Low Rise Building Construction: Materials, Services, and Health

This report provides a comprehensive overview of low rise building construction, addressing key aspects such as cladding, glazing, joinery, and stair construction. It highlights the environmental impact of construction activities, including air, water, and noise pollution, and emphasizes the importance of safety measures and essential services for workers on construction sites. The report also discusses waterproofing techniques and materials used to prevent water penetration in buildings. It concludes by stressing the significance of using appropriate materials in the right quantities for successful low rise building construction. This student-contributed assignment is available on Desklib, where students can find a wide array of past papers and solved assignments.

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Introduction
The construction of low rise building to be successful, it only requires an experienced contractor
together with workers who are ready to perform their duties, also a proper allocation of resources
and activities followed to the latter.
Claddings
In the construction of low rise buildings, the cladding is applied such that one material is applied
over the other in order to provide a layer. The use of cladding helps in providing thermal
insulation as well as weather resistance thus improving the look of the building. The materials
that can be used in cladding include metal, brick, wood, and vinyl (Chien, 2008, p. 67).
Glazing and joinery
There is various type of gazing that is mostly used in construction and this includes laminated
glass, tempered glass, and float glass. The mounting of gazing can be done on the window
surface normally made of wood, PVC or aluminum. In the construction of low rise buildings,
joinery works are needed since it entails joining pieces of wood and formation of numerous
joints made easier by using non-portable and powered machinery (Danny, 2016, p. 53).
Environmental impact
The construction of low rise buildings affects the environment such that it involves numerous
activities which cause pollution to the environment. Construction is the major source of pollution
since they emit 4% of particulate and it causes air pollution since too many specks of dust are
generated from the cement, stone and also concrete. The clearing of land before erecting a
building cause soil erosion thus dirt from the construction sites are carried away into water

bodies thus causing water pollution. The use of heavy equipment, vehicles, and machinery at the
construction sites also causes noise pollution (Fisher, 2017, p. 321).
Stairs
Stairs are very essential in every apartment with floors in order to assist one to move to the
different floor easily. There is a need of using heavy materials while building stairs to avoid
falling and steep stairs should be avoided such that to minimize injuries (Porker, 2010, p. 43).
Services
There are numerous tasks and responsibilities in the course of the building process and starting
from the design to completion, there is a plethora of services and parameters that should be taken
care of for example at pre-construction stage, the services include estimation of cost, purchase of
land and building permits. At the execution phase, the type of services includes quality control,
monitoring, and coordination of all activities in the site (Wales, 2009, p. 66).
Health & amenities fire, access air handling
Most of the construction sites are lacking the most essential services needed by workers carrying
out the operations. During the construction process, there is need of providing workers with
safety equipment to avoid injuries and also there is need of having first aid kit in place to help in
responding to injuries incurred during the construction process (Keeny, 2015, p. 32).
Waterproofing
In low rise building, waterproofing involves the formation of an impermeable barricade over
exteriors of foundation, roofs, walls and other physical parts of the building to assist in
preventing penetrations via exteriors. The surfaces of the building are made water resistant and

also waterproof. When constructing the low rise building, the commonly used materials for
waterproofing are cementitious materials, bituminous material or polyurethane liquid membrane.
Conclusion
Use of proper materials where they are needed with appropriate quantity required will lead to a
successful construction of low rise buildings.

Bibliography
Chien, E., 2008. Low rise office building design act. 2 ed. Chicago: Sanoma.
Danny, A., 2016. Mini-piling for low rise buildings. 1 ed. Thailand: HarperCollins.
Fisher, J., 2017. Serviceability design considerations for low rise buildings. 3 ed. Tokyo: Informa.
Keeny, B., 2015. Concrete system for low rise building. 2 ed. Toronto: OLMA Medai group.
Porker, J., 2010. Low-rise office construction. 1 ed. Lagos: Scholastic.
Wales, D., 2009. Low rise domestic construction in brick 3. 3 ed. Pretoria: Media participation.