Namaste!
Everywhere in Besisahar there seems to be building work
taking place. It is becoming quite a boom town. Opposite my flat there is
another storey being added to the house, and behind the flat they have
started a brand new school, by excavating the terraces to create some flat land. Next door to
the office too, the house is being added to, upwards! As this is so different from how things are
built in the West, I decided to write about it.
In many cases, to start with, the family may only have enough money and resources to build the ground floor
of a house, but plan to build more in the future. So a single storey is constructed, with a flat roof and with
steel reinforcing rods cemented in place ready for the first floor. When the family/individual can afford it, the
next floor is built, but again steel reinforcing rods are in place ready for
the second floor, and so on! As Nepali
families generally live together this arrangement caters for an expanding need
as the generations grow up, marry and need somewhere to live. 
The construction method here is quite different too. Bamboo is normally used for scaffolding,
lots of it. The building materials are
delivered by truck to the nearest road, and then dumped on the roadside until
they are moved by hand.
Even the truck loads of bricks are usually unloaded by hand – bricks thrown from the truck to the hands of a waiting worker on the ground, deposited in a pile and then loaded into baskets to be carried to the site. Often it is women who do the carrying, their baskets are so heavy I struggled to lift one when I tried!
Even the truck loads of bricks are usually unloaded by hand – bricks thrown from the truck to the hands of a waiting worker on the ground, deposited in a pile and then loaded into baskets to be carried to the site. Often it is women who do the carrying, their baskets are so heavy I struggled to lift one when I tried!
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| Woman with a basket full of sand. |
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| The concrete machine working on the house opposite |
Concrete is made in a large machine, that is fed by the spadeful or by a simple bucket with two pole handles, so it can be lifted by two people. The machine has a mechanical pulley system, which hauls the cement/ concrete up to the upper storey – very noisy too! This house having another storey added is directly over the road from my flat!
Concrete beams are made in situ, with wooden
shuttering used to form them. Iron reinforcing bars are shaped from long rods, individually by hammer and wrench, and placed into the shuttering before the concrete is poured. Concrete beams and supports are constructed first and then the brick walls are filled in between. The brickwork is single skin, and often with
minimal cement to bind it. (Houses built in this way are surprisingly strong, as was evident after the earthquake, when they were still standing.)
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| Constructing the new storey on the house across the road |
Plaster is normally used to cover the brickwork, which can
then be decorated with paint or an arrangement of tiles stuck to the
surface. Often decorative effects are
formed in concrete at the front of the building, and then painted sometimes in
gold paint for special effect. This house opposite is being covered in small tiles, which have been soaked first in the little stream by the side of the road. I noticed the boxes of them in the water as I walked past!
Health and safety regulations do not seem to have made an appearance here yet! The men working on the rooftop opposite my flat are all wearing flip-flops or bare feet, and of course there is not a safety helmet to be seen!
I am getting a birds eye view of the new school, being constructed on the terraces above, as it will completely over-look my flat. All the materials to be used are being hauled up the steep hill by tractor. Deliveries often take place at night when I suddenly hear a loud rumbling noise as a trailer full of bricks or stones has been tipped onto the site.
In the time that it has taken me to finish composing this blog page, the new school has taken shape. Notice the reinforcement for the next storey to be added eventually. Also the lack of a fence along the top of the retaining wall - I wonder if there will be one added? This week I witnessed what I think was a blessing ceremony, with bells being rung and good luck scarves tied to doorways, whilst the pupils and staff toured the building - at 7.30am!
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| The house across the road almost finished - notice the decorative tiling! |
I am getting a birds eye view of the new school, being constructed on the terraces above, as it will completely over-look my flat. All the materials to be used are being hauled up the steep hill by tractor. Deliveries often take place at night when I suddenly hear a loud rumbling noise as a trailer full of bricks or stones has been tipped onto the site.
In the time that it has taken me to finish composing this blog page, the new school has taken shape. Notice the reinforcement for the next storey to be added eventually. Also the lack of a fence along the top of the retaining wall - I wonder if there will be one added? This week I witnessed what I think was a blessing ceremony, with bells being rung and good luck scarves tied to doorways, whilst the pupils and staff toured the building - at 7.30am!
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