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URNING CONCRETE INTO WOOD-USING MATERIALS TO THEIR STRENGTHS
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Ferrocrete rafters and purlins in the context of appropriate technology
The development, processing, and application of Ferrocrete Channels within the context of
sustainable development and building technologies has thus far been fairly successful. The process of
manufacturing the channels, the materials used in this process and the livelihoods that are
maintained through this process are of significant value. The ferrocrete channels, being currently
propagated, are primarily used to replace steel girders and stanchions, and in this the outcome has
been commendable. Currently, these channels are used in conjunction with the pre-cast ferrocrete
vaults to make roofing structures. Therefore, the ferrocrete channels are inherently efficient and
viable materials for building construction.
Another building material that has been successfully developed, processed and applied is the Micro
Concrete Roofing Tile (MCR). The manufacturing of these tiles utilizes locally available materials and
local labour resources, which leads to maintaining sustainable livelihoods. If MCR tiles are compared
to standard industrial roofing products (i.e. asbestos), the MCR tiles prove to be a more viable option.
For example, although the MCR tile does require more cement in its manufacture, the end product is
cost efficient and is a direct result of the application of Appropriate Technology. The means justify the
end. Factory manufactured materials are liable to additional expenditures such as sales tax, excise
tax, employers state insurance, provident fund, interest on capital, distributor, wholesaler and retailer
margins, transportation, advertising, plus the final profit margin. The process of manufacturing MCR
tiles involves the small sector; it is consumed and made at a local level, it does not require a factory
building (with all its' integrated expenditures, i.e. electricity, etc.) or extensive labour, management
and administration personnel. In this process, all the additional costs incurred in mass production are
not necessary and therefore the cost of the MCR tile is much less than the industrial products. As a
result an appropriate product is made which ultimately costs less than a product, which is mass-
produced. The mass production of material that could have had an equivalent product
manufactured at the micro industry level, therefore, becomes counter productive.
Ferrocrete channels and MCR tiles are both utilized in roof construction, but remain separate entities,
which cannot be used in conjunction with one another. Limited application possibilities of the
ferrocrete channels are the reason why they cannot be used with MCR tiles. MCR tiles have now to be
used with timber rafters and purlins as support structures and the ferrocrete channels are primarily
used with pre-cast ferrocrete vaults. The ferrocrete channel is basically a replication of a standard 'I' or
'C' mild steel section. Both the ferrocrete and mild steel sections are entirely different in their inherent
qualities and their methods of manufacturing, therefore the physical replication of one for the other is
unwarranted.
These channels, because of their design, cannot be used with the MCR roof tiles, as there are no
provisions made within the structure of the channel for attachments to other support elements like
rafters and purlins. The applications of these channels are also limited because of their bulk as large
components, which means that they cannot be used for different purposes where smaller sizes of
beams are required (like rafters and purlins). Further, these channels are not small-scale products and
cannot be viably produced outside of large towns; thus, the levies and expenditures associated with
industrial production are reflected in the production of these channels. There is, therefore, a need to
modify these ferrocrete channels so that they can compliment the MCR tiles by replacing timber as
rafters and purlins, plus, be manufactured at the micro level.
Modified ferrocrete channels, when used to compliment the MCR tiles, result in the utilization of two
appropriate products, thereby illustrating the use of appropriate technology. The use of timber in roof
construction is expensive and the extraction of timber from the environment has unfortunate
repercussions at both the micro and macro levels. The modified ferrocrete channels would thus have
Ferrocement Channels
Microconcrete Tiles