size of 4 feet by 8 feet.

Due to the scarcity of wood products, MDF boards have become common and are a good replacement to plywood, chipboard and blockboard.

MD boards are made by glueing wood fibres under intense heat and pressure.

The strength of the board is measured by the screwing strength of the section in Newtons. The average screwing strength is around 750-1000N.

The glue used is fomaldehyde based .
Research shows that formaldehyde causes various side effects to humans.
Check out this link
This has resulted to the grading of MDF in terms of formaldehyde level, E0 being the lowest and E4 the highest. Most MDF boards on sale in Kenya and around the world contain EI and E2 formaldehyde levels .

MDF boards are sold with or without the laminate. The laminate can be on one side or both sides. The laminate is finished smooth to various natural wood finishes such as peach, oak, teak and mahogany.

The strength of the MDF is directly proportional to its thickness, density and internal glue bond.
Most MDF is manufactured in thickness of between 8 mm to 20mm. The mdf laminate skins are usually 2mm thick.

For furniture use which is not structural i.e does not support alot of weight such as wardrobe door, 12mm MDF both sides veneered is recommended. For Furniture that supports heavy weights such as tables, doors, 16 to 20mm MDF boards thicknesses are recommended. Once your architect has information of the design and preferred uses for the boards, he will be in a position to advise you accordingly.
The thickness is also important if the MDF board is going to be grooved. If a groove is to be engraved, MDF of 12 mm and above is recommended.

Frank Gichuhi
http://www.prismafrica.com
Nairobi, Kenya.

Ergonomic design for Furniture

Space needed for a piece of furniture is calculated from the design and shape of the furniture. The architect studies the piece of furniture, designs,how it will be placed inside the room and draws it in plan, and elevation.
Architects have studied ergonomics in detail so they easily know the average dimensions of a human being and the average dimensions of furniture.

For example, a working table is 900mm high. These dimensions have come up after architects have done a lot of research over hundreds of years and have come up with time-saver standards for most dimensions.

Different furniture has different space requirements. A lounge chair will require a different space from a working chair.

In a working chair, the person sitting on the chair will have to be mostly upright on his back as he performs the task on his desk. His desk will correspond with the chair and will be in the level of 900mm height which is the most comfortable for a person in the upright sitting position.

After in depth study of ergonomics, furniture is designed according to the uses.

The size varies slightly according to continents-Asians are much smaller than Europeans and Africans so their furniture is slightly smaller than ours her in Kenya.

Invite an architect to study your space requirements and the use of the furniture so that he can come up with the best egonomic and aesthetic design for your furniture requirements.
Design software such as ArchiCAD has an inbuilt furniture space calculator that has derived the information from the architectural ergonomic research.

Frank Gichuhi
http://www.prismafrica.com
Nairobi, Kenya.

Can your furniture cause cancer?

Manufactured boards are boards made from wood products such as ply wood, chip board and Medium Desity Fibre[MDF] board.

They usually come in a standard size of 4 feet by 8 feet.

Due to the scarcity of wood products, MDF boards have become common and are a good replacement to plywood, chipboard and blockboard.

MD boards are made by glueing wood fibres under intense heat and pressure.

The strength of the board is measured by the screwing strength of the section in Newtons. The average screwing strength is around 750-1000N.

The glue used is fomaldehyde based .
Research shows that formaldehyde causes various side effects to humans.

http://www.chimarhellas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/athanassiadou-tsiantzi-markessini-paper-2.pdf

This has resulted to the grading of MDF in terms of formaldehyde level, E0 being the lowest and E4 the highest. Most MDF boards on sale in Kenya and around the world contain EI and E2 formaldehyde levels .

MDF boards are sold with or without the laminate. The laminate can be on one side or both sides. The laminate is finished smooth to various natural wood finishes such as peach, oak, teak and mahogany.

The strength of the MDF is directly proportional to its thickness, density and internal glue bond.
Most MDF is manufactured in thickness of between 8 mm to 20mm. The mdf laminate skins are usually 2mm thick.

For furniture use which is not structural i.e does not support alot of weight such as wardrobe door, 12mm MDF both sides veneered is recommended. For Furniture that supports heavy weights such as tables, doors, 16 to 20mm MDF boards thicknesses are recommended. Once your architect has information of the design and preferred uses for the boards, he will be in a position to advise you accordingly.
The thickness is also important if the MDF board is going to be grooved. If a groove is to be engraved, MDF of 12 mm and above is recommended.

Frank Gichuhi
http://www.prismafrica.com
Nairobi, Kenya.