UNIT IV

RURAL HOUSING

Introduction traditional practice of rural housing continuous - Mud Housing

technology - Mud roofs - Characteristics of mud - Fire treatment for thatch roof -
Soil stabilization - Rural Housing programs.
Introduction

Housing scenario in the rural India is more appalling than the urban
agglomerations. The quality of housing observed in the rural areas is an indicator of the
abject property, tremendous socio-economic disparity and extreme backwardness
prevalent in the countryside. Slush, dirt and unhygienic environment are generally
synonymous with the human settlements In rural areas.

TRADITIONAL PRACTICE OF RURAL HOUSE CONSTRUCTION

A majority of rural houses in the country are constructed with mud

wall and thatch roof. In some places, houses are constructed with stone is available
abundantly in hilly areas. Timber and bamboo are also used in Mizoram, Manipur,
Arunachal Pradesh.

MUD HOUSING TECHNOLOGY

Mud is a basic principal building material in many developing countries. The

local soils have been used for the construction of such houses. Mud is the predominant
building material all over the world, especially in the countryside. In hot and humid
climate, the mud- bamboo and mat house is the only viable choice, its latticed wallsopen
to the breeze and deep overhangs keep interior cool and vice versa.

MUD ROOFS

Mud roofs are made in several parts of the world by plastering mud over amat
of bamboo sticks supported by wooden beams. Flat mud roofs involve heavy supporting
timber work and is costly. In India, mud roofs are not as common as mudwalls, but they
are still widely found in a belt. The Indian mud roofs are normally flat, withmud used to cover
a supporting platform of wooden planks, reeds, bamboo matting orstone slabs.

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 CHARACTARISTICS OF MUD

Advantages
1) It is a truly natural, cheap and local material- available in most parts of the world.
2) It is strong in compression and so makes good walls. It can also be made
strong in shear and tension through additives and reinforcements.

Disadvantages

1) It is eroded easily by water, which makes its use difficult in areas with high
rainfall or possibilities of flooding.
2) It has low strength, which means mud roofs are difficult to make.
3) Mud houses behave very poorly in the event of earthquakes.
4) It is susceptible to mechanical damage. Rodents can easily make hole in mud
walls and under the floor,or thieves can dig their way into the house.

FIRE RETARDENT TREATMENT FOR THATCH ROOF

Thatch is the most common roof for mud houses. It is, however vulnerable tofire
hazards. In order to make the thatch rood fire retardant, the top and bottom surfacesof the
thatch roof are plastered with 20-25 mm thick layer and 10 mm thick layer ofbitumen
stabilized mud plaster, respectively. Over this plaster, two coats of gobri leapingare applied
to improve the finish. Bitumen solution is prepared by mixing hot molten bitumen
solution and kerosene oil in the proportion of 1:2. One coat of this emulsion is either
sprayed or applied by brush on the top of the surface of the plastered thatch.

SOIL STABILIZATION

Researchers have identified around 130 different stabilizing agents including

cement, lime and bitumen. The best type of soil for stabilization with cement is one which
has a proper grading of particles of different sizes, from the sand range tofine clay. Lime
is used for very clayey soils especially black cotton soil. The followingpercentages are
found to be suitable.

Sandy Soils 5% cement stabilization

Clayey soils 5 to 6 % hydrated lime and 2 %cement Normal red soils with up to
25 % clay; 2.5% hydrated lime
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 Of all the stabilizers, cement was one of the effective additive for stabilizing. But other
additives are not water resistant and poor in strength. In India for making soil blocks
Cinva Ram, Ellson Block master, balram and astramare used.

The stabilization of the soil with the addition of the Portland cement, lime,
bituminous binder, industrial wastes like fly ash and bagasse can improve the bearing
strength of the bricks and render it increasingly water and moisture repellant.
Experiments have been carried out by CBRI, Rourke to reduce the usage of bitumen
from
to 0.5% through the use of the additives like fly ash etc.,

The major advantage of stabilized soil block vis-à-vis the burnt bricks is the significant
saving in energy. Such blocks are cheaper by 20% to 40% compared to burnt bricks.

RURAL HOUSING PROGRAMS

In a country like India where about 75% of the population lives in 5.83lakh villages, a
rural housing program is necessarily an aided self-help program. Over the past two
decades, number of rural housing programs have been undertaken in govt and Co-
operative sectors. Some of the prominent rural housing programs undertaken in the
country are describes below

The govt of India had introduced a scheme envisaging provision of house sites to the
landless agricultural families in rural areas free of cost in 1971 in the central sector as a

component of 4th five-year plan (1969-1974).

1. Rural housing Co-operatives can play an important role in the integrated rural
development by mobilizing, saving and channelizing community action not only for
construction of houses but also for the management of the community facilities. This has
been an advantage in developing countries like India, Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia.
2. The HUDCO is actively engaged in evolving designs and financing of lost rural housing
programs in the country. It started financing of rural housing schemes in 1977. It has since
financed 1496 project envisaging construction of more than 27.3 lakh housing with a loan
commitment of Rs.1043.32.
3. In 1973, the Govt of Kerala had launched a scheme popularly known as ONE LAKH
HOUSING PROGRAM. Under this program 100 houses were to be constructed in each of
the existing 1000 panchayats in the state at that time. The state govt mobilized funds for
undertaking such a massive program for rural having through collection, donations and
grants. The final figure was 60,000 which was a massive number at that time.

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 In 1982, the govt of Kerala introduced a new scheme
called the subsidized aided self-help housing scheme for economically weaker
section known as SASH with the involvement of voluntary organizations.

4. Over the past one decade, the Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment (MRAE)under the
Govt of India, has undertaken number of schemes catering to the housing needs of the
rural poor. The Indira Awas yojana (IAY), launched during 1985-86 is fully subsidized by
the central government. This scheme is now extended to the non-SC/ST families with
ceiling of expenditure on such familiesbeing 4% of the total allocation. This is a scheme of
the construction of low costhouses for the poorest of the poor belonging to the SC’s & ST’s
and free bounded labor in the rural areas.

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