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HOW TO BUILD BACK BETTER IN HAITI
by James Post
The original title of this article was “How to Build the Caribbean House of the
Future” but given the tragic situation in Haiti, I decided to focus on the reasons
that caused the immense damage in Haiti, and how to prevent this same
situation when rebuilding.
In some of the Caribbean, the general construction quality does not even come
close to Western standards, in spite of the good intention of authorities. Lack of
education and training is one of the major impediments to quality construction.
The majority of the small contractors do not know why they build the way they
do; it is how they were taught as an apprentice during the job, so they follow
that method.
And even if they are told by the patron to do it in a different manner, they may
not listen. Not because of bad intentions, but because they believe they know
better. And unfortunately the authorities do not have a real handle on the small
contractors who do the vast majority of work for the poorer people.
In Haiti, the situation is far, far worse than in the average Caribbean islands. In
addition to the education and training gap regarding proper construction
methods, there is also the overall quality/cost dilemma – and with the poor
lower cost will always wins. Sand and gravel are cheap; cement and steel are
expensive. As sad as it is, people saved - because they had no choice, and did
not understand the ultimate implications of building without proper knowledge
and proper materials.
The objective of this article is threefold:
• to find supporters to give direct help,
• provide aid workers and their management a better insight in
to the limitations all are dealing with and,
• give all a tangible concept of how to rebuild better , along with
guidance about high-quality yet cost-effective building methods
that work in the Caribbean.
FINALLY, THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS A CALL TO ACTION INVITING EVERY
READER TO PARTICIPATE IN A PLAN TO GIVE DIRECT ASSISTANCE.
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How To Build Back Better in Haiti
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Finally, this article contains a Call to Action inviting every reader to participate in
a plan to give direct assistance.
Grenada - After Hurricane Ivan
I was in Grenada when Category Four (4) Hurricane Ivan hit the island in
September, 2004. The island was completely taken by surprise as it is supposed
to be outside the hurricane belt. A week after the hurricane, after it became
clear that people in the countryside were suffering badly without much help, I
started a private aid organisation, initially to provide people with food, water
and medicine while helping them to get medical attention when needed.
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How To Build Back Better in Haiti
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This is the same stage where the aid in Haiti is now. Later, engineers sent by
foreign governments came to the island to help find the root cause of why so
many buildings went down and to think about solutions for the future. We came
to the conclusion that there was enough budget (from only one big Aid
organisation) to help everybody with materials to rebuild their homes and to
also train all small contractors on how to build better. But it did not happen at
all.
Why? Big Aid organizations are surrounded by heavy bureaucracy and
associated red tape. I tried to talk to them, explaining endless times what was
needed, but it was like talking to a wall. While the government had some good
programs to provide material to people, most Grenadians had to help
themselves. Since many of them had supporting relatives abroad, it did not
work out too bad.
Haiti - After the Earthquake
In Haiti, the situation is far, far worse. It is basically indescribable. Even before
the earthquake the country was in an economically desperate position.
Currently, its people are far less able to help themselves and the economy
seems to be at a complete meltdown. Clearly the international community needs
to help quickly; and they are trying.
While food supplies, water and medicines are coming in to solve the initial
needs, and Aid workers do a great job in rescuing people, we need to think
about how to get the reconstruction of this nation in motion - the right way – in
order to get these poor folks back on track.
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How To Build Back Better in Haiti
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I hope this article is being read by NGO’s that are in the position to write
proposals to big Aid organisations and governments. They could count on my
technical and organisational support. But I am realistic enough to realise that
this is not likely to happen.
MY OBJECTIVE IS TO SET UP AN ICF BLOCK PLANT, TRAIN HAITIANS
HOW TO OPERATE IT, BUILD AS MANY HOUSES AS FINANCES ALLOW
AND TRAIN LOCAL HAITIAN CONTRACTOR ON HOW TO BUILD THEM.
What Can Make the Difference for the Haitians
I would like to get a group together of people who understand that direct aid is
the best way to make this work and to really make a difference. My objective is
to set up an ICF block plant, train Haitians how to operate it, build as many
houses as finances allow and train local Haitian contractors on how to properly
build them. From this point I talk about “we”.
After completion of the project we can present our plan to major aid
organisations and motivate them to pick it up. And as our house will prove to be
the most economical and fast solution we stand a good chance – especially if we
have people on board that know how to break through the walls of bureaucracy.
What We Need to Make This Plan Work:
1. Money, both from direct contributions and from corporate
sponsors (in cash or in the form of high discounts or free
services).
2.
Assistance from experienced fund raisers,
3. Assistance from contractors experienced in building with ICF
blocks and trainers of ICF block manufacturers.
4. Administrative assistance (setup an NGO, administer
finances),
5. An experienced PR firm and persons who can spread the
word in their community,
6. An experienced web-site designer and persons to maintain
the database for newsletters,
7. Well known, respectable people serving on the board of the
NGO.
Ground Rules for the Organization - Let’s Call it Direct Assistance to
Rebuild Haiti:
1. Everybody involved gets no compensation other than direct
expenses. We want to send a clear message to those who support
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How To Build Back Better in Haiti
us that their contributions are directly applied to assistance: no
overhead, no agencies etc.
2.
We will reward corporate sponsors with positive, widespread PR in exchange for donations, free services and/or large
discounts. This PR is an important motivator for companies and it
is also justified to put them in the sunshine.
3. Our goal is to ensure that we really make a difference by
providing Haitians with new, safe and (relatively) comfortable
homes, initially by direct assistance, followed by transferring the
concepts to large aid organisations and then to monitor them.
How Can You Help?
1. If your experience fits the description above and you are
ready to commit your time (most of it will be between now and
the summer) contact me per email, and I will ensure you will be
informed on the details of how to help. Please advise clearly how
you –or your company- are prepared to participate.
2. You can give a direct contribution to support our project, no
matter how small. If you are principally interested to assist
financially, send an email and we will keep you informed of the
progress. We would not ask you to transfer funds until the NGO
(non-profit, non-government organisation) has been formed. But
we need your commitment.
3. Spread the word. This is VERY important and may be crucial
to the success of our plan. Send emails to your network with a
link to this article and ask them to assist and to spread the word.
Ask all to submit this article to article web sites, link to it on
blogs, talk about in on twitter, etc.
If you are interested to participate in any way please contact us per email (see
addresses at the end of this article).
Hurricane and Earthquake Proof Construction
Haiti faces both hurricanes and earthquakes so the houses to be built should
ideally withstand both. Let us look at the properties of a hurricane-proof house
using locally known building techniques for a small building (one family house)
with gable roof - the easiest construction:
1. The foundation is strong enough to hold the house
That sounds logical but in a country where most houses are built without
strength calculations this was not always the case. I will briefly describe the
steelwork necessary for a foundation, although this is common knowledge
(except for the poor Haitians that did not have proper building education). At
the bottom of the foundation a steel mat (on a 8 x 8 inch mesh with 5/8 inch
steel) is to be put in place with 5/8” steel coming up to connect to the beams
and columns At all places where a wall is coming, a beam must be put in place
and starter bars must be put up to connect to the wall steel (see below). The
steel inside the beam consists of 4 bars of 5/8” steel kept in place by 3/8
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How To Build Back Better in Haiti
stirrups. For an 8 x 12” beam the right size for the steel is 5 x 9”. The steel in
the column is similar; for an 8 x 8: columns use 5 x 5” steelwork. The columns
must be tightly connected to the foundation steel before casting.
2. The walls are strong enough to sustain the wind and are properly
connected to the foundation steel
Concrete walls need steelwork throughout the structure. When using hollow
blocks it will be sufficient to have steel coming from the foundation – also known
as starter bars on every third block. After laying three (3) rows of blocks the
vertical 5/8” bars are connected with horizontal 3/8” steel by tying them. Then,
the parts were the steel comes up need to be filled with concrete – at least 5
bags of cement per cubic yard of concrete. In the Caribbean ,they often try to fill
the concrete all the way from the ring beam (the top of the wall) which is a bad
practice as it can easily happen that a (big) part of the concrete never comes
down, usually because of misaligning the blocks.
3. The wall steel and the roof rafters are strongly connected to the ring
beam
The wall steel must be literally hooked into the ring beam steel (not just tied).
The ring beam steel is similar to regular beam steel. Then, the rafters are placed
partly into the ring beam steel and bars of steels interconnect the rafters just
under the top of the ring beam steel. The rafter steel is tightly tied together with
the ring beam steel). The top part of the gable must be casted with a small
beam. For 8 inch blocks, an 8 x 8 beam with 5 x 5” steel is sufficient. The top
wood that connects all the rafters at the top must be tied into the gable beam
by having steel go through the top wood and connect it tightly to the gable
beam steel. Only then, the ring beam and the gable beam can be cast.
4. The roof is strong, is closed and has small eves
At the top of the roof, the rafters must be securely connected by horizontal
(and angled in some roof constructions) wood, bolted together (not screwed or
nailed). The eves must be small –no longer than 18 inches. The top wood
connects all rafters together from gable to gable as referred to above. Then the
roof must be completely covered with wood; preferably tongue and groove, but
plywood will work.
The wood must be screwed onto the rafters (otherwise, if a hurricane would
enter the house it would pop out the nails). Then the outside of the wood need
to be treated to make it water resistant; any technique is fine. Finally, the roof
is covered with the desired roofing material, i.e. asphalt or wooden shingles, or
galvanised roofing sheets. These may not withstand a hurricane, but the
underlying roof structure should survive.
5. Materials must be available to bar the windows –and in some cases doors
too- in case of a hurricane threat. Trying to organize this on the last moment
does not even work in sophisticated communities yet alone a community with so
few resources.
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How To Build Back Better in Haiti
Single one storey family homes, constructed with these simple guidelines, stand
a much better chance to withstand earthquakes, or at least unlikely to collapse.
It is more complicated with multi-story buildings. Because, while it is possible to
built houses to withstand tough hurricanes, it is practically impossible to built a
100% earthquake proof building – at least at an acceptable cost.. Close to the
epicentre of the earthquake even well-constructed buildings may collapse during
a strong earthquake. And, then it is important to build in such as manner that
the opportunity for personal damage is the smallest.
Build Lighter, Multi-Story Buildings
In Haiti, many people died because concrete ceilings/floors were collapsing and
came down. The solution is clearly to build the ceilings and floors lighter. Each
floor must have beams to ensure the integrity of the total building, but the floor
itself can be made of wood. It is slightly more expensive, but will save many
lives. To increase the total strength of the building, a flat concrete roof is most
always the best option. On one hand the concrete is heavier, but on the other
hand the chance of collapse is much smaller.
Alternative Building Materials
Small homes can be strongly built with wood, preferably hardwood. One
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How To Build Back Better in Haiti
practical limitation is that most of the forests in Haiti have been taken down, so
at this time there is no sustainable way to harvest wood locally. For this reason,
I will not discuss this option further.
ICF BLOCKS GIVE THE BUILDER FAR LESS CHANCE TO MAKE MISTAKES..
ROUGH CONSTRUCTION GOES MUCH FASTER...AND CONSTRUCTION IS
MUCH LIGHTER.
When researching my article “How to build the Caribbean House of the Future,” I
considered ICF blocks for several reasons. One reason is because ICF blocks
consist of polystyrene foam and insulate very well, thus causing more
comfortable living and savings on A/C if installed. In that article, due next
month, I will also explain that 100% solar A/C in the Caribbean is feasible.
But the other advantages are that ICF blocks give the builder far less chance to
make mistakes, and that the rough construction goes much faster than
traditional construction, while the construction is much lighter. These three
arguments alone make it worthwhile to deeply explore this building method as
the viable option.
When building with ICF blocks the foundation stage is exactly the same as
described above. But on to the critical differences:
• The blocks connect to each other with a male/female
connection that does not allow for mistakes.
•
The walls will be perfectly aligned and straight.
• And it does not require special skills; it’s like constructing with
Lego blocks.
• Like with the hollow concrete blocks, the openings will be filled
with concrete/steel but at a smaller distance to each other.
Nevertheless there will be less concrete but the construction is
stronger and lighter.
• And because of the perfect alignment and bigger opening, the
blocks can be filled with concrete together with the ring beam
after the building is being checked to be plum.
A disadvantage should be mentioned – and that is when the building is under
construction it needs to be supported, as the blocks themselves have little
integral strength.
The good news is that reusable support systems are available. For building a
large number of equal houses it should be easy to construct easy-to-use
systems. Finally another advantage of ICF blocks is that the piping can be put in
after the rough construction. For a Western mind that does not seem like an
advantage as you can put the pipes in before block up.
Well, I have never seen a contractor in the Caribbean putting pipes at the right
position and broken or bent pipes during construction are not the exception, but
the rule.
IT WOULD BE EASY TO SETUP AN ICF BLOCK PLANT IN HAITI WHICH
WOULD ALSO BE GOOD FOR EMPLOYMENT AND CONTINUITY INTO TO
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How To Build Back Better in Haiti
THE FUTURE
Shipping ICF blocks to Haiti would be relatively costly as they consist primarily
of air (which explains the good insulation). But it would be easy to setup an ICF
block plant in Haiti which would also be good for employment and continuity into
the future. When locally produced the cost of this building technique should be
equal or less than traditional blocks. A disadvantage of ICF blocks is that they
need a durable surface, but there are several techniques around to spray on
durable surfaces.
Increasing the Quality and Speed of Construction by Prefab
Assuming that many equal houses are going to be built, there is the opportunity
of pre-fab, saving both time and material (as everything is made to the exact
size). In the rough construction stage, all the steel for foundation, beams and
columns can be made to fit without cutting. While the shipping costs are initially
higher, there is no material waste and it goes much, much faster. Secondary
advantages are that construction workers are not waiting for each other. But
speed is really the issue that counts here.
My conclusion is that, with good planning, funding and a good team it is
absolutely feasible to build back Haiti better. But how will the reality be if we do
not act directly. That is my major concern and my experiences with Hurricane
Ivan in Grenada explain why.
I welcome feedback from everyone regarding this effort to help Haiti rebuild its
homes in a sustainable, quick and cost effective manner.
Please direct inquiries through:
Author: James Post. After retiring from a hi-tech career James
moved to Grenada in 2000 and built a hotel (www.
paradisebayresort.net) and also started an import business from
China to the Caribbean. At this time, he is heading a team
developing residential green energy solutions, such as highly
efficient rooftop solar water heaters, micro wind turbines and
100% solar A/C and solar refrigeration (www.
smartverticalaxiswindturbines.com). After Hurricane Ivan in
Grenada in September 2004 he chaired an aid organisation that
coordinated the efforts of small aid groups. While he was able to
give direct help in terms of food, water, medicines and vitamin
pills, his plan to help people rebuild their houses failed because of
the bureaucracy of the big aid organisations. He is determined to
succeed in Haiti, sustained by the experience in Grenada and
realizing that without this initiative the poor Haitians will struggle
with their rebuilding efforts.
Email : James Post
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How To Build Back Better in Haiti
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Pirates : The Original Rock Stars?
Nicaragua
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Why My Mother Moved to
How To Build Back Better in Haiti
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