₦airaland Forum

This news has made front page twice in 2 days.

Yesterday they put the topic as south east first free psychiatric hospital

Today they put it as Nigeria first psychiatric hospital

Is it that there is nothing else to report?

If not, please push one of my threads to front page.

In home building construction, people get confused with different technical terminologies being used by industry professionals to describe different types of the work. Since its not everyone that underwent training in construction engineering, a need therefore arises to explain some of the technical terms we might meet in home construction. This is why we are going to look at the term “decking”, and explain what it's all about.

A decking, which could be described by insiders in the building industry as the suspended slab, is a platform built to hang on top of a building ground floor unit, and therefore forms the floor for the upper unit of a building. Usually, steps are created so that occupants of this upper unit can climb up to a decking, and so enter a higher floor of the same building.

There are many materials that could be used to create a decking platform. Engineers have used metal sheets, aluminum form work, hard wood timber, concrete, synthetic fibres and thick plywood boards to create different shapes and sizes of decking for use in different types of buildings.
For the sake of this write up, we are going to be focusing our attention on the concrete decking slab.

The concrete decking slab is made when the objective of the deck is durability and safety. Among other types of decking materials, the concrete is among the most reliable, it could last for very long, even up to hundreds of years. In buildings where fire could be a risk, the concrete deck could be relied upon as compared to wood or plywood. The concrete deck also fits well on buildings especially those started with concrete columns and beams.

The concrete beam is always reinforced with good quality metal bars (iron rods). The specifications of the rods that should work in any decking slab should be detailed by a qualified building professional, specified in the building plans and approved by the state or local authorities to ensure compliance to existing building codes. There are so many types of iron bars for different decking slabs, there is the 25mm, 20mm, 16mm, 12mm, 10mm, 8mm etc. These iron rods are used in a pre planned combination suited for the project, as stated in the building plans.

Other important uses of the decking is that the electrical or mechanical piping works on a floor can be passed inside the decking. Electrical pipes of between 20mm to 25mm are usually run within the decking slab, providing electrical wiring provisions where wires and cables could be passed from room to room in a building project. Same applies to the water pipes, or even waste pipes.

There are also specifications on the thickness of the slab. The thickness planned for a decking slab has a lot to do with the intended use of the decking slab. There are slabs for residential buildings and there are slabs for commercial buildings like shops and plazas. Since shops and plazas may contain live loads like heavy goods and equipment stacked on the floors, its important to plan for theis extra weight, especially during the planning of the building. In concrete decking slabs, the thickness can range from 125mm to even 300mm thick, depending on what it was planned for.

The mixing ratio for the materials that will be used to cast a concrete decking should also be well planned and specified in the building plan documents. Clear specifications should be stated for the mixing ratio of sand and aggregates like granite, gravel and for cement. Care should be taken to ensure a superb mix for the decking slab concrete, a good concrete mixing machine is advised where it is available. A concrete tool which shakes the concrete (poker) is also a very useful tool to ensure the efficiency of the decking process.

The above shown pictures are of an ongoing decking slab project wea are still working on, we have started and completed more than 130 different decking slabs in different locations in Nigeria, for more questions and inquiry, call Kenneth on 08033350750.

These are pictures of the decking slab we are currently working on as at this weekend...........

Before I start showing other parts of this decking slab preparations, we have to look at this temporary staircase. This staircase is made of only wood and bamboo, and will be used to ferry concrete from the ground where its mixed to the decking floor where it will be cast. After this concrete cast, we might just dismantle this particular temporary staircase.

The other staircase off the central lobby deep inside this house................

A closer look at the finish of our curved staircase, showing the step threads and riser design, with the electrical lighting arrangements.........

We have been preparing for this decking cast which will come up soon, talking with labourers right now.

Making the staircase of this house...............

My current project site I worked on today...............

Front of this house

Jaiye053:
Hello sir , how much will this cost to build in 2025 and how much land is required to build this at the least with some parking

hotboz:
I'm also interested please

To build a 10 flat, 4 storey building of 3 bedroom flats in this current price regime will take about N380m for everything from site preparation, purchase of materials, workmanship and supervision, transportation and general site management.

But the price may differ according to location and actual building materials used.

Well built beautiful structures.

Jaiye053:
Hello sir , how much will this cost to build in 2025 and how much land is required to build this at the least with some parking

Good morning, I will do some calculations and get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Front elevation from outside the fence

Front balcony cantilever..................
Side balcony cantilever
Open air main living room

Getting all works completed, in preparation for the decking slab cast...............

The completed curved staircase reinforcement................

Starting the reinforcement works for the curved staircase area......................

We're starting to make provisions for wall electrical fittings, sockets, switches and lights..............

I mean concrete biscuits o, before people will start feeling hungry here.

We usually prepare a cement sand mix to prepare some decking top separator to lift the iron mat from the decking floor, so that we can pass electrical conduit piping materials below the iron mat.

Today we're baking biscuits at this site ...............

We have reinforced the staircase at the back of the house...............

We have started working on the electrical piping provisions for this house, more updates later today..................

Still tying up all ends of the work today...............

We have started bringing in more stone chippings, sharp sand and other necessary materials needed to cast this concrete decking slab.

Cost of a double load of sharp sand in Enugu is now N90,000

Cost of a heaped load of 10 ton 911 truck from Abakaliki to Enugu is now N240,000

More ........

More work going on this decking this morning...................

michlins:
I will really love to do the railings on this house when the time comes

God will always be on our side. Thanks.

By tomorrow, we will be facing the spiral staircase reinforcement works.........................

More work as we continue this decking slab reinforcement.....................

More pictures

Decking slab reinforcement works ongoing...............

More updates from this site later today....................