Local Knowledge

There have been various locals who have played key roles in advising us towards a more efficient way of construction as well as operating in the local field condition. Tito who has left for Cuiaba in anticipation of a newborn has been integral in a wide range from proper fence construction to plumbing repair to fashioning stakes. Gerstioni is the Jack-of-all-trades and one of our go to guys. He keys us into some of the other field conditions such as operating the generator and maintaining some of the equipment around. Elano is a pedreiro who is working at a lodge (posada) that is up the transpantaniera highway about 3km. He has lent us and fabricated some tools that have proven to be more efficient and fast (rapido) in the construction process. For example: We were using some found pipe to bend .42 cm steel for the retention ring assembly that is part of the rebar infrastructural column. Elano provided us with a bender that is made up of one piece of angle iron, three nails, and a board of wood. It works great. Images: From the left: Gerstioni (Driver and guide for Jaguar Ecological Lodge) with the water systems team, Gerstioni working on the concrete mixer, Tito (Very talented guide for the Jaguar Ecological Lodge) cutting stakes, Elano (local pedreiro) setting up and showing us how to use a local small gauge rebar bender, The wood milling crew.

Lesson One

The engineer was no where to be found so a few of our questions went unanswered, but here are the questions which were answered by the pedreiro (master builder):

Q: What are the extents of the slab? Building footprint? Breezeways? Roofline? Roofline, and then some?
A: Slab extends through veranda, entire footprint
Q: What is the slab thickness?
A: 4 cm. Our follow up question was, “Really, truly?! That thin?!” The answer was an astounding “YES!” We have also asked a handful of other people (including another pedreiro) and paid close attention to other buildings we have seen and that does seem to be standard.
Q: Is there rebar or reinforcement of any sort in the slab?
A: No.
Q: What size rebar goes where? And how many – how many in the columns (1, 2, 4?) and how many in the bond beams?
A: 5/16 rebar everywhere (which is .8cm), 4 go in each column and each bond beam, 2 rebar run in one of the mortar courses of the formwork,
Q: What is the maximum spread for the columns?
A: The pedreiro through out a 4, 5, 6 m answer, but this, of course, also has to do with what the dimensions of the beam between the columns and roof is. With the materials we will be using, we will maintain the 2m spread for interior columns and up the spread to 4m for exterior.
Q: Is there footing under columns? All the columns? What kind of footing?
A: Under all interior columns. Pier footing.
Q: What happens between the bond beam and the door? – Brick? Netting?
A: Courses of brick downwards from the bond beam to the door
Q: What is the height of the bond beam?
A: 20 cm (generally speaking, the pedreiro seemed to use dimensions based on the typical brick with mortar – 10 X 20 X 20)
Q: What is the dimension of the mortar joint?
A: 1.5 cm
Q: What is the typical order of building? – Specifically, what comes first the columns or the brick infill?
A: Brick infill for interior walls is last in terms of construction order. To give an idea of construction order for the interior:
1. Brick formwork for slab (concrete bed of 6-8cm, 7 courses of 4.5 by 9 by 9 bricks with 1.5cm mortar joints and rebar running all the way through after the 4th course)
2. Footing – including rebar
3. Column formwork, including bracing
4. Pour column
5. Remove column formwork
6. Bond beam rebar
7. Bond beam formwork
8. Pour bond beam
9. Remove bond beam formwork
10. Slab
11. Wall infill
12. Roof
Q: What type of formwork is used?
A: Brick formwork for slab. 10mm thick wood attached with wire for columns (check out PICASA!)
Q: What kind of tools will you (the construction supervisor) bring to the site? What tools do we need to get?
A: None. In fact, the pedreiro has not and will not be joining us on site. We are the pedreiros for this project.

The pedreiro also demonstrated exactly how a typical veranda column comes together (pictured above). A couple interesting facts we discovered during this trip to town included that the standard footwear for construction workers seems to be flip flops and there are 83 bridges from Pocone to the Jaguar lodge!

Learning the Language (Construcao)

A second unexpected trip to Pocone last week yielded another visit to the engineer who provided a list of materials needed for the foundation and concrete structural support. We were also able to return to the construction supplies store to get an exact quote. There are some discrepancies with numbers which we need to clarify with the engineer, but the quotes are pictured here to give an idea of the materials and approximate quantities that will be used. While this information is helpful in understanding local materials used and likely construction processes to ensue, we still have many more questions for the construction supervisor and engineer, both of whom we will be meeting with tomorrow. Eduardo Falcao De Arruda (Owner of Jaguar Eco Lodge and site of project) has also had much input and insight into the local construction and logistic processes and is recommending a construction supervisor (pedreiro) who has recently built two structures at the lodge. While we have been waiting to meet with the construction supervisor, we have been building detailed 3D models of the structure and roof system based on the materials that will be used as well as the local construction methods that we have learned about based on buildings we have seen, our conversations with the engineer, conversations with the construction store manager, and with other local well-informed building owners.

Here are some of the questions we have for the engineer and construction supervisor:

What are the extents of the slab? Building footprint? Breezeways? Roofline? Roofline, and then some?
What is the slab thickness?
Is there rebar or reinforcement of any sort in the slab?
What size rebar goes where? And how many – how many in the columns (1, 2, 4?) and how many in the bond beams?
What is the maximum spread for the columns?
Is there footing under columns? All the columns? What kind of footing?
If the typical dimension for a beam is 10 by 20 by 4m, then why is the beam drawn in the truss elevation 12 cm?
What happens between the bond beam and the door? – Brick? Netting?
What is the height of the bond beam?
What is the approximate space below the netting/window (even though this is flexible, it would be good to know what they were thinking in order to understand the estimates)?
What accounts for the width difference between the column and brick? Even if there is a stucco finish, there is a difference in width.
What is the dimension of the mortar joint?
What is the typical order of building?
What type of formwork is used?
What kind of tools will you (the construction supervisor) bring to the site? What tools do we need to get?

Today we made the three hour drive to the small city of Pocone for a meeting with the engineer and client (Julie and Ethan, to a certain extent). The trip to Pocone also allowed a visit to a school at a similar scale as our building proposal. Posted are some important details which allow us to understand the methods of building construction at play as well as the typical building materials that are used locally. Clockwise from the top left, 1.) The standard building brick – in this case, the orientation of the block alternates each course, the blocks are filled with concrete, with cementatious application on exterior. In other examples we have seen, the block does not alternate and remains exposed, 2.) Hip and framing intersection at corner, 3.) Water delivery infrastructure – pipe penetrating through roof clay tile lapping, 4.) Structural beams, rafters, batons, 5.) Ship-lap beam joint at column, column with smaller member sandwiching, 6.) Top of roof tile, 7.) Finished floor of interior made of concrete and pigment, separate sloped slab for water drainage at roof line 8.) Portal beam led into column. To see even more building details and also get more of an idea about life in the wetlands of Brazil, please visit the “PHOTOS” link for the Picasa site!