The importance of german or oversite concrete in a building
From Victor,
I’m trying to put up a two-flat Bungalow in Lagos.Already at the foundation stage.I was advised to run German floor after foundation but considering quotations I’ve got so far it seem a bit expensive.Another person advised that i should rather spend such money to set Blocks and do flooring later.My inquiry into other projects within the site revealed that not everybody run German floor after foundation.pls what is the significance of German floor?
Thank you victor.
The importance of german or oversite concrete in a building can’t be overemphasized.
There has been a lot of arguments on wether to use a german floor or concrete for your building projects or not.
I have also built too without a german floor in exceptional cases, but this is not the best practise.
In a very solid soil most people tends to forgo german flor because of the cost of concrete especially on a one floor bungallow, however you must not build in a waterlogged place or area susceptible to heavy settlement without doing german floor.
In otherwords german floor is important and very necesssary if you cvan afford it even in a very solid and non-problematic areas. These are the importance.
(1)German floor stops water from percolating from the soil into the building, it reduces the movement of water from getting to the walls and floor which may cause damp and result in algae growtharound your walls. If the german floor is used with a membrane or nylon or cellophane spread to cover the floor before casting it will reduce water getting up greatly.
(2)The german floor is also a part of foundation ,it should be seen as one of the structural elements that makes your house to stand.Loads transmitted from the building is also received by the german floor before transmitting to the foundation. In a raft foundation it is inevitable to have german floor because you have to blend it with the strips coming from the foundation base to form a mass of concrete that is monolithic and helps to stabilise the building, which also helps to break movement of water to the building from soil in a waterlogged area.
(3)For stability , As was mentioned earlier, is part of the foundation and it forms a stable base for both live loads and dead loadsin the building. You should be confident stepping on the floor by making sure you have a solid floor which can also sustain earth tremors or vibrations from machines in and around the building.
(4)When there is a movement on the soil , the german floor helps to redistribute the forces on the building and spread around the floor easilywhich may also helps to sustain the building from collapsing.
(5)When there is cracking on the blockwall, for non major cracks the german floor can serve as a breaking point that will stop blocks from extending cracklines into the other parts of the building i.e if the crack is up, then it may not extend beyond the german floor and if the minor crack is from blocks before german floor it may not extend beyond it except there is a major defect in foundation due to settlements or improper foundation.
(6)A well done german floor also helps in determining and correcting problems associated with levels when construction is on.
Before your builder cast the german concrete, you have to ask him to take the level of the building round to achieve an even plain which will make your house to come out better during construction.
