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Right from laying a strong foundation to the final finishing touches, here's what you need to keep in mind to ensure that your home stays strong and beautiful.
Cement is highly sensitive to moisture. When exposed, it chemically reacts and partially loses strength. Hence, it is necessary to store the cement properly to protect it from dampness and humidity and to retain its freshness.
In order to produce good quality concrete that imparts strength and durability to the structure, the quality of materials should be given due consideration. It is important to know more about selecting the materials - cement, aggregates and water. It provides better strength, durability and stability for the structures.
Good formwork has to be rigid with sufficient support to withstand all the load till the concrete hardens. Read more about the various things regarding good formwork here.
When it comes to batching, precision is the key. For the perfect mixture you need to get the right mix of sand, cement, jelly / metal and water. Make sure you're doing it right by following these expert tricks and techniques.
Concrete should be transported and placed at site/forms as quickly as possible without segregation, before commencement of setting, and deposition of concrete in its final designated position without segregation of ingredients.
Freshly placed concrete needs to be compacted properly to expel the air voids, in order to get dense, strong, and durable concrete. Compaction can be done manually or mechanically.
Ensure that the concrete surface is level and uniform by performing the finishing operations like creeding, floating, trowelling, brooming, edging etc.
Curing is the process of maintaining moisture in freshly placed concrete to ensure proper hardening and to attain desirable strength and durability. Curing should be continuously done for a specified period of time.
The walls in load bearing structures should be strong enough to carry the load and transfer it safely to the foundation. The use of good quality bricks or blocks with appropriate construction techniques, plays a vital role in making stronger walls.
Plastering provides an even, smooth, clean and durable base for painting the surfaces and it provides protection to the brickwork against rain, sun etc.
Addition of excess water to mortar and loss of moisture from the freshly plastered surface due to evaporation leads to shrinkage cracks. It is important to know the different types of cracks in plastering, their causes, preventive measures and remedies.
Efflorescence, grinning and blistering are some of the common problems we see in plastering. Find out how you can avoid them from happening.
