CONSTRUCTION & MATERIALS – III (RAR – 302)

MODULE I0 – TEMPORARY TIMBERING

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 CONTENTS
 TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTIONS
 VARIOUS TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTIONS
 WHAT IS TRENCH?
 SOIL & ITS TYPES
 TIMBERING OF SHALLOW TRENCHES
 VARIOUS METHODS OF TIMBERING OF TRENCHES
 HARD GROUND
 FIRM GROUND
 MODERATELY FIRM GROUND
 LOOSE EARTH
 LOOSE AND WATERLOGGED GROUND

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 TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTION

Structures erected to aid in the construction of a permanent project.

Temporary structures are used to facilitate the construction of buildings,
bridges, tunnels, etc. above- and below ground facilities by providing access,
support, and protection for the facility under construction, as well as assuring
the safety of workers and the public. Temporary structures are either
dismantled and removed when the permanent works become self-supporting
or completed, or they are incorporated into the finished work. Temporary
structures are also used in inspection, repair, and maintenance work.
Examples:-
 Timbering in trenches
 Scaffolding
 Shoring
 Underpinning
 Formwork

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 VARIOUS TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTIONS
 Timbering in trenches - Timber of trenches consists of providing timber
planks or boards and struts to give temporary support to the sides of the
trench.
 Scaffolding - Scaffolding, also called staging, is a temporary structure used
to support people or material and material in the construction or repair of
buildings and other structures.
 Shoring - Shoring is the construction of temporary structure to support
temporarily an unsafe structure.

Timbering in trenches Scaffolding Shoring

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 VARIOUS TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTIONS

 Underpinning - The term underpinning is applied to the construction of a

new foundation underneath the existing one for strengthening purposes.
 Formwork - Formwork is temporary or permanent molds into which
concrete or similar materials are poured. In the context of concrete
construction, the falsework supports the shuttering moulds.

Underpinning Formwork

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 WHAT IS A TRENCH?
 Excavation: An excavation is any opening or depression in the
earth’s surface. It can be as narrow as a backhoe bucket or as
wide as an open pit mine. All excavations are man­made and
have unsupported walls of earth or rock as its borders.
 Trench: An excavation in which material removal forms a
narrow opening in the ground. Unlike large excavations, a
trench is generally deeper than it is wide.
 Or a trench is a deep and narrow hole, or ditch, in the ground,
like the kind soldiers on frontlines might dig to give
themselves shelter from the enemy.
 Trenching is a construction method that involves digging a
narrow trench in the ground for the installation, maintenance,
or inspection of pipelines, conduits, or cables, foundations
etc.
 The length and depth of an excavation is entirely dependent
upon the purpose for which the excavation is being carried
out. Laying electrical wires, for example, requires a much Note: You can see that all trenches are
shallower excavation than would be required for the excavations, but not all excavations are
foundations of an office block. trenches.

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AR. SUMI AGRAWAL APEEJAY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND
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 SOIL
 Soil is the mixture of minerals, organic matter, gases, liquids, and the
myriad of organisms that together support plant life.
 When it comes to foundation installation, one of the biggest challenges that
architects encounter is building on various types of soil.
 Although seemingly innocuous, the soil type can potentially have a dramatic
impact on foundation repair and installation projects.
 Each type of soil has different properties that can affect the way a building’s
foundation is supported.
 A soil report is one way to determine the soil type a company will be
working on, helping those in the industry better calculate the bearing
capacity of the soil, as well as the depth and composition of other soils
beneath the initial layer.
 In this presentation, we are going to briefly review some of the common soil
types most soil testing's identity.
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 TYPES OF SOILS
TYPE CHARACHTERSTICS
Clay Fine particles, Smooth when dry, Sticky when wet,
Retains water, Drains poorly, Less spaces to let air
pass, Rich in nutrients, Cool and dense

Peat Dark brown in color, Soft and spongy to the touch, Contains acidic water, Rich in
organic matter, Retains water, Stores nutrients, Improves soil buffering, Well
aerated, Found in bogs, Mixed in soil to improve structure

Silty Tiny particles, Slippery when wet, Not grainy or rocky,

Extremely fertile, Retains water, Easily transported by wind
and water, Good for agriculture purposes, Easily compacted

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 TYPES OF SOILS
TYPE CHARACHTERSTICS
Sandy Large particles, Dry and gritty to touch, Easily drains water, Less water retention,
Warm and airy, Even when wet, Easily crumbles through the fingers, Lacks
essential nutrients

Chalky Lime rich soil, Stony, Severely dry in summers,

Poor in nutrients, Warms quickly in summers,
Porous, Highly alkaline, Free-draining

Loam Well- drained, Fertile, Mixture of sand, silt and clay,

Retains water, Retains nutrients, Strong granular
structure, Soft and crumbly, Easy to work with, Well
aerated

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 TYPES OF SOILS FOR TRENCHING
There are many different kinds of soil, but for convenience for
trenching purposes they may be divided into
 Hard (including rock and exceptionally hard chalk)
 Firm (including hard chalk and dense gravel)
 Moderately Firm (including soft chalk, loose gravel and
compact clay)
 Loose (including dry sand, soft clay, ordinary loamy soil and
make-up ground)
 Loose and Waterlogged loamy soil and sand.

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 TIMBERING OF SHALLOW TRENCHES
 Certain forms of timber construction are required only as
temporary supports of work carried out during preliminary
building operations or in the erection of permanent structures,
after which they are removed.
 Such as timbering to support the sides of trenches which are to
receive wall foundations, drains, etc.
 The timbering of these excavations is done by the labourers as
the work proceeds.
 The sizes and arrangement of the various timbers are
influenced by the nature of the soil and the depth of the
cutting.

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 TIMBERING OF SHALLOW TRENCHES
Terms: The following members are used:—
 Polling Boards: Members placed vertically next to the sides of the
excavation or sheeting; sizes vary from 175 mm by 32 mm to 225
mm by 38 mm and are from 0.6 to 1.2 m long.
 Walings, Wales, Waling Pieces or Planks: Members placed
horizontally next to the earth or poling boards; Sizes vary from 100
mm by 75 mm to 225 mm by 75 mm. and from 2.4 to 4.3 m long.
 Sheeting: Members placed horizontally; of similar scantlings to
poling boards and from 2.4 to 4.3 m long.
 Struts: Short lengths of 75 to 100 mm square timber driven down
between poling boards or walings at a minimum distance of 1.8 m
centres.

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 TYPES
The following typical description may be applied to a shallow trench,
excavated in various soils, to receive a foundation which is 1.2 m wide
and 1 m deep.

1. Hard Ground:
 No timbering would be required (unless there were pockets of
loose soil) for the sides of the trench would be self-supporting.

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 TYPES
2. Firm Ground: (Stay Bracing)
 Whilst there would be little likelihood of the
sides of a shallow trench caving in if left
unsupported for a short time (hard chalk
will retain a vertical face, 3 m high, until
weather conditions begin to disintegrate it),
it is sometimes necessary to provide a light
support in the form of a pair of poling
boards strutted apart at a minimum
distance of 1.8 m centres. This distance is
necessary to allow sufficient working space
for the men engaged in constructing the
foundation. Usually it is sufficient to use
one central strut to each pair of boards, but
occasionally it is advisable to use two struts.

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 TYPES
3. Moderately Firm Ground:
 Where the soil is firm, except where it is inclined to be
loose in patches, the timbering may consist of the
simple arrangement shown at D in the figure,
otherwise the trench may require a temporary support
as illustrated in the figure at E.
 The wide walings at D provide a continuous support,
three struts being used per 4 m length of waling.
 The arrangement at E shows poling boards held in
position by walings which are strutted. The poling
boards are placed at a distance apart varying with
circumstances; in the figure they are shown at 450 mm
centres, but this distance may be reduced to 300 mm
or increased to 1 m.
 The timbering is done in easy stages it is not advisable
in this kind of soil to defer it until a length of trench is
excavated equal to that of the walings, as a section of
the unsupported excavation may collapse

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 TYPES
4. Loose Earth:
 The arrangement of the timbers is similar
to that shown at G (excepting that
sometimes the sheets are placed about 25
mm apart) and is described in Loose and
waterlogged Ground.

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 TYPES
5. Loose & Waterlogged Ground:

 The arrangement of the timbers is similar to that

shown at G (excepting that sometimes the sheets are
placed about 25 mm apart) and is described in Loose
and waterlogged Ground.
 Horizontal sheeting is necessary, for unlike the soils
referred to in the first three classes, it is not possible to
excavate in loose soil for several metres in depth
before resorting to timbering.
 The sides of the trenches dug in this soil begin to fall
before 300 mm depth has been reached, and hence
the need for horizontal boards or sheets. The following
is the sequence of operations:
 The excavation is made to a depth slightly in excess of
the width of the sheeting to be used, when a board is
placed against each side and two or more temporary
struts are driven between.

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 TYPES
5. Loose & Waterlogged Ground: (Box
Sheeting)
 The excavation is continued for 225 mm depth or so
and a second pair of boards is placed tight up against
the bottom edge of the first set and strutted.
 The condition at the end of a section at this stage is
shown at H.
 This operation is repeated until four sets of boards
have been temporarily strutted or the required depth
has been reached, when poling boards are placed at a
minimum distance apart of 1.8 m centres and strutted
as shown at G, and the temporary struts removed.
 When the foundations have been completed and the
walls built to a height of two or three courses above
the ground level, the timbering is removed and earth is
returned on both sides of the wall and rammed solid.

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 Credits and References
 Building Construction By W.B. Mckay – Volume-I
 http://www.abuildersengineer.com/2012/10/timbering-of-trenches-soils.html
 https://chestofbooks.com/architecture/Modern-Buildings-Construction-V1/Chapter-II-Timbering-To-E
xcavations.html
 https://magnumpiering.com/piering/common-types-of-soil-to-build-foundations-on/
 https://www.slideshare.net/victoriamoyapichardo/soil-65522835
 https://civilsnapshot.com/timbering-and-strutting-for-foundation-trench/

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