1.

0 Introduction and History of Building Materials

History of Materials as Used in Building Construction, Materials Properties and Its Application

 Construction, also called building construction, the techniques and industry involved in the assembly and erection
of structures, primarily those used to provide shelter. Human shelters were at first very simple and perhaps lasted
only a few days or months. Over time, however, even temporary structures evolved into such highly refined forms
as the igloo. Gradually more durable structures began to appear, particularly after the advent of agriculture, when
people began to stay in one place for long periods. The first shelters were dwellings, but later other functions,
such as food storage and ceremony, were housed in separate buildings. Some structures began to have symbolic as
well as functional value, marking the beginning of the distinction between architecture and building

Building Material refers to any material used for construction purposes. Wood, cement, aggregates, metals, bricks,
concrete, clay are the most common type of building material used in construction usually because of their cost
effectiveness and durability.

Types of Materials in Building Construction:

1. Natural Construction Materials –these materials are raw materials from nature or those that are minimally processed
by the industry such as lumber. Mud, stone and fibrous plants (e.g. bamboo and anahaw) are the most commonly used
materials to build dwellings in consideration of the local weather conditions.

2. Fabrics - nomadic groups used tent as a home of choice, two of which are known as the conical tepee and the circular
yurt. It has then become an inspiration of the development of tensile architecture as well a synthetic fabrics

3. Mud and Clay - are commonly used in western and northern Europe and some of the buildings that are made with
these materials are still habitable in the present time.

4. Rock- is the longest lasting and readily available material. It is good for protection but it has draw-backs such as its
weight and energy density. The pyramids of Egypt, the Inca Civilization and the Aztec pyramids are examples of
stone/rock buildings.

5. Thatch - is one of the oldest of materials known; grass is a good insulator and easily harvested was used in Europe but
then fell out of favour when Industrialization increased the availability of other materials.

6. Brush- components of this structure are built entirely form plant parts that are generally found in tropical and
subtropical areas. The structure is mostly built with branches, bark leaves and twigs and were variously named as pickups,
lean-tos etc.

7. Ice- was used for igloos by the Inuit and is used for hotels as tourist attraction in the northern areas.

8. Wood - is a very flexible material and was historically used as unprocessed logs for building large structures. The
invention of mechanizing saws gave way to the mass production of dimensional lumber resulting into quicker and more
uniform buildings.

9. Brick and Block -A brick is a block made of kiln-fired material, usually clay or shale, but also may be of lower quality
mud, etc. Clay bricks are formed in a moulding (the soft mud method), or in commercial manufacture (the stiff mud
process).

10. Glass- generally made from mixture of sand and silicates and is very brittle, today, modern glass “curtain walls “can
be used to cover the facade of the building.
11. Cement- is used in various ways such as in buildings, bridges, tanks, domes, flyovers, dockyard etc. It is discovered
that it is used as early as 12-10,000 BC. The Romans is said to use a mixture of lime and pozzolan-crushed volcanic ash-
to create hydraulic cements, which could set under water. John Smeaton made an important contribution in the Industrial
Revolution in Europe in the late 18th century when he discovered that the hydraulicity of lime was directly related to the
limestone's clay content. The precursor to modern-day cement was created in 1824 by Joseph Aspdin, who experimented
with heating limestone and clay until the mixture calcined, grinding it and then mixing it with water, and thus named as
Portland cement.

12. Sand- is a naturally available material and is well known for its durability. There are two types of sand which are the
Natural or sand that is obtained in river banks and sea beds; and the Artificial sand or sand that is formed by
decomposition of sandstone due to various weathering effects.

13. Aggregate- are strong and durable, known to its resistance to scratches and decay, it is used in construction of beams,
columns, slab, lintel etc. Fine aggregates are used to prepare cement mortar, lime mortar and cement concrete; Coarse
Aggregates are used to prepare cement concrete bituminous pavement, rigid pavement etc.

14. Mortar- is used to bind the bricks and stones firmly in wall construction work and is even used in plaster work as
finishing material. Mortar is known for its water retention but should be set quickly to avoid developing of cracks
15. Ceramics- are mostly used for finishing in buildings as floors, walls, counter-tops, even ceilings. In the past it is
labelled as a form of clay-pottery but has evolved into more technical areas.

16. Metal- provides sufficient strength for bearing the building load. There are two types of Metals, the Ferrous and Non
Ferrous.

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION HISTORY

 People have constructed buildings and other structures since prehistory, including bridges, amphitheatres, dams,
roads and canals. Building materials in present use have a long history and some of the structures built thousands of years
ago are regarded as remarkable. The history of
The history of construction is a
construction overlaps that of structural engineering and many other fields. To understand why things were constructed the
way they were in prehistory, we also need to rely on archaeology to record the form of the parts that survive and the tools
complex subject encompassing
used, and other branches of history and architecture to investigate how the builders lived and recorded their
accomplishments.
the history of building
The Chronological Development
materials, the history of
The history of construction is a complex subject encom- passing the history of building materials, the history of
engineering, the history of engineering, the
building techniques, economic history
and social of and workmen, the history of
history of builders
construction machinery and temporary works, etc. Each of these has a complex literature devoted to it.

1.1 Neolithic Construction

building techniques, economic
and social history of builders
and workmen,
the history of construction
machinery and
temporary works, etc.
 The most common
materials used during the
period included thick
timber posts, reeds,
clay, stone, and tree
trunks. The building
techniques varied from
culture to culture with
central Asia
predominately using
mud-brick and Europe
building structures using
the wattle and daub
method
1.2 Gallery of Neolithic tools
 Man using a hand axe  A chisel made of bone, Sechseläutenplatz,
 A Neolithic stone axe with a wooden handle. Zürich
Foundat Ehenside Tarn, now in the British  A sledge for moving heavy materials.
Museum  A stone drill
 A stone adze not from the neolithic period but  A bow drill (this example is from a much later
similar in concept. Attribution: Brooklyn period).
Museum  An example of how fire was used as a tool to
 A sickle for harvesting crops and thatching work wood, these Native Americans are making
materials. a dugout canoe. Note in the background a fire
 Various bone tools from China arranged around the base of a tree to fell the tree
 Bone hammer from the Linear Pottery Culture

2 . Copper Age and Bronze Age construction

  The Copper Age is the early part of the Bronze Age. Bronze is made when tin is added to copper and brass is
copper with zinc. Copper came into use before 5,000BC and bronze around 3,100 BC, although the times vary by region.
Copper and bronze were used for the same types of tools as stone such as axes and chisels, but the new, less brittle, more
durable material cut better. Bronze was cast into desired shapes and if damaged could be re-cast.
A new tool developed in the copper age is the saw. Other uses of copper and bronze were to “harden” the cutting
edge of tools such as the Egyptians using copper and bronze points for working soft stone including quarrying blocks
and making rock-cut architecture.

3. Construction in Iron Age

Houses in Mesopotamia Pyramid at Saqqara: Djoser’s step pyramid

 Ancient cranes Roman Colosseum
The Yingzao Fashi is the oldest complete technical man- ual
on Chinese architecture. The Chinese followed the state rules
for thousands of years so many of the ancient, surviving
buildings were built with the methods and ma- terials used in
the 11th century. Chinese temples are typically wooden timber
frames on an earth and stone base. The oldest wooden building
is the Nanchan Temple (Wutai) dating from 782 CE. However,
Chinese temple builders regularly rebuild the wooden temples
so some parts of these ancient buildings are of di fferent ages.
Tra- ditional Chinese timber frames do not use trusses but rely
only on post and lintel construction.

The hand plane developed in the Iron Age and was

known to be used by the Romans. These Roman
planes were found in Ger- many and date to the 1st
to 3rd century AD

ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
6. Construction in the seventeenth century
The seventeenth century saw the birth of modern science which would have profound e ffects on building
construction in the centuries to come. The major breakthroughs were towards the end of the century when architect-
engineers began to use experimental science to inform the form of their buildings. However it was not until the eighteenth
century that engineering theory developed sufficiently to allow sizes of members to be calculated. Seventeenth-century
structures relied strongly on experience, rules of thumb and the use of scale models.

7 . Construction in the Eighteenth Century

The eighteenth century saw the development of many the ideas that had been born in the late seventeenth
century. The architects and engineers became increasingly professionalized.

Woolworth Building under construction in 1912

10 .Construction History as an Academic Discipline

There is no established academic discipline of construc- tion history but a growing number of researchers and
academics are working in this field, including structural engineers, archaeologists, architects, historians of tech- nology
and architectural historians.

11. Early Writers on Construction History

The earliest surviving book detailing historical building techniques is the treatise of the Roman author, Vitruvius,
but his approach was neither scholarly nor systematic. Much later, in the Renaissance, Vasari mentions
Filippo Brunelleschi's interest in researching Roman building techniques, although if he wrote anything Milan Cathedra
on the subject it does not survive.

12. Nineteenth Century Studies on Construction History

 In the nineteenth century, lecturers increasingly illustrated their lectures with images of building techniques used
in the past and these type of images increasingly appeared in construction text books, such as Rondelet’s. The greatest
advances however were made by English and French (and later German) architects attempting to un- derstand, record and
analyse Gothic buildings.

13. The early Twentieth Century Studies of the Construction History

Santiago Heurta has suggested that it was modernism, with its emphasis on the employment of new materials,
that abruptly ended the interest in construction history that appeared to have been growing in the last few decades of the
nineteenth century and the early years of the twen- tieth. With the advent of concrete and steel frame con- struction,
architects, who had been the chief audience for such studies, were no longer as interested as they had been in
understanding traditional construction, which suddenly appeared redundant. Very little was thus published be- tween
1920 and 1950. The revival of interest started in archaeology with the studies of Roman construction in the 1950s, but it
was not until the 1980s that construction history began to emerge as an independent field.

2.0 Wood and Wood Products

WOOD MATERIALS
Wood has durability and beauty. It has great ability to absorb shocks from sudden load and light in weight which
adaptable in a countless variety of purposes.

Two major classification of wood:

 Soft wood- these are used gor general construction.
 Hardwood- these are used gor flooring, stairs, panelling, funitures and interior trim.

THE GROWTH OF WOOD

As the tree trunk and branches thicken, a series of concentric layers of wood cells are laid down around a central core
called the pith. These appear as growth rings. The pith is the remnant of the growing shoot that gives the tree its height

Properties of Wood

 Hardness- measured by the compression, which a piece undergoes when is applied.

 Flexibility- the amount a piece will bend before breaking.
 Strength- to the grain
 Durability- the relative value.
 WOOD MATERIALS WOOD MATERIALS

DEFFECTS OF
DEFFECTS OF LUMBER:
LUMBER:
PITCH POCKETS-
KNOTS- WELL REFINED
IRREGULAR OPENINGS
GROWTHS IN THE BETWEEN ANNUAL
BODY WHICH RINGS CONTAINING
INTERRUPS SOLID OR LIQUID
SMOOTH CURVES. PITCH.
DEFFECTS OF
LUMBER:
WANE- IS THE
LACK OF WOOD
ON THE EDGE OR
CORNER OF A
PIECE.
Types of Wrapping

 Cupping- is a distortion of the board in which the face is convex.

 Bowing- is a distortion of the board in which the face covex/ longitudinally.
 Twisting- is a distortion of the board in which one corner is raised.
 2. SHOP
LUMBER- IT
IS
INTENDED
FOR USE IN
SHOPS OR
YARD LUMBER- IN MILLS
USED FOR MAKING
ORDINARY DOORS
LIGHT AND
CONSTRUCTION CABINETS.
AND FINISHING
WORK.
3.
STRUCTURA
L LUMBER-
IS INTENDED
FOR USE IN
HEAVY
CONSTRUCT
ION FOR
LOAD-
BEARING
PURPOSES
AND IS CUT
INTO
TIMBERS OF
LARGER
SIZE.
 KILN DRYING-
MORE
EXPENSIVE
LUMBER WHICH
IS REQUIRED
FOR MORE
REFINED USES
SO AS WOOD
WILL NOT MOVE.
IT MUST BE
DRIED TO A
MOISTURE
CONTENT OF
NOT MORE THAN
5 TO 10
WOOD MATERIALS PERCENT.
 +
WOOD MATERIALS WOOD MATERIALS

Four categories of philippine timber:

High Strength Group Moderate HSG Medium SG Moderate Low SG

Agoho Antipolo Apitong Bayer
Malabayabas Binggas Bagtikan Linga-Linga
Manggacahpui Bokbok Dangkalan Raintree
Molave Dao Gisab Yemane
Narig Gatasan Lanutan- Bagyo
Sasalit Guijo Lauan
Yakal Kamagong Malasaging
Kamalog Malugai
Kato Nato
Lomaraw Palosapis
Mahogany Pine
Makaaslim Salakin
Malakauayan Malavidal Lanu An
Narra
Dahutan

3.0 Building Stones

3.1 Classification Of Building Stones

Building Stones is a sound rock that can be safely used in some situation in the construction as a massive dressed or
undressed unit.... Similarly, sandstones and limestones used in forts, retaining walls and boundary walls and also as blocks
in stone houses and bungalows are typical building stones.

Characteristics of Good Building Stones

There is no single stone which satisfies all the characteristics or qualities of good building stones. The qualities of the
stones which are used for different purpose varies based on the nature of work for which the stones are selected.

1. Appearance & Color

The stones which are to be used for face work must be decent in appearance. The stones used for architectural
purposes must be capable of preserving the 2 uniformity of colour for a longer time.

2. Durability
A good building stone must be durable. The durability of a stone depends upon the structural formation, chemical
composition and cementing material. A good building stone must be capable of resisting the adverse effects of
natural forces like wind rain and heat.
3. Hardness
The stones used in floors, pavements, aprons of bridges and weirs of rivers must be able to resist abrasive forces
caused by movement of men and materials over them. Such stones are to be tested for hardness.
A good building stone must be sufficiently hard. Most scale of hardness aids in finding the hardness of the stone.

4. Crushing Strength
Stones used in the structures are usually subjected to compressive load. Hence, a good building stone must be
strong in compression. A good building stone must possess high strength to resist the load coming over it.

5. Toughness
A good building stone must possess sufficient toughness to sustain stresses developed due to vibrations. The
vibrations in the structure may be due to the presence of machineries or due to the moving loads.

6. Specific Gravity
The specific gravity of building stone depends on its weight and strength. The heavier and stronger the stone,
more is its specific gravity.

7. Dressing
Dressing is the process of giving definite shape to the stones. The process of dressing a good building stone must
be easy and also the cost of dressing must below. A good stone must possess uniform texture and softness so that
it can be easily dressed.

8. Seasoning
Good stones must be free from quarry sap. This process of removing quarry sap by the action of nature is termed
as seasoning. Seasoning of stones is essential before use.

9. Workability
Stones are said to be workable if the work involved in cutting, dressing and shaping of stones is economical and
easy to conduct. But, the property of workability is opposing to strength, durability and hardness.

10. Cost
A good building stone must be economical. The location of quarry site from the construction site influences the
cost of the stones. Hence, quarry site must be in a considerable distance from the construction site.

11. Fire Resistance

A good building stone must be fire resistant. For a stone to be fire resistant, it must be free from calcium
carbonate, oxides of iron and minerals having different coefficients of thermal expansion.

Igneous rocks possess less fire resistance than sedimentary rocks due to the presence of quartz. The sandstone
containing silicates as binding material has better fire resisting property. The argillaceous stones have lesser
strength, but they can resist fire quite well.

12. Structure
A good stone must be such that when broken in any direction other than that of cleavage, the appearance of the
stone must not be dull and must possess uniform texture.

13. Heaviness
Heavier stones are more compact, less porous and possess high specific gravity. A good building stone must be
heavy. This is because, the weight of stone indirectly represents the porosity of the stone.

14. Porosity
A good building stone must be less porous as lesser the porosity greater will be the compactness.

15. Water absorption

The water absorption of a good building stone must be less than 0.6% by weight.
Stone is classified geological as igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.

3 Kinds of Rocks
Igneous rock -is the product of heat and pressure, such as those caused by volcanic activity

Types of Igneous Rocks 

Extrusive Intrusive Plutonic
Cooling time Seconds to months Thousands of years Millions of years
Texture Invisible or microscopic Small to medium grains Large grains
grains

Sedimentary rock -is made up of silt or skeletal remains of marine life deposited by ancient seas.

Metamorphic -formed by gradual change in the character and structure of igneous and sedimentary rocks i.e. granite,
sandstone, slate, marble, limestone. 

Stone is not manufactured but quarried.

Stone or rock is a natural substance that is quarried and mined from the earth and used in a variety of applications in
construction, including:

* Masonry, including decorative elements such as pillars, swags and porticos.

* Floor and wall tiles and cladding.
* Paving.
* Roof coverings.
* Kitchen work surfaces and table tops.
* Bathroom countertops, shower trays and basins.
* Fire surrounds, staircase sand other decorative elements.
* Aggregate.
* Ballast.
* As a component of concrete, mortar, cement, asphalt and some bricks.

The major rock groups are igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. The unique characteristics of stone are due to the
complex geological processes that have impacted upon it, creating many different types of structure, texture and color.

Different types of stone end themselves to different uses depending on their characteristics. It is important to get the right
advice to ensure that the correct kind of stone is used.
Different types of stone
include:
Alabaster- A mineral
composition of gypsum, light-
cultured, translucent and soft,
alabaster was commonly
used in the medieval period
for religious carvings, such as
altars, tombs and effigies. It
is now used for light fittings
due to its translucent nature,
but is expensive and rare.
For more information see:
Penarth Alabaster.
Granite- is an igneous rock
composed of quartz, mica and
feldspar. It is common and
widely occurring and is nearly
always massive, hard and
tough which makes it suitable
for applications that will
require wear resistance. It can
range in color from light grey
to black, pink, blue and green,
according to the mineral
content. Its colors, toughness
and low porosity make it a
popular choice for kitchen
work tops, as it is attractive
and resists heat and spillages
of food and drink. Internally it
is also used for tiles, fire
places, staircases, where the
weight is not a problem, bar
tops and table tops. It also
lends itself well to use
outdoors for water features,
monuments and paving.
Granite is suitable for use where strength and hardness are required.
Limestone(sedimentary
rock)
Lime stone consists of
calcium carbonate formed
at the bottom of shallow
lakes and seas that has
been compacted over time.
The primary source of
calcite in lime stones is
marine organisms although
other sources do occur.
The presence of these
organisms means that the
stone often has fossil
inclusions that for man
attractive feature when the
stone is polished or honed.
It can be categorized as
either soft or hard
limestone. Various colors
can be found as a result of
the presence of different
minerals in the
limestone .Lime stone lends
itself to use as floor tiles
throughout a building and
bathroom wall tiles, shower
trays, cladding and vanity
tops. In addition, fire place
sand stair cases are often
manufactured in limestone
to striking effect . It is also
frequently used in the fabric
of a building such as
façades, cornices, pillar
sand other decorative
features, especially in
conservation areas where
traditional building
Local term
materials arefor a discontinued
required, such marble slab “Ganso”
as Portland Stone balls
Sandstone in areas
fabricated as garden ornaments
of London, Bath Stone in
Bath and so on.

Lasa quartzite counter tops

Travertine tile sand solid
traver tine bathtub in a
private residence.

STONE PATH

RETAINING
WALL STONE ARCH
FLOORING STONE STONE FOUNDATION
STONE FACE STONE BALLAST