methods of construction of modern house emphasizing on building ...

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METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION OF MODERN HOUSE EMPHASIZING ON

BUILDING THERMAL PERFORMANCE

PRISCILLINA ANAK PETURS @ PETRUS IGAT

This project is submitted in partial fulfillment of

The requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Engineering with Honours

(Civil Engineering)

Faculty of Engineering

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

2006

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Kota Samarahan

Fk

BORANG PENYERAHAN TESIS

Judul: METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION OF MODERN HOUSE EMPHASIZING

ON BUILDING THERMAL PERFORMANCE

SESI PENGAJIAN: 2002 - 2006

Saya PRISCILLINA ANAK PETURS @ PETRUS IGAT

(HURUF BESAR)

mengaku membenarkan laporan projek ini disimpan di Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademik, Universiti

Malaysia Sarawak dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut:

1. Hakmilik kertas projek adalah di bawah nama penulis melainkan penulisan sebagai projek bersama dan

dibiayai oleh UNIMAS, hakmiliknya adalah kepunyaan UNIMAS.

2. Naskhah salinan di dalam bentuk kertas atau mikro hanya boleh dibuat dengan kebenaran bertulis daripada

penulis.

3. Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademik, UNIMAS dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk pengajian mereka.

4. Kertas projek hanya boleh diterbitkan dengan kebenaran penulis. Bayaran royalti adalah mengikut kadar

yang dipersetujui kelak.

5. * Saya membenarkan/tidak membenarkan Perpustakaan membuat salinan kertas projek ini sebagai bahan

pertukaran di antara institusi pengajian tinggi.

6. ** Sila tandakan ( √ )

SULIT (Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau kepentingan

Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972).

TERHAD (Mengandungi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan oleh organisasi/

badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan).

√ TIDAK TERHAD

Disahkan oleh

(TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)

Alamat tetap: 27A, LORONG PULAU LI

HUA 1, PULAU LI HUA, DR. SITI HALIPAH HAJI IBRAHIM

( Nama Penyelia ) 96000 SIBU, SARAWAK

Tarikh: Tarikh:

CATATAN * Potong yang tidak berkenaan.

** Jika Kertas Projek ini SULIT atau TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak berkuasa/

organisasi berkenaan dengan menyertakan sekali tempoh kertas projek. Ini perlu dikelaskan

sebagai SULIT atau TERHAD.

PKS/2000

The following Final Year Project Report:

Title :METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION OF MODERN

HOUSE EMPHASIZING ON BUILDING THERMAL

PERFORMANCE

Author’s Name : PRISCILLINA ANAK PETURS @ PETRUS IGAT

Matric No. : 8963

has been read and approved by:

_______________________________ __________________

DR. SITI HALIPAH HAJI IBRAHIM

Supervisor

Date

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To my beloved parents and siblings and especially to Dr. Siti Halipah

who had given their support in ensuring this project completed.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I first of all want to express my thanks to Dr. Siti Halipah for her encouragement

and helpful advice in this final year project. My special thanks also go to my family

members especially my lovely mother and my father for their support. I wish to express

my appreciation to Sophia Gitor, Diana Laja, Felicia Emang, Sharon Tan, Nalizam Elah,

Mr. Rozaini, Zaharudin Sabang, and Awang Fakhrulnizam for their help and concern.

Special thanks to Madam Pauline and family for letting me to do this study in her house

at Bandar Semariang Baru. Lastly, my deep appreciation goes to Mr. Nicholas Peter.

May God bless them. Thank you.

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ABSTRAK

Projek ini adalah satu kajian berkenaan dengan prestasi therma di dalam bangunan

terutamanya untuk rumah yang bercirikan pembinaan moden. Dalam kajian ini, suhu

bahan yang digunakan dalam pembinaan rumah tersebut dikaji bagi mengenalpasti sama

ada bahan-bahan ini sesuai atau tidak dan sama ada ia menepati ciri keselesaan suhu

untuk penghuni rumah. Dalam tinjauan yang telah dibuat, didapati bahawa bahan-bahan

yang telah digunakan dalam pembinaan rumah tersebut tidak menepati ciri-ciri

lingkungan haba selesa untuk penghuni rumah. Analisis data telah dibuat untuk

mengkaji suhu-suhu bahan sama ada di ambil luar dan dalam permukaan bahan.

Kesimpulan yang dapat diperolehi daripada kajian ini ialah pengetahuan mengenai ciri-

ciri yang terdapat di dalam bahan-bahan yang akan digunakan dalam pembinaan

sesebuah rumah adalah penting. Ini bagi mewujudkan suasana yang selesa untuk

penghuni rumah.

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ABSTRACT

This project is emphasis on the building thermal performance in modern houses.

The temperature on the materials is measured to ensure the material is suitable for the

achievement of the comfortability of the occupant in the house. Data analysis made to

check the materials temperature external and internal of the materials surface. Results of

the study shows that the materials used are not satisfied the range of thermal comfort.

As a conclusion, the understanding of the materials for building construction is essential

in choosing a suitable material for constructing the house due to the occupant’s

comfortability

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS PAGE NO.

TITLE i

DEDICATION ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii

ABSTRAK iv

ABSTRACT v

TABLE OF CONTENT vi

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF FIGURES xi

LIST OF NOMENCLATURES iv

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.0 General 1

1.0.1 Climate 3

1.0.2 Methods of construction 4

1.0.3 Building materials 6

1.0.4 Performance requirements for modern house 7

1.0.5 Comparison between modern and traditional house

in Malaysia 9

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1.1 Description of the project 10

1.2 Aim 11

1.3 Objectives 11

1.4 Structure of the final year project 12

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Method of construction of traditional house 14

2.1 Method of construction of modern house 19

2.2 Material for traditional house 21

2.3 Material for modern house 22

2.4 Thermal Comfort 24

2.5 Thermal performance 25

2.6 Thermal conductivity 26

2.7 Thermal transmittance 28

2.8 Thermal resistivity 30

2.9 Thermal insulation selection 30

2.10 Building envelope 35

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.0 The importance of data collection 38

3.1 Field of study 39

3.1.1 Instrumentation 40

viii

3.1.1.1 Thermocouple 41

3.1.1.2 Data logger 41

CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.0 Medium cost single-storey terrace house temperature

analysis 43

4.1 Low cost single-storey terrace house (Rampangi)

temperature Analysis 59

4.2 Comparisons of Materials Used in Low Cost and Medium

Cost Single Storey Terrace House 72

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.0 Conclusion 75

5.1 Recommendation 76

5.2 Future work 77

REFERENCES 78

APPENDIX A Thermocouple sticks on external roof

APPENDIX B Thermocouple sticks on internal roof

APPENDIX C Thermocouple sticks on internal wall

APPENDIX D Thermocouple sticks on external wall

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.0 Thermal conductivity of selected material 28

Table 2.1 Thermal transmittance of selected material 29

Table 4.1 Comparison between external wall in front and external

wall in back position of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3 45

Table 4.2 Comparison between external wall in front and internal

walls in front position of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3 47



Table 4.4 Comparison between intermediate wall on the left and

right side of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3 52

Table 4.5 Comparison between external roof and internal roof of

the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3 54

Table 4.6 Comparison air temperature between rooms of the house

Desa Ilmu, Phase 3 57

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Table 4.8 Comparison between external wall in front and external

wall in back position of Rampangi’s low cost house 61


walls in front position of Rampangi’s low cost house 63



Table 4.11 Comparison between intermediate wall on the left and

right side of Rampangi’s low cost house 67

Table 4.12 Comparison between external roof and internal roof of

Rampangi’s low cost house 69

Table 4.13 Comparison air temperature between rooms of


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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.0 Structure of the early Malay house 16

Figure 2.1 Structure of a long – roofed traditional Malay house 17

Figure 2.2 Sequence of activities for a single-storey house of

conventional construction 20

Figure 2.3 The roof insulation placement methods 34

Figure 3.0 Medium cost single storey terrace house at

Desa Ilmu Phase 3 39

Figure 3.1 Low cost single storey terrace house at Bandar

Baru Semariang, Jalan Sultan Tengah, Phase2 40

Figure 3.2 Data logger and thermocouple 42

Figure 4.0 Medium cost single storey terrace house 44

Figure 4.1 Comparison between external wall in front and external


xii

Figure 4.2 Comparison between external wall in front and internal

walls in front position of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3 49



Figure 4.4 Comparison between intermediate wall on the left and

right side of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3 53

Figure 4.5 Comparison between external roof and internal roof of

the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3 55

Figure 4.6 Comparison air temperatures between rooms of the house

Desa Ilmu, Phase 3 57

Figure 4.7 Low cost single-storey terrace house (Rampangi) 60

Figure 4.8 Comparison between external wall in front and external



walls in front position of Rampangi’s low cost house 64

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Figure 4.11 Comparison between intermediate wall on the left and

right side of Rampangi’s low cost house 68

Figure 4.12 Comparison between external roof and internal roof of


Figure 4.13 Comparison air temperatures between rooms of


xiv

LIST OF NOMENCLATURES

º C - degree Celsius

a.m - morning

p.m - evening

W/m. K - watt per metre degree Kelvin

W/m.º C - watt per metre degree Celsius

m2 K/W - square metre Kelvin per watt

K-value - Thermal Conductivity value

R-value - Thermal Resistance value

U-value - Thermal Transmittance value

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.0 General

In Malaysia, the issue on housing has become more critical given the fact that

demand exceeds supply particularly in the urban areas where the density is high. This

demand has produced an outstanding feature of the housing demand in the Malaysia

housing industry. Thus, it is a challenge for the Malaysia’s government and the

housing industry to provide affordable and comfortable housing for Malaysian.

Several aspects affecting housing needs, which are vary in different countries.

The main factors affecting housing needs are the growth of population, internal

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migration, replacement of old stock (dilapidation, obsolescence, urban renewal,

natural calamities) as well as relief of current shortage (sharing of housing and

overcrowding), and creation of an adequate housing reserve for mobility and seasonal

occupancy (United Nations Centre for Housing, Building and Planning, 1970).

To overcome these problems, the construction of the house needs new methods

of construction, which focus on cost saving, shorter duration of construction, reducing

environmental impact and in the usage of energy. On the other hand, building

performance requirement should not be ignored in order for the building system

ability to perform successfully. Therefore, revolutionary simultaneous methods of

construction that offer significant advantages for occupants are needed. What

emerges is that there will be disadvantages too, discovered through these methods of

construction.

There are many strategies and pragmatic approaches for defining construction

designs and methods (Groak, 1992). Some started from the systems of principles and

some from the established practice of a design or building organization. Buildings are

constructed in many different ways. They may be constructed in situ form of

materials such as bricks, concrete, and timber, which can be used in various ways to

form buildings to meet different building performance requirements. The other

method of construction is prefabrication materials from the factory which all the

materials taken to site. In-situ cast and pre-cast building material is not easy to

compare regarding economy, time, and quality. This is because both have their own

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advantages and disadvantages, which are needed in order for development of building

construction.

1.0.1 Climate

According to Irving et al (1995), buildings do not exist in a steady state of world;

they respond to the continuously changing weather and the needs of the occupants.

Malaysia is a nation of Southeast Asia consists of two components which are

Peninsular Malaysia and the states of Sabah and Sarawak, which is on the island of

Borneo. The features of the Malaysia’s climate are uniform temperature; high

humidity and copious rainfall. Meanwhile, the winds are generally light.

The main differences of climate within the country are due to the differences of

altitude and the exposure of the coastal lowlands to the alternating Northeast and

Southwest monsoon winds. Southwest monsoon winds occur from April – September

while the northeast monsoon occurs from November - February. March and October

are the transition months between the monsoons, characterized by light and variable

winds. There is a small difference of daily range of temperature from month to

month. Night – time temperatures can be oppressive due to high humidity. Although

Malaysia has a warm and humid climate, severe heat stress is rare. The transition

months (March and October) can be uncomfortable because winds are light and

humidity may be higher.

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Since in the beginning of the history, people need shelter against the unfavorable

environmental conditions such as cold or hot weather, rain and storm. Thus, climate

became an important part of the environmental conditions and is seen very important

in the architectural design (Ozay, 2004). Unfortunately, professionals such as

architects, engineers and planners involved in these housing projects in Malaysia have

neglected one of the most important aspects, which are the climate, in designing and

planning houses. The houses are not designed in response to the country’s climate.

Consequently, the mass housing programs have resulted in housing units which are

not designed accordingly for the tropical climate of Malaysia. Therefore, deep

understanding and evaluation about climate in the local area are needed to attain the

climate comfort level in the house.

1.0.2 Methods of construction

According to Papamanolis (2004), the construction of some form of building is to

provide shelter. When constructing a building, two main physical resources are

involved which are materials and technical ability (Osbourne and Greeno, 2002). The

materials are those which could be easily obtained and the technical ability involved

from the suitable methods of economically working with these available materials.

This final year project is focusing on modern houses which are using concrete as

the main material, normally there are two methods of construction being used in

Malaysia which are in-situ construction and pre-cast construction. The advantages of

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in-situ construction it is adaptable to any building shape and it can be assumed to be

more or less monolithic since joints only occur as a result of different pouring to the

same structure. Furthermore, it is more easy to use the two way structural systems and

it is also adaptable to post tensioning. The disadvantages of in-situ construction are

the construction of formwork is time consuming and concrete must be cure before it

is loaded. Besides, the quality control of finish surfaces is not assured. Moreover,

climate can create problems for curing and for construction itself. In addition, the

workmanship is variable for these methods of construction.

However, pre-cast construction offer advantages and also disadvantages as well.

The advantages of pre-cast construction are rapid speed of construction, optimum use

of materials and reduced numbers of manpower on site. Next, the quality can be

assured through better control of factory quality control procedures. Furthermore, pre-

stressing is easily done which can reduce the size of the structural members. In term

of appearance and finishes, pre-cast concrete can be produced with a wide variety of

architectural finished from carefully moulded surfaces to high quality visual concrete

featuring all kind of colours and textures. The disadvantages of pre-cast construction

are pre-cast concrete cannot be used for two-way structural system due to the panel

size which is limited. Next, economics of scale demand regularly shaped buildings.

Besides, the needs for repetition of forms will affect building design. Furthermore,

joints between panels are often expensive and complicated. Skilled workmanship is

required in the application of the panel on site and cranes are required to lift panels.

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Therefore, it is important to understand what is required of a building before

selecting the appropriate method of construction. The methods of construction of

modern houses consist of building team and communications, site considerations,

initial site works, foundation construction, ground floor construction, roof

construction, services, finishes, landscaping and external works and, lastly, the

completion.

This project particularly concentrates on the building thermal performance. The

construction details of modern houses (low cost and medium cost of single-storey

terrace houses) for the purpose of this study consist of external wall, internal

partitions, and roofing system.

1.0.3 Building Materials

The basic materials used in house construction are wood, concrete, structural clay

and concrete units and reinforcing structural steel. According to Somayaji (1995),

wood is derived from trees and it can be used directly as pieces of lumber obtained

from the log or as a raw material in the manufacture of various wood products. The

most commonly wood products used in construction are plywood, glulaminated

timber, and oriented strandboard. Concrete on the other hand, is consist of a mixture

of cement, water, and aggregate such as sand and crushed rocks whereby the cement

and water hardened by a chemical reaction to form a binder. The next basic materials

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used in housing construction are the structural clay and concrete units. These

materials, which are commonly known as bricks and blocks are the principal elements

in constructing the masonry walls. Whereas, the reinforcing and structural steel are

mainly used in the construction of high-rise building, roof trusses and many more.

The selection of these materials will be made based on their availability, aesthetics,

costs, performance and their properties. Hence, the basic knowledge of building

materials and construction is important so that the selection of suitable material for a

particular situation can be made accurately.

1.0.4 Performance requirements for modern house

In this project, the method of construction indicates the performance requirement

for modern houses. According to Osbourne and Greeno (2002), performance

requirement for buildings consists of appearance, durability, dimensional suitability,

strength and stability, weather exclusion, sound control, thermal comfort, fire

protection, lighting and ventilation, sanitation and drainage, security and cost. These

requirements are essential for human being to live in comfortable zone.

According to Alibaba and Ozdeniz (2004), performance requirements are related

to the expectations of the people from buildings. The building performance

requirements may vary from person to person. For example, the selection of an

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external wall needs sufficient fire resistance, good appearance, strength and stability,

reasonable cost and so on.

This project will also emphasize on thermal performance of modern houses. The

thermal performance of a building or its elements describes the resistance to heat flow

(Spielvogel, 1993). When the material had a high resistance to heat flow would be

considered as good thermal performance. Whereas, poor thermal quality would be

considered when the material had little resistance to heat flow. According to Hanafi

(1999), the design of the building envelope itself plays a big role for thermal comfort.

The building envelope is usually defined as all the elements of a building that enclose

conditioned spaces through which thermal energy may be transferred to or from the

exterior or to or from an unconditioned space, such as walls, windows, roof and etc

(Spielvogel, 1993). For example, roofing design, which uses light materials is needed

to maintain the temperature in satisfactory level in the house that is being used both

the whole day. In warm-humid climates, constructional characteristics must include

large opening in order to facilitate the air movement and overhanging roof to shade

exterior walls from solar radiation. The building material being used must have a high

resistance to heat flow and low thermal capacity in order to avoid heat storage and

consequent reradiating during the night.

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