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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
i
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.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Hakmilik kertas projek adalah di bawah nama penulis melainkan penulisan sebagai projek bersama dan
dibiayai oleh UNIMAS, hakmiliknya adalah kepunyaan UNIMAS.
Naskhah salinan di dalam bentuk kertas atau mikro hanya boleh dibuat dengan kebenaran bertulis daripada
penulis.
Pusat Khidmat Maklumat Akademik, UNIMAS dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk pengajian mereka.
Kertas projek hanya boleh diterbitkan dengan kebenaran penulis. Bayaran royalti adalah mengikut kadar
yang dipersetujui kelak.
* Saya membenarkan/tidak membenarkan Perpustakaan membuat salinan kertas projek ini sebagai bahan
pertukaran di antara institusi pengajian tinggi.
** 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)
Alamat tetap:
(TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)
27A, LORONG PULAU LI
HUA 1, PULAU LI HUA,
DR. SITI HALIPAH HAJI IBRAHIM
( Nama Penyelia )
96000 SIBU, SARAWAK
Tarikh:
CATATAN
Tarikh:
*
**
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
Date
Supervisor
To my beloved parents and siblings and especially to Dr. Siti Halipah
who had given their support in ensuring this project completed.
ii
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 ciriciri yang terdapat di dalam bahan-bahan yang akan digunakan dalam pembinaan
sesebuah rumah adalah penting. Ini bagi mewujudkan suasana yang selesa untuk
penghuni rumah.
iv
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
v
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
vi
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
vii
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
viii
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
Table 4.2
Comparison between external wall in front and internal
walls in front position of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3
Table 4.3
52
Comparison between external roof and internal roof of
the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3
Table 4.6
50
Comparison between intermediate wall on the left and
right side of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3
Table 4.5
47
Comparison between external wall in front and internal
wall in back position of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3
Table 4.4
45
54
Comparison air temperature between rooms of the house
Desa Ilmu, Phase 3
57
ix
Table 4.8
Comparison between external wall in front and external
wall in back position of Rampangi’s low cost house
Table 4.9
Comparison between external wall in front and internal
walls in front position of Rampangi’s low cost house
Table 4.10
67
Comparison between external roof and internal roof of
Rampangi’s low cost house
Table 4.13
65
Comparison between intermediate wall on the left and
right side of Rampangi’s low cost house
Table 4.12
63
Comparison between external wall in front and internal
wall in back position of Rampangi’s low cost house
Table 4.11
61
69
Comparison air temperature between rooms of
Rampangi’s low cost house
x
71
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
Figure 3.1
39
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
wall in back position of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3
xi
46
Figure 4.2
Comparison between external wall in front and internal
walls in front position of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3
Figure 4.3
Comparison between external wall in front and internal
wall in back position of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3
Figure 4.4
53
Comparison between external roof and internal roof of
the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3
Figure 4.6
51
Comparison between intermediate wall on the left and
right side of the house Desa Ilmu, Phase 3
Figure 4.5
49
55
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
wall in back position of Rampangi’s low cost house
Figure 4.9
62
Comparison between external wall in front and internal
walls in front position of Rampangi’s low cost house
xii
64
Figure 4.10
Comparison between external wall in front and internal
wall in back position of Rampangi’s low cost house
Figure 4.11
Comparison between intermediate wall on the left and
right side of Rampangi’s low cost house
Figure 4.12
68
Comparison between external roof and internal roof of
Rampangi’s low cost house
Figure 4.13
66
70
Comparison air temperatures between rooms of
Rampangi’s low cost house
xiii
71
LIST OF NOMENCLATURES
ºC
-
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
xiv
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
1
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
2
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.
3
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
4
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, prestressing 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.
5
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
6
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
7
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.
8