Simple Choices: A Parallel Construction

When we started our farm house construction, the kids used to hang out at the site. They were then 13 and 10. A few months into the project, Abhi decided to build something on his own. Aparna soon joined him. We came to know about this when left over material from the house site was getting hauled to a corner, not too far away. Working on and off, it took them eight months, from conception to completion, to build a room that is about 25 sq. ft.

The kids provided the following details about this process:

Foundation:

They dug a foundation trench that was about 1’ wide and 1’ deep. As the soil was quite hard, this digging took about a week. They filled the trench random rubble and mud mortar. The rubble layer was raised above the ground by 6”.

Assessing the use of an abandoned section of a pillar

Plinth:

Some temporary masonry structures were lying abandoned near the house construction site. The kids made use of these pieces to construct a 9” band on top of the foundation.

Walls:

About half of the bricks that were used in our farm house were sun-dried adobe bricks. We got them made on site and they were one-third the price of burnt bricks. The kids decided to use the left over adobe bricks and mud mortar for their project. The walls are less than 6’ tall and 9” wide. Protecting these (mud) walls from rain was their biggest problem. Everyday, after work, they had to drape the structure with water-proof tarps.

Maintaining plumb

Checking the doorway

Window/Door:

The entrance is actually at the back. That’s how Abhi wanted it to be. He built a window frame when the walls were tall enough to have an opening.

Roof:

Once the walls were completed, there was a long period of inactivity. During this time, there were discussions about the kind of roof they wanted to do and apprehensions about taking it up. While our carpenter's team came to work on the farm house's traditional roof, the kids decided to resume their work. There was plenty of left over timber of odd shapes and sizes to play with. They consulted the lead carpenter for technical details. The roof was built on the ground by constructing a pyramid first. It sat on a stack of bricks. Once the roof was ready, they needed help to mount it on their walls. This was the only time they asked for help from us.

Securing purlins to the rafters

Time to admire the roof

Once the roof framework was in place, mats made of woven coconut fronds (keethu) were tied to it. Abhi sat on the roof and tied the keethu to the purlins that Aparna was handing him from inside the room. They swapped roles when they felt like it.

The roof work took several weeks. Once this was completed, they once again started enjoying the rains without any worry.

A picture of the roof taken from inside the room

Plaster:

They were by now familiar with mud plastering, from watching the masons at work on the farm house. Sieving the soil, preparing the mix a day in advance, plastering a wall, cleaning up the tools was their day routine then. Inside and outside put together, there were eight sides to be plastered and two levels of plastering to be done, first rough then smooth.

Finish:

They applied diluted lime wash (aka white wash). Lime protects the exposed walls from the rain. This was applied in six thin coats, one coat a day.

First coat of very dilute white wash

Floor:

On a leveled substrate of soil mix, terracotta clay tiles were placed with 1 cm gap between them. The gap was later filled with a homemade grout mix that contained finely sieved sand and cement.