Building Advice

[Alright71]

My wife and I are missionaries in Africa. We are currently stationed in Lubumbashi, DRC. This town is an interesting town in that most of what is here is imported. Everything from fruits and vegetables to building materials all come from the surrounding countries. On one had this is nice, but on the other it has driven the prices through the roof!

Because of this shortage of locally produced items, particularly fruits and vegetables, the church we are working with has decided to purchase a very large piece of land in the 澱ush to begin a commercial agriculture project on. Believe it or not, this will be a first for this area! It will be allot of work considering that there is no power or water in this area but I am confident that we can overcome that fairly easily.

Where I need to ask your advice is what kind of building you would recommend placing on this land. We need something to store tools, future machinery, as well as a workshop to be a secure place for us to work on future projects. The size I have in mind is 20淡 x 60鱈.

Please allow me to give you some final pieces of information. We are here as volunteers?s in, every penny we have to work with comes from very people, just like yourselves, who have worked hard for what they have and have felt lead to donate a small part to this work. Price is our biggest concern. Materials like wood are in short supply so the price for that is very high?specially anything like 2x6 up to 8x8. Cement is also very expensive (like 10 times more than the US!). The one thing that is reasonablyish priced is metal tube. For roofing we have 1 option, metal corrugate (and it too is expensive)

So taking all of this into account, here are my questions:

First, should I buy a kit from the US and ship it over in a sea container, or should I try to build a building using local materials?

Second, what style of building should I do? If I buy a kit, it will have to be an economic style when it comes to weight and volume. If I use locally available materials to build something, it must be something that utilizes what is available at a reasonable price.

I have an idea but I would like to solicit the collective brainpower of the community as you guys know far more about this sort of thing than i do.

Thank you for your help! It is really appreciated!

Blake

 

[PapaPerk]

Interesting question. I guess I have some questions for u.

What are buildings made of in the area you are in?

What building materials are available locally?

How permeant is the structure to be?

Usually buildings reflect their surroundings. Log cabins were made by pioneers because that was the material available and it was cheap. Sod houses were built on the prairies because only grass could be found for hundreds of miles. See where I'm going with this?

 

[Alright71]

What are buildings made of in the area you are in?

The area where this land is 2 hours outside of the city. It is what we call "bush" which means that it is unsettled area. There are some small, single, room homes around but nothing big. These homes are made of earth which has been compressed by hand into bricks. If the person has money the bricks will dry for a few weeks and then built into a cube, covered with mud and fired with charcoal.

What building materials are available locally?

As mentioned above there are these blocks but they are not suitable for anything commercial. We also have metal tube (round, square, L, ect.). There are some commercial steal buildings here but they were all imported during the colonial period. We have cement but as i mentioned, its expensive.

How permeant is the structure to be?

I think something as pertinent as possible would be best.

Usually buildings reflect their surroundings. Log cabins were made by pioneers because that was the material available and it was cheap. Sod houses were built on the prairies because only grass could be found for hundreds of miles. See where I'm going with this?

Yes, i see what you are saying. Unfortunately, this area has nothing other than dirt and small sticks. I have looked into CEB machines, to turn this dirt into a high quality building material, but unfortunately the cost of purchase plus shipping is just too much money.

One other goal with this project is to test out new ways of doing things. That would be one benefit of using locally available materials.

thank you PapaPerk!

Blake

 

[SandburRanch]

澱ush. I'm having trouble researching the aforementioned location to learn more about the climate and resources in that area. Can you be more specific about the location?

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Alright71,

I suggest you use local materials as much as possible for a number of reasons.
*Cost - You'll likely keep your building cost down using local materials.
*Example - If you can be innovative and show the people how to build well with what they have available, you may inspire them to do more than a single building for their farm.
*Maintenance - If you build this structure with materials and methods that no one in the area is familiar with, what's going to happen when something is damaged or needs upkeep and repair? If you can use local material and methods chances are alot better that it will be easier to maintain.

You'll likely end up with some kind of hybrid structure... I.e. Main frame pieces from steel with walls and additional support from mud bricks.

While I've got your attention, check out the Benson Institute... Home : Benson Institute It's named for Ezra Taft Benson who was the US Secretary of Agriculture under Eisenhower.

I did some work with the organization when I was in college at BYU provo. There's a lot of research and ongoing work being done to improve lives in developing countries through agriculture. The Benson Institute focuses mainly on South American Cultures and climates, but I'm sure you can use a lot of the tools and information where you are. It sounds like great work you're doing. I hope we can help you.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

澱ush. I'm having trouble researching the aforementioned location to learn more about the climate and resources in that area. Can you be more specific about the location?

Try this Sandbur... Lubumbashi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't know what to do with the information, but hopefully the details in that article will help you to help the OP.

 

[Verticaltrx]

What is the feasibility of getting a small gas or diesel powered welder there? That combined with a sawzall or portaband and a grinder you would be set to build with the locally available metal. With the right design you could build the entire structure from pipe, angle iron, etc and roof it with the corrugated metal. You'd probably want to use at least a little concrete to pour some piers for the metal uprights to sit on.

 

[Alright71]

SandburRanch, if you locate the Democratic Republic of Congo, look to the Southeast. You will see a tail that extends from the bottom of the country. At the top of that tail you will find a town called Lubumbashi. The location of this land is to the Southeast of that town.

 

[Alright71]

Verticaltrx, what you are saying is exactly what i am thinking! I have located a welder ZENA Backpak Welder that appears to be a good quality and should get the job done. I can also bring it in as part of checked luggage and avoid all the "craziness"! My one concern is simply the quality of this welder, and it's individual components. When the nearest parts for something are 32 hours (by airplane) it makes a person really think twice before purchasing something.

my one question here is: what style of construction should i go with?

 

[Verticaltrx]

Verticaltrx, what you are saying is exactly what i am thinking! I have located a welder ZENA Backpak Welder that appears to be a good quality and should get the job done. I can also bring it in as part of checked luggage and avoid all the "craziness"! My one concern is simply the quality of this welder, and it's individual components. When the nearest parts for something are 32 hours (by airplane) it makes a person really think twice before purchasing something.

my one question here is: what style of construction should i go with?

I would go with a pole building style construction. Use the larger material you have (ideally 4-6" diameter) for the upright posts, as well as the beams along the top. Smaller diameter material could be used to fabricate trusses for the roof. Use any kind of angle, square, etc material for purlins on the roof and girt on the walls. As I mentioned before, I'd pour little concrete piers to mount the posts to.

As for the welder, the unit you showed would do the job if it could be reliable. I'd personally look for something like one of the Hobart, Miller or Lincoln small engine driven welders. New the small ones (150amp) can be had for $1200-1800 depending on how fancy you want. Used the decent ones can be found for $500 or so. If there was any sort of power whatsoever a smaller inverter type welder would also be a good bet. Very compact, lightweight, runs on many different voltages, and start around $700 for a decent stick-only unit.

 

[Alright71]

Verticaltrx, what would you recommend using for the walls? The load bearing structure would be metal but then do you think i should use the dirt blocks to fill in the front, back and sides?

 

[forgeblast]

I was thinking of a metal timberframed building. using the poles to create the structure and then using what is available to "fill in" think of cordwood, or strawbale houses.

 

[PapaPerk]

There is a company that makes connectors for metal tubing... Basically like making a big tent. This may save you the hassle of welding, etc. Or you may be able to duplicate the connectors.

I'll try to find the link and post.

 

[PapaPerk]

Here's a site that list a few of the different connectors I was talking about. Will take some research on your behalf to determine what would be best. But this certainly could work for u.

http://www.frameconnector.com/

I like the sound of using the local mud bricks for the walls. In fact with that method u may only need the steel for the roof structure depending on load capacity of the mud bricks. It all goes back to studying how other buildings are made in the area.

 

[IslandTractor]

Local design, local materials, local labor. If you do anything else you are likely to end up with an unsustainable mess.

 

[forgeblast]

Plus with local you are employing local, and making some friends and inroads into the community.

 

[Alright71]

ok, so here is my initial thought, before i started this thread. I was thinking about going old school and building a quanset hut, similar to those used in WW2.

Unfortunately, as i am 29, my experience with them has been rather limited. I don't think bending the tube will be a problem. Where i have the questions is in the materials. The big one is how should i cover it? Im thinking about using the locally available metal corrugate and laying it on i'ts side. I know that this is risky considering that we do have a rainy season here but i think if we start at the ground and work towards the center, overlapping 2 or 3 ridges it may work.

What do you all think about this idea in general?

Thank you for your input!

Blake

 

[IslandTractor]

ok, so here is my initial thought, before i started this thread. I was thinking about going old school and building a quanset hut, similar to those used in WW2.

Unfortunately, as i am 29, my experience with them has been rather limited. I don't think bending the tube will be a problem.
.........

What do you all think about this idea in general?

Bending corrugated flat steel into round sections will be a huge problem. Quonset huts were not bent on site. The rounded sections came that way from the steel mill and were just bolted together on site. The corrugation will resist bending in the longitudinal axis you need to bend it.

If you have access to metal roofing then design a structure of local material to go under it.

 

[PapaPerk]

How does the saying go????

"When in Rome do as the Romans do." :thumbsup:

 

[joeyd]

What about using steel shipping containers? There are many websites that show you how to use them as structures or just place them side by side or end to end and use each one for a different purpose. They are very secure and strong.