1.

Rat trap bond is a brick masonry method of wall construction, in which bricks are
placed in vertical position instead of conventional horizontal position and thus creating a
cavity (hollow space) within the wall. Architect Laurie Baker introduced it in Kerala in
the 1970s and used it extensively for its lower construction cost, reduced material
requirement and better thermal efficiency than conventional masonry wall, without
compromising strength of the wall.

CONSTRUCTING BRICK WALL USING RAT TRAP BOND

The bricks are placed in vertical position, so that 110 mm face is seen from front elevation,
instead of the 75mm face (considering brick of standard size 230 X 110 X 75 mm). Since width
of wall remains 230mm, an internal cavity is created. Approximately 30% Material (brick and
mortar) is saved and thus overall construction cost is reduced. Cavity provides effective thermal
and sound insulation. This makes rat trap bond energy and cost efficient building technology.

ADVANTAGES OF USING RAT TRAP BOND

1. Requires approximately 25% less bricks and 40% less mortar than traditional masonry
2. Reduced material requirement results in considerable cost saving
3. Strength of wall is not compromised, it remains same as traditional masonry wall.
4. Cavity induced in wall provides better thermal insulation, resulting in cooler interiors
during summer and warmer interiors during winter.
5. All vertical and horizontal reinforced bands, lintels (for standard size openings), electrical
conduits are hidden inside wall, resulting in better aesthetic appearance without plastering
(exposed brickwork).
2. Good Qualities (properties) of Cement
Colour should be uniform.

It should be cool when felt with hand.

When a small quantity of cement is thrown into a bucket of water, it should sink.
 It should be free from lumps.

Cement mortar at the age of 3 days and 7 days have a compressive strength of 11.5
N/mm2 & 17.5 N/mm2 and a tensile strength of 2 N/mm2 & 2.5 N/mm2.

Ratio of alumina to ironoxide should not be less than 0.66.

When ignited it should not loose more than 4% of its weight.

Sulphur content should not be more than 2.75%.

Weight of insoluable residue should not be more than 1.5%.

Specific surface area should not be less than 2250 mm2/gm.

Initial setting time should not be less than 30 minutes and final setting time should not be
more than 10 hours.

Expansion of cement should not be more than 10 mm.

Fineness of cement should be less than 10 % of the original weight.

3. Closers and Bats

Closers :
1. King closer is a brick with splayed side so that the 2 sides are of half width.
2. Queen closer is a brick having same length and half the width of a standard brick.
3. Bevelled closer is a brick in which the whole length of the brick is beveled for
maintaining half width at one end and full width at the other.
Bats: Bats are bricks that have same width and depth, but having shorter length.
1. Quarter bat: A brick cut to a quarter of its length.
2. Half bat: A brick cut in half across its length,
3. Three-quarter bat heading: A brick cut to three-quarters of its length
 4. Vernacular materials

Vernacular Architecture means the core architecture of that particular place which evolves over a
period of time and reflects the environmental, cultural, technological and historical context in
which it exists. The construction of dwellings/structures in a particular place with locally
available materials and cost effective construction technique are vernacular style buildings.
Commonly seen in rural areas, the structures reflect informal yet functional architecture. They
are designed specifically to meet the needs of the occupants as per the local climate with locally
available building materials portraying the intricate variations in local social customs and
craftsmanship. It has been estimated that 90% of the construction across the world is vernacular
type meaning that it is for daily use for ordinary local people and built by local craftsmen and not
by architects or engineers.

Classification of Vernacular Architecture

Indian vernacular architecture can be classified into three broad categories despite its rich
diversity.

Kachcha
Pukka
Semi-pukka
The classification is based on the building materials used for construction and the stability of the
structure.

In Kachcha houses, the natural materials such as mud, grass, bamboo, thatch or sticks are
used for construction. As the name suggests, Kachcha means non-permanent. Because of the use
of these natural materials, it requires constant maintenance and replacement. The only advantage
of Kachcha houses is that the construction materials are cheap and available in abundance as
well as it does not require skilled labour.

Frank Lloyd Wright described vernacular architecture as folk building, growing in response to
actual needs, fitted into environment by people who knew no better than to fit it with native
feeling, suggesting that it is a primitive form of design lacking intelligent thought, but he also
stated that it was better worth study than all the highly self-conscious academic attempts at the
beautiful, throughout Europe.

Pukka houses are constructed from materials that are resistant to wear and tear because of
the natural conditions of the environment. The materials used for construction are stone or brick,
clay tiles, metal or other durable materials. Mortar is used as the binding material. A pukka may
be elaborated in contrast to a kachcha. These structures are expensive to construct and also
require skilled labour.

The third category of the classification is the semi-pukka house which is the combination
of the kachcha and pukka style. It evolved when the villagers started acquiring the resources to
add elements constructed of the durable materials giving it a characteristic feature of a pukka
house. In short, addition of pukka materials elements to a kachcha house can be termed as semi-
pukka house.

Vernacular Building materials

Vernacular style differs from place to place and depends on the locally available materials and
low cost intensive construction techniques. The architecture entirely depends upon the location
and the type of building material available for construction. Hilly Areas: Rocky rubble, ashlar
and pieces of stones are available in hilly country. These materials are used along with mud
mortar to form walls and finer stonework veneer is used to cover the external facade of the
structure adding more stability to the structure. Wood beams and rafters are subject to
availability. They are used along with slate tiles for roofing purposes. A typical house in hilly
areas consists of two stories with livestock on the ground floor with a verandah running along the
side of the house. Pitched roof is used for construction in order to deal with the bad monsoons
and care is taken to cope with floods by raising the house with the help of raised plinths and
bamboo poles. Flat Lands: On flat lands, the houses are generally made of mud or sun-baked
bricks and then plastered inside out. Sometimes, the mud is mixed with hay or cow dung and
whitewashed with lime. In north and north eastern states of India, bamboo is readily available.
Bamboo is used for the construction of all parts of the home as it is flexible and resilient.
Another material which is widely used is thatch from plants such as elephant grass, paddy and
coconut. In the southern states of India, the use of clay tiles is used for pukka roofing while
coconut palm is commonly used in kachcha houses.
Laterite as a building material

Laterite, a type of soil rich in iron and aluminium formed in hot and wet tropical conditions, is a
popular building material utilised in tropical and subtropical regions of the world where it is
readily available and economical compared to other natural stones. Indian standards code IS
3620-1979 provides specifications and standards for laterite masonry construction in India
(IS 3620-1979). Laterite and associated soils are widely distributed in the tropics and subtropics
of Africa, Australia, India, South-East Asia, and South America. Due to the presence of iron
oxides, lateritic soils are red in color ranging from light through bright to brown shades. They are
composed essentially of hydrated aluminum and iron oxides and they can be used as a good
building material. Utilisation of laterite in construction is marginalized due lack of
standardization, inherent variations and difficult testing procedures. The local resource of laterite
can be utilized efficiently if classified and managed based on its potential characteristics in
housing. Classification of laterite based on its performance like brick and hollow blocks can
result in utilisation of the same in buildings for a wide range of functions. In many applications,
especially in public buildings, a number of problems due to low strength values and also
incorrect estimation of index properties have led to a decrease in the confidence with this
material.

The methods of quarrying, dressing and construction all are entirely different from other stone
masonry materials. Laterite blocks are soft for easy quarrying and shaping, but they become hard
when exposed to atmospheric oxygen. The ease of cutting and shaping laterite and hardening
with age due atmospheric exposure makes its use different and versatile in building applications.
Manual quarrying and dressing was adopted in the past was more laborious and time consuming.
Machine quarrying of laterite was invented and used for the first time in Kerala, India using
mobile rotary saw machine that was introduced for the first time and popularised since 1993.

It consists of following steps: (i) Removal of top soil and levelling the surface, (ii) Marking lines
on levelled horizontal bed of laterite, (iii) Moving cutters through these lines up to desired depth
of stone, and (iv) Dis-lodging stones manually using bars and hauling to construction site.

Bamboo as a construction material

Bamboo has been used widely since ancient times as low-cost material for houses , bridges etc.
The term bamboo describes all tree- or bushlike grasses having a durable woody or branched
stem. The lignifying cell structure of the bamboo tissue and its technological properties are very
similar to the wood tissue proper. Bamboo may therefore also be termed wood. Contrary to
wood, the bamboo has a hard outer surface and is soft inside. Bamboo has recently started
appearing in designer homes as flooring, walling and paneling. It is viewed as a material
preferred only by the poor or for temporary constructions. It is unpopular in conventional
construction due to low durability, lack of structural design data, exclusion from building codes
etc.
Properties of bamboo

1. Tensile strength: The fibres of the bamboo run axial. In the outer zone are highly elastic
vascular bundle, that have a high tensile strength. The tensile strength of these fibers is higher
than that of steel, but it is not possible to construct connections that can transfer these tensile
strengths.

2. Shrinking: Bamboo shrinks more than wood when it loses water. The canes can tear apart
at the nodes.

3. Fire resistance: The fire resistance is very good because of the high content of silicate
acid. Filled up with water, it can stand a temperature of 400 C while the water cooks inside.

4. Elasticity: The enormous elasticity of bamboo makes it to a very good building material
for earth-quake endangered areas.

5. Weight: Another advantage of bamboo is its low weight. It can be transported and
worked easily, the use of cranes is mostly unnecessary.

Some specific properties of Bamboo are as given below:

Specific gravity - 0.575 to 0.655

Average weight - 0.625kg/m

Modulus of rupture - 610 to 1600kg/cm2

Modulus of Elasticity - 1.5 to 2.0 x105kg/cm2

Working of Bamboo

Bamboo can be worked with the simplest tools which must be especially sharp because of the
highly silicified outer zone. Tool wear is considerably high.

Recommendable methods:

Splitting: very easy as long as you work along the cane axis. The cane is split in halves
and quarters and the driven apart by a wedge. It can also be split with a knife frame into
four or eight segments.
Cutting with a machete-type or knife used for cutting.
Sawing
Shaping:
Bamboo which grows in a box gets a square shape. So it can be better used for
connections.
 Bending:
Freshly cut, bamboo can be bent and will keep this shape after drying. When heated
above 150 C, bamboo keeps its shape after it goes cold.

Bamboo has wide application in construction.

1. Bamboo Trusses:

The bamboo has strength comparable to that of teak and sal. An experiment with the construction
and testing of a 4m span truss made of round bamboo and different jointing techniques for web-
chord connections gave results that were matching with the strength of timber.

2. Bamboo Roofs Skeleton:

It consists of bamboo truss or rafters over which solid bamboo purlins are laid and lashed to the
rafter by means of G.I.wire. A mesh of halved bamboo is made and is lashed to the purlins to
cover the roof.

3. Bamboo walling/ceiling:

As the bamboo material is light in weight it is more advantageous in earthquake prone areas as
its chances of falling are very less and even if it falls it can be re-erected easily with less human
and property loss with least efforts and minimum cost. Bamboo walls can be constructed in
different modes like

Whole stem, halved or strips of bamboo can nailed to one or both the sides of the
bamboo frame
Split bamboo mats can be fastened to the bamboo posts or mats can be woven, mud can
also be applied to both sides of such mats
Bamboo strips nailed to bamboo frame or posts for interior walling
It has been found that the bamboo in the vertical position is more durable than in horizontal
direction. For partition walls only single layer of bamboo strips are used.

4. Bamboo Doors and Windows:

Bamboo frames can replace timber frames appropriate to function. Bamboo mat shutters fixed to
bamboo frame or a panel of bamboo board fixed to the frame which is hinged to the wall can be
used as door. Small framed openings hinged to the top in the wall can serve as windows.

5 Bamboo Flooring:

Bamboo can be used as flooring material due to its better wear and tear resistance and its
resilience properties. Whole culms act as frame work and the floor covering is done using split
bamboo, bamboo boards, mats etc by means of wire lashing these to the frame.

6 Reed Boards:

Reed boards are made by flat pressing the reed at high temperatures. These reed boards are used
in elements like flooring, walls, ceiling and roofing. They can also be used for partitions, doors,
windows etc.

7. Scaffolding:

Bamboo poles lashed together have been used as scaffolding in high rise structures due to their
strength and resilience. The timber planks can be replaced with bamboo culms and these can be
lashed to the vertical culms.

Mud as a building material

Mud is a natural building material that is found in abundance, especially where other building
materials such as bricks, stone or wood are scarce due to affordability and or availability. The
mud architecture is a great resource that focuses on architecture constructed of mud brick,
rammed earth,compressed earth block and other methods of earthen construction.

Various reasons for using mud as a construction material is described below:

Energy Consumption

In mud construction, minimum fossil fuel energy is consumed and is naturally abundant
throughout the world compared to brick construction

Recycling

Recycling of soil does not need fossil fuel and labour requirement is also less.

Abundance
The abundance availability of soil in large areas helps the economically weaker section of the
society to afford the mud construction

Housing demand

A huge deficit of housing demand in urban and rural areas with limited resources leads to a
solution like mud.

MANIFESTATION OF MUD

Depending on the characteristics of the mud available, availability of supporting materials and
technology used, different manifestations of mud are used. These include Adobe or Sun-dried
bricks, Cob, Rammed earth, Pressed brick, Wattle and Daub etc.

Cob: The word cob comes from Old English root meaning a lump of rounded mass. Its a
traditional building technique using hand formed lumps if earth mixed with sand and straw. Cob
is easy to learn and inexpensive to build. It dries to hardness similar to lean concrete. Cob is non-
toxic and completely recyclable

Adobe: Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water and some kind of
fibrous or organic material (sticks, straw and or manure),which the builders shapes into bricks
using frames and dry in sun. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for some of the
oldest existing building in the world. In hot climates, compared with wooden buildings offer
significant advantage due to their greater thermal mass, but they are known to be particularly
susceptible to earthquake damage. Buildings made up of sun-dried earth are common in India.

Rammed earth: Rammed earth is a technique used in the building of walls using the raw
materials of earth, chalk, lime and gravel. Rammed earth walls are simple to construct,
incombustible to water damage. The compressive strength of rammed earth can be up to 4.3
MPa. This is less than that of a similar thickness of concrete, but more than strong enough for
use in domestic buildings. Indeed, properly built rammed earth can withstand loads for thousands
of years.

Wattle and Daub : Wattle and daub is a building material used for making walls, in which a
woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of
some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung ang straw. The wattle is made by weaving
thin branches or slats between upright stakes. Daub is generally created from a mixture of certain
ingredients from three categories: binders, aggregates and reinforcement. Binders hold the mix
together and can include clay, lime, chalk dust and limestone dust. Aggregates give the mix its
bulk and dimensional stablity through mateials such as earth, sand, crushed chalk and crushed
stone. Reinforcement is provided by staw hair, hay or other fiberous material and helps to hold
mix together as well as to control shrinkage and provide flexibility. The daub may be mixed by
hand or by treading either by humans or livestock it is then applied to the wattle and allowed to
dry and oftenthen whitewashed to increase its resistance to rain.

Compressed Earth Blocks: the soil, raw or stabilized , is slightly moistened, poured into a steeel
press and then compressed either with a manual or motorized press. It is developed from
traditional rammed earth. The input of soil stabilization allowed building higher with thinner
walls, which have a much better compressive strength and water resistance.

STABILIZER

Some types of soil like gravel, sand, silt on their own is not stable stabilizers can be added to
make them stable. Cement, is a modern contemporary stabilizer. It is good in most circumstances
but there is always the question of availability, cost, and the excessive use of energy in its
production, etc. Lime, on the other hand, is made from the same basic material as cement, but is
thousands of years old, can be manufactured almost anywhere, on the spot, for a fraction the
energy and cost of cement and is a first class stabilizer for mud. Slaked or un-slaked lime is both
acceptable but slaked lime will give less trouble to the workers hands and feet. The quantity of
stabilizer depends on the quality of your soil mix. A lot of sand or a lot of clay means a lot of
stabilizer. Lime can be used between 2% and 6%. Traditional building has used many other rural
stabilizers such as cow dung, straw, gum Arabic and other gums and resins, sugar and molasses,
tannic acid and their wastes, oil etc.

MORTAR

The soil which was used for building walls can also be used as mortar. Too much of clay should
be avoided otherwise it will result in shrinkage cracks. Sieve the soil when dry so that gravel and
pebbles are all removed for a smooth mortar. If stabilizers such as lime or cement were used in
the making of the blocks, it is also required in the mortar. In fact twice as much stabilizer must
be used in the mortar.

PLASTER

The finish of adobe, rammed earth and cob walls is often bit rough and the need for plaster is
felt. The mortar between the blocks should be left rough to act as a key to hold the plaster, which
may be of mud, or mud and any stabilizer such as cow dung, lime or cement etc. pressed earth
blocks are very smooth and is difficult to apply plaster on them. It is better to apply two or three
coats of whitewash or thin slurry of sieved earth with lime or cement mixed with it. Coloring
matter may of course be added if required.