Usage Of Concrete In Building Construction

Written by  //  September 23, 2013  //  Home Construction  //  Comments Off on Usage Of Concrete In Building Construction

Introduction

Before the age of modern engineering and the ability to manipulate concrete and steel, the world of construction depended on wood, adobe or cave dwellings. Building construction has since come a long way and the present cities consist of tall sky scrapers and complex architecture. As such, the recent announcement by ground developers on the new world trade center state concrete is the safest material in building construction. This is because concrete does not require any fireproofing treatments in order to comply with the stringent fire codes. It also endures relatively well during natural or man made disasters as compared to other modern construction materials such as steel (Madsen, 2013). 

Background

The use of concrete for building construction purpose can be dated back to ancient history 7000 years ago. It was the main ingredient in the construction of famous building structures such as the famous Coliseum in Rome. The Roman Empire widely encouraged the use of concrete due to its ability to harden quickly into rigid masses upon mixing; it is a quality that was not present in stone or brick. Such was the widespread use of this type of concrete in the construction of many Roman structures that it was seen as a key event in Roman architecture. This era was known as the Roman Architectural Revolution. However after the passing of this great empire, concrete and its use faded until its resurrection in the mid-18th century.

Description and Associated Issues

Similarly, Concrete is the most popular building material used in construction industries in the world due to its compressive strength and durability qualities. Concrete production depends on the proportions of materials that are available such as aggregates, cement, and water to produce pure concrete. In as much as it is versatile and easily available, it is subject to many sources of damages such as those caused by corrosion, chemical attacks, and other environmental factors (TuDelt, 2013).

Concrete shrinkage expands with variations in moisture and temperature causing cracks. Additionally, it tends to crack when subjected to tension. This makes maintaining concrete very expensive after a long period of time. This has resulted to yearly routine inspections and repair. Studies show that in the United Kingdom cost and maintenance costs account for almost 45% of UK’s activity in the building construction industry. Other than these, the indirect cost incurred by traffic interruptions amount to ten times the direct cost. Estimates of the cost spent on traffic jams in the United States are $63 billion dollars per year. Therefore, it is with no doubt that the premature quality of concrete infrastructure is a trillion dollar issue (TuDelt, 2013).

Conclusion

However, modern concrete differs from Roman concrete in two ways; fluid consistency and inclusion of steel to the mix. Building construction techniques at the present include integration of steel to concrete strengthen its tension making it stronger to use when constructing building structures. In as much as, the use of concrete left a mark in building construction, it has also proved to be expensive to maintain.

Simon Hopes is a proficient author writing articles on building construction, building renovation and other similar topics. He contributes regularly for Shear Wall Construction.

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