PBM&LC Nawalpur December, 2019 Photographic journey Author: Shirshak Baniya For Nagarik Aawaz
Work brief to manpower December started with the beginning of our construction work. The bamboo team, civil team and metal team were invited to the construction site to have a general brief and introduction of the work. The design were beyond the conventional construction system. So it was necessary to know the strength and the limitation of each other. For me it was complete new team to work. I was working with experienced artisan at surkhet prior to this project. I learned bamboo and metal work extensively during my days at Surkhet, Abari. To train this new set of team with new tools and technology was going to be a experiment at Sehari. Record of electronic data of attendance, material, tools were introduced to evaluate final cost of the building at the end of the project.
Bamboo base box We were looking for circular metal box but it was not available at the city. We fabricated the joinery system for bamboo that would be implanted inside floor slab. Nut and bolt system would be used to facilitate future repair and maintenance. This metal box were 4 inch by 4 inch. We pre fabricated this joinery system at the metal welding shop of chormara, Nawalpur.
Nut bolt system The 10 mm thread rod with bolt and washer were supposed to be used as a connection system in our entire project. We wanted to maintain uniformity of the joinery system. These thread rod are 6 feet in length and it cost Rs 190 per piece.
Backfilling work Kesari Mahato and Sushma Bote managed the backfilling work. The water was poured every 1 feet of filled earth to allow compact settlement. The mud in this low land are very soft.
Brick form work Satya Narayan Mahato and Prem Mahato started to construct the brick formwork for the RCC floor slab. We decide not to use timber as a conventional formwork. This reduced the tedious process of procuring timber formwork.
Toilet floor slab The ceramic Indian style toilet seat were fixed during the RCC floor slab. This toilet seat cost approx. Rs 4000. The interior face of the toilet was 3 feet by 4 feet 6 inch.
Volunteering for PBM&LC It was pleasure for me to welcome recent undergraduate in architecture Dinesh Chaudhary at construction site. This was a milestone for our team to thank Dinesh ji for his interest in volunteering for PBM&LC. Together we will be working for the kitchen and toilet project.
Toilet RCC band We finished the rcc band at toilet. The metal base box will help to attach the vertical metal Column through welding. Tej ji has been leading the curing work where we are pouring water to the cement work for at least 10 days.
Bamboo cutting Tej Bahadur Mahato started to prepare the bamboo size as per working drawing. We didn’t have electric saw cutter. So we managed a hand saw to cut the bamboo into size. These bamboo were locally sourced from farmer within the village. Architect Emil Shrestha had supervised for the treatment of this bamboo in water for a month. The bamboo were approx. 3 inch in diameter.
Bamboo Washing Bamboo were washed with detergent solution to remove the green stain from its cover. Cleaning work helps the bamboo to reflect its final polish. Bamboo preparation is a time taking task and this requires patience. Slow and steady the bamboo has to be prepared and cured with water and sun. These were the significant yet small details I learned during my days at Abari bamboo at Surkhet.
Bamboo drying The washed bamboo are sun dried before we prepare the surface to sand it with flint paper. To dry bamboo we prepared temporary frame structure.
Bamboo sanding The sand paper of size 100 number is used to sand the bamboo surface. This removes the additional stain which was not removed through washing. After this first layer of water proofing agent should be applied to bamboo. The sanding sealer or varnish can be applied as a water proofing layer to bamboo.
Manpower rate In village the rate of manpower is 100 per hour. Here at PBM&LC project the rate of skilled and unskilled worker is Rs 900 and Rs 700 per day respectively. They work from 9 am to 5 pm. The lunch time is 1pm to 2 pm. We provide lunch to all the worker. The payment of the worker are paid every 15 days.
Foundation work We used brick footing to extend the foundation. The backfilled soil was soft and loose that’s why we provided 12 mm diameter rod reinforcement at the floor slab. This will prevent the floor slab from settling.
Village study Gundri is a special kind of mat made from rice straw The villagers collects rice straw during the harvest time and they keep the straw to make mat gundri. The distinct patterns are made through special grass fiber.
Village study We explored Sehari to search for gundri weaver. She can also create special pattern through red ropes and threads in this gundri. This cost 500 rupees. It takes 2 days to weave a 7 feet long and 3 feet wide gundri.
Village study House at Sehari has these kind of special windows showing the internal bamboo reinforcement. These are the identity of window of house at Sehari. The opening are minimum in size.
Village study These patterns are mostly used at Tharu house during the festival for decoration. The vegetable called lauka is used as a stamping tool and the women mixes this lauka with colour and they stamp in the wall.
Village study The thatch roof system at Sehari is done by local khar. Khar is available abundantly here at this village. These thatch are tied with natural fibre through slender bamboo purlins. This is the best organic insulation material against heat and dew.
Village study These hand woven bed khatiya over timber frame is amply seen in every house of Sehari. These are used as a medium to create a socializing space where especially old people gathers and sits. Also these have high mobility. This is light weight and can be transferred from one place to another from indoor to outdoor.
Metal raw material . We are using 3 inch square pipe for vertical post for toilet, 1 inch square pipe for door frame and horizontal bracing. Metal are being used in roof structure where it will have more durability and less maintenance in near future. These all metal are sanded to remove rust from its layer to prepare a clean surface for primer painting.
Metal primer painting Kesari ji and sushma ji are leading the metal primer painting work. This will allow us to save our cost and time in the final painting of the metal. Primer painting helps to prevent the rusting of metal since the dew is a major factor here in Sehari.
Temperatures drops The dense fog weather has started at Sehari. This damaged our primer painting work at metal. Next day we managed to covered our every material at site with the thatch (khar). This khar is really helpful to protect from dew. We realized the importance of khar in roofing material as a insulation and barrier of fog. We will be having CGI sheets in our roof and the upper layer will be thatch roof. Previously we had planned cement tile for roofing.
Metal painting finished Our door frame, window frame and kitchen counter will be made by metal frame. This allows the durability of door and window. Timber wraps easily in this changing climate and is not a reliable material here.
Weather delays Our daily site work starts from 9 am morning. These weeks the sun shines only after 1 pm noon. It was hard for us to continue our washing ,painting, cleaning work of flatten bamboo and metal.
Daily Lunch session Since we don’t have shaded area at the ground level we all gather at sunshine to have a lunch. Care taker Ain kumari didi cooks lunch in a firewood and serves for more than 10 worker at once. When it rains we find hard to make a fire to cook lunch. When the kitchen and toilet block will be finished Ain didi will be serving us lunch and tea from that new kitchen.
Bamboo and metal connection These techniques allows us to repair any bamboo column in near future. Combination spanner which is closed in one end and open in another end is used to tighten the bolt. The set of two spanner helps to tight the nut firmly.
Bamboo column These threaded rod and nut system helped us to join the vertical bamboo and horizontal metal. We did a sample test to develop the connection system between the vertical bamboo and horizontal metal pipe. We localized this system using nut bolt and thread rod system which requires no welding.
Bamboo column This joint will help to repair and maintain the bamboo if any damages happens in future. We have not used any nails to join bamboo in our kitchen block since nailing cracks the bamboo and is hard to repair in future.
Bamboo column We used drill machine to make a hole at bamboo and we inserted a 7mm rebar from one end to another. The total cost of this joint came approximately 30 rupees.
khadiya purchase Khadiya is the natural sticks available at Sehari. These are extensively used by people here to ornament the boundary wall and to make a wattle for mud wall. Sushma ji and Kesari ji helped us to find the local khadiya with her neighbours. We purchased 4 bundle of khadiya.
khadiya purchase These four bundles of khadiya cost 300 rupees only. We will be using this khadiya to decorate our geometry of kitchen block. These increases the aesthetic quality of the kitchen block. The kadiya will be washed and clean with detergent water and will be dried in sun.
Khadiya washing In village people uses the khadiya naturally and locally. In our project we have washed it with detergent water to increase its polishing shiny surface.
Horizontal metal beam We are using horizontal metal beam since this will increase the durability and will help cgi sheets to be screwed with modern hiltee screw. Hiltee screw system is a fast process of attaching any two member through drill machine. Our vertical bamboo can be repaired if any termite attacks in near future. To prevent the termite attacks we will be applying chapra polish paints every 6 month.
Horizontal metal beam Senior metal welder Bhim ji (left) in the picture is sharing the idea on drilling techniques to our local community team. Prem ji and Lok ji now can drill any hole using drill machine. Our primary mission is to exchange the skill between the artisan. Together we are sharing and learning each other’s skill.
Silicon application The bamboo has high possibility to rot at base since the water enters from the base part during cleaning and washing of ground floor. To prevent this we applied a black silicon solution.
Murali bamboo purchase We brought murali bamboo which are very thin from the community. This will be used in bamboo railing and purlins for thatch roof. These murali bamboo cost Rs 500 for 50 pieces. Each piece is about 19 feet tall.
Social mapping event We were able to host a event at this bamboo structure. The social mapping event was organized by Nagarik aawaz , Nawalpur where youths and local community representative participated in this event to create a thematic geographical map of Sehari. The economic data , political data's were also reflected on social map. Nearly 25 people participated at this event.
Social mapping event These kind of programme and community gathering happens every month at PBM&LC, Sehari. For Ain kumari didi cooking and serving foods to the guest is her passion. Most of the vegetables are grown organically in our garden.
Social mapping event The youths and peace volunteer prepared a thematic map of the Nawalpur in the end of the programme. Programme incharge Govinda Acharya facilitated the programme.
Site visit Our Nagarik aawaz team at Sehari has been frequently visiting our pbm&lc construction site to update on ongoing progress and material procurement. Our local neighbours are also helping in procuring materials at site. We also jointly agreed to choose CGI roof followed by khar as insulation for roofing.
Thatch roof materials These thatch roof material which is called khar are organically grown and harvested at our site. This will be sufficient for our toilet roof. For kitchen block roof we have already purchased khar from our local neighbour.
CGI roof This was my first experience of using CGI roof. The point to be noted before designing CGI roof is to know the available size of CGI in market. The standard length of CGI 7 feet, 10 feet and 12 feet are available in market. Using these figure we have to design the length of slope. The CGI has crest (top) and trough (bottom). The hooking or screw is nailed on crest part only. For ridge cap at top to seal the two slope from rain water, the plain sheet of corrugated iron are screwed to the rafter. This is called dhuri in Nepali.
Bamboo Railing These railing are 60 percent cheap than the metal railing and its easy to install. The nut bolt system are used to attach the bamboo railing. Since these bamboo railing will be exposed to rain and water, we will be applying the sealer to increase its durability. We finished the bamboo railing in four days.
Wattle and daub wall For partition wall we are using rebar mesh to create a structure for cement mortar. The 7mm rebar will act as a wattle structure for our wattle and daub wall.
Wattle and daub wall Into the 7 mm rebar lattice the chicken wire mesh is wrapped from two sides to create a layer of reinforcement. This helps cement mortar to get attached to the wall.
Wattle and daub wall The daub used here is the cement sand mortar. The cement and sand is mixed in ratio of 1:4 and 1 coat is applied from one surface. In next day after 24 hours of setting second coat will be applied for finishing. The final finishing thickness of this wall is minimum 3 inch. This system of making wall is also called Ferro cement technique.
Thank you
