1. Building Construction Technology I
Practical Session no. 6
21.05.2012
Answer these Questions:
- Building material is : Any material which is used in construction of residential or
commercial buildings.
- The choice of building material depends on :
o the size and nature of building,
o its design,
o intended purposes,
o availability of resources
o location.
- Building materials can be classified into : natural, synthetic.
- Write three facts for these materials :
o Rocks:
 Easily, one of the most solid and durable material used in
constructions,
 Rock is a very dense material so it gives a lot of protection too.
o Wood :
 Wood is an aesthetically pleasing material that never goes out of
trend completely,
 Wood obtained from certain plants is quite durable, however low
quality wood is open to many extremities.
o Plastic:
 Plastics vary immensely in heat tolerance, hardness, and resiliency.
Combined with this adaptability,
 Plastic is a light, flexible substance, used mostly for piping in
buildings.
o Concrete:
o Glass :

2.  Glassmaking is considered an art form as well as an industrial
process or material.
 Clear windows have been used since the invention of glass to cover
small openings in a building.
 The use of glass in architectural buildings has become very
popular in the modern culture.
o Steel:
 It is strong, flexible, and if refined well and/or treated lasts a long
time.
o Mud and Clay:
 Mud and clay are the most commonly used materials in residential
buildings.
 Buildings made primarily of mud and clay can easily endure many
years.
 Using mud and clay in buildings is a very good option for warm
places
- Define :
o Density : Ratio of the mass of a substance to its volume, expressed, for
example, in units of grams per cubic centimeter or pounds per cubic foot.
o Porosity : fraction is a measure of the void spaces in a material
o Shrinking and swelling: Swelling soils are soils or soft bedrock that
increase in volume as they get wet and shrink as they dry out
o Melting point : point is the temperature at which a material goes from the
solid to the liquid state at one atmosphere.
o Viscosity : is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being
deformed by either shear or tensile stress
o Mechanical Properties: describe how it will react to physical forces.
o Hook’s law : For an elastic material, the strain is directly proportional to
the stress.
o Stress: force causing the deformation
o Ductility: is a measure of how much deformation or strain a material can
withstand before breaking
o Toughness: describes a material's resistance to fracture
o Elastic limit: is the highest stress at which all deformation strains are
fully recoverable
o Strength: