NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

COURSE CODE: EHS 312

COURSE TITLE: HOUSING AND BUILDING

CONSTRUCTION

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

COURSE
GUIDE

EHS 312
HOUSING AND BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Course Team Shehu Usman Muhammad (Course Developer/

Writer) – Shehu Idris College of Health Sciences &
Technology, Makarfi
Prof. Afolabi Adebanjo (Programme Leader) –
NOUN
Dr. Shehu Omoniyi Ibrahim (Course Coordinator) –
NOUN

NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

143
National Open University of Nigeria
Headquarters
14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way
Victoria Island, Lagos

Abuja Office
5 Dar es Salaam Street
Off Aminu Kano Crescent
Wuse II, Abuja

e-mail: centralinfo@[Link]
URL: [Link]

Published by
National Open University of Nigeria

Printed 2014

ISBN: 978-058-881-7

All Rights Reserved

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

CONTENTS PAGE

Introduction …………………………………………….. iv
What you will Learn in this Course …………………….. iv
Course Aim……………………………………………… iv
Course Objectives……………………………………….. iv
Working through this Course…………………………… v
Course Materials ………………………………………... v
Study Units ……………………………………………... vi
Presentations Schedule………………………………….. vii
Assessment ……………………………………………… viii
Tutor-Marked Assignments……………………………... viii
Textbooks and References ……………………………… viii
Final Examination and Grading…………………………. x
Course Making Scheme…………………………………. x
Facilitators/Tutors and Tutorials…………………….. x
Summary…………………………………………………. xi

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INTRODUCTION

Housing and Building Construction is a two- credit unit course available

to all students of Environmental Health in the 300 level and any other
student interested in understanding the importance of healthy housing
and building construction in health promotion and protection. The state
(ventilation, size etc) of a house where people resides is important in the
protection and promotion of the health of its dwellers. Many health
problems are either directly or indirectly related to the building itself,
due to the construction materials that were used and the equipment
installed, the size or design of the individual dwellings. The home also
has a broad influence on the psychosocial and mental wellbeing by
providing the basis for place attachment and identity as well as a last
refuge from daily life. That means to live in an adequate shelter means
more than a roof over one's head; it means it must be free from all
factors that may affect its inhabitants. Hence, there is need for you to
understand its importance and role in health promotion.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS COURSE

The course content consist of a unit of the course guide which tells you
briefly what the course is about, what course materials you need and
how to work with such materials. It also gives you some guideline for
the time you are expected to spend on each unit in order to complete it
successfully.

It guides you concerning your tutor-marked assignment which will be

placed in the assignment file. Regular tutorial classes related to the
course will be conducted and it is advisable for you to attend these
sessions. It is expected that the course will prepare you for challenges
you are likely to meet in the field of Environmental Health practice.

COURSE AIM

The course aim is to provide you with an understanding of housing and

building construction. It is intended to let you appreciate the position
occupied by housing and building construction in the promotion,
protection and maintenance of health of individuals and families in our
houses.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

To achieve the aim set out, the course has a set of objectives. Each of
the 14 units has specified objectives which are stated at the beginning of
the unit. You are advised to read the objectives before you study the unit
because you may need to make reference to them during your study to

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

check on your own progress. It is also good that you endeavour to check
the unit objectives after completion of each to ensure that you are
satisfied with what you have read.

After going through the course, you should be able to:

 explain the concept of housing and housing terminologies

 enumerate housing standards state the factors affecting qualities
of housing standards
 describe the relationship between housing and health
 understand the concept of building technology including drawing
and reading of plans
 explain housing codes, edicts, or ordinances, laws and legislation
of the local, state and federal governments levels
 discuss the principle of damp proofing
 explain the enforcement mechanism of housing and building laws
and regulations
 enumerate role of environmental health professionals in building
approval and registration.

WORKING THROUGH THIS COURSE

To complete this course you are expected to read each study unit, read
the textbooks and other materials which may be provided by the
National Open University of Nigeria. Each unit contains self-assessment
exercises. In the course you would be required to submit assignment for
assessment. At the end of the course there is final examination. The
course should take at least about 14 weeks to complete.

Listed below are the components of the course, what you have to do and
how to allocate your time to each unit, in order to complete the course
successfully and timely.

The course demands that you should spend good time to read and my
advice for you is that you should endeavour to attend tutorial session
where you will have the opportunity of comparing knowledge with
colleagues.

COURSE MATERIALS
The main components of the course material are:

1. The Course Guide

2. Study Units
3. References/Further Reading
4. Assignments
5. Presentation Schedule

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STUDY UNITS

There are 4 modules broken into 14 study units.

Module 1

Unit 1 Definitions, Scope, Concept of Housing and Housing

Terminologies
Unit 2 Relationship between Housing and Health
Unit 3 Factors Affecting Qualities of Housing Standards and
Minimum Requirements
Unit 4 Safety and Emergency Provisions in Standard Housing
Unit 5 Professional Groups Involved in Maintaining Building and
Housing Standards
Unit 6 General Characteristics of Housing Standard in the
Tropics and its Challenges

Module 2

Unit 1 Introduction to Building Technology

Unit 2 Application of Technical Drawing, Reading and
Interpretation of Building Plan/Drawings

Module 3

Unit 1 Understand the Preliminaries and the General Principle of

Selecting and Preparing Sites to Receive Various Types of
Foundations
Unit 2 Understand the Principles of Damp-Proofing in Building
Unit 3 Building Plan Processing, Approval and Certification for
Occupancy

Module 4

Unit 1 Housing codes, Edicts, Ordinances, Laws and Legislation

of the Local, State, Federal Governments and International
Levels.
Unit 2 Enforcement of Housing and Building Laws and
Regulations
Unit 3 Role of Environmental Health Professionals in Building
Approval and Registration.

In module 1, the first unit focuses on the definitions, scope, concept of

housing and housing terminologies, unit 2 looked at the relationship
between housing and health. Unit 3 examines the factors affecting the
qualities of housing and building standards. Unit 4 concentrated on

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safety and emergency provisions in standard housing while unit 5

considered the professional groups involved in maintaining building and
housing standards and unit 6 looked at the general characteristics of
housing standard in the tropics and its challenges.

Module 2, unit 1 basically concentrated on introducing building

technology to the students, unit 2 is on application of technical drawing,
reading and interpretations of building plan.

Module 3, unit 1 deals with understanding the preliminaries and the

general principle of selecting and preparing sites to receive various types
of foundations, unit 2 is on understanding the principles of damp-
proofing in building which is essential in preventing dampness in
buildings structures, unit 3 looked at the criteria for building processing,
approval and certification for occupancy

Module 4, unit 1 will deal with introduction to housing codes, edicts,

ordinances, laws and legislation of the local, state, federal Governments
and international levels.

Unit 2 will be on enforcement of housing, building laws and regulations

and its challenges, while the last but not the least is unit 3 which is on
the roles of environmental health professional in building approval and
registration.

Note that each unit consists of one or two weeks work and include an
introduction, objectives, main content, reading materials, exercises,
conclusion, summary, tutor-marked assignments (TMAs), references
and other resources. The various units direct you to work on exercises
related to the require reading. In general, the exercises test you on the
materials you have just covered or require you to apply it in a way that
will assist you to evaluate your own progress and to reinforce your
understanding of the material. Alongside the TMAs, these exercises will
help you achieve the stated learning objectives of the individual units
and the course as a whole.

PRESENTATION SCHEDULE

Your course materials have important dates for the early and timely
completion and submission of your TMAs and attending tutorials. You
are expected to submit all your assignments by the stipulated time and
date and guard against falling behind in your work.

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ASSESSMENT

There are three parts to the course assessment and these include self
assessment exercises, tutor-marked assessments and the written
examination or end of course examination. It is advisable that you do all
the exercises. In tackling the assignments, you are expected to use the
information, knowledge and techniques gathered during the course. The
assignments must be submitted to your facilitator for formal assessment
in line with the deadlines stated in the presentation schedule and
assignment file. The work you submit to your tutor for assessment will
count for 30 per cent of your total course work. At the end of the course
you will need to sit for a final end of course examination of about three
hours duration. This examination will count for 70 per cent of your total
course mark.

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT (TMA)

The TMA is a continuous component of your course. It account for 30

per cent of the total score. You will be given four (4) TMAs to answer.
Three of this must be answered before you are allowed to sit for the end
of course examination. The TMAs would be given to you by your
facilitator and returned after you have done the assignment. Assignment
questions for the units in this course are contained in the assignment file.
You will be able to complete your assignment from the information and
material contained in your reading, references and study units. However,
it is desirable in all degree level of education to demonstrate that you
have read and researched more into your references, which will give you
a wider view point of the subject.

Make sure that each assignment reaches your facilitator on or before the
deadline given in the presentation schedule and assignment file. If for
any reason you can not complete your work on time, contact your
facilitator before the assignment is due to discuss the possibility of an
extension. Extension will not be granted after the due date unless there
are exceptional circumstances.

TEXTBOOKS AND REFERENCES

Arokoyo, S. B. & Adeyemo, A. M. (2002). Perspective on Urban

Development Planning and Management (Ed,). Lagos: Amethyst
& Colleagues Publishers p,243

Bayelsa State Government (2006), Public Health Laws Cap. P.16, Vol.4,
Laws of Bayelsa State, Federal Republic of Nigeria (Part Il
Sanitation).

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

Cousin, N. (2004). “Where the Dream of Owning a Home Begin”,

House Quest, Nigeria Ltd.

EL RUFA’I, N. A. (2006). “Elimination of Slum/Squatter Settlements -

The FCT experience.” Journal of Environmental Health. 3(2); p
56

FMENV (2005). Policy Guidelines on Sanitary Inspection of Premises,

Abuja.

FR xi (1977) Local Government Laws of Nigeria (as amended) 1950

FRN (1963), Public Health Laws cap.103, Laws of Eastern Nigeria, (wk
6 Sect of (a-n) (Subsidiary Legislation part Ill Sanitation) sect.
42-63).

FRN (2007), National Environmental Health Practice Regulations,

Official Gazette No. 21, Vol.94, Lagos.

Mahmoud, S. (2012). “Enforcement of Premises Inspection Regulations

in Kaduna State: Prospects and Problems.” Being a Paper
Delivered at a 3 day Workshop on Premises Inspection for
Environmental Health Practitioners, organised by Forward
Resources Nigeria Ltd in Collaboration with Kaduna State Local
Government Service Commission Held Between 18th – 20th
September, 2012.

Nnah, W. W. (2002). “Urban Planning Laws in Nigeria.” In: Arokoyo,S.

B. & Adeyemo,A. M.( (Ed). Lagos: Amethyst Colleagues
Publishers. pp.131-147.

Novic, R. E. (1987). “Shelter and Health.” In: World Health Magazine,

July, P6-9. Office of the United Nations HIGH Commissioner for
Human Rights (2007), International Housing Standard,
htt./[Link]/enghiish/issues/
housing/standards. htm.

Okorodudu, S. A. (2002). “Public Sector Housing Crisis in Nigerian

Cities: Implications for Planning.” In: Arokoyo, S. B. &
Adeyemo, A. M. (2002). (Ed.). Lagos: Amethyst Colleagues
Publishers, pp.219 -226.

Ogu, B. C. (1991). Environmental Management in Nigeria: Issues,

Concepts and Laws. Okigwe, Nigeria: FASMEN
Communications. pp. 76-80.

151
Park, K. (2007). Parts Textbook on Preventive & Social Medicine. India:
M/S Banarsides Bharrot Publisher Jabaipar, , pp. 606- 609.

Schaefer, M. (1987). “Health Principles of Housing.” World Health,

WHO July P.18-19. ‘

FINAL EXAMINATION AND GRADING

The end of course examination on housing and building construction

will be for about 3 hours and it has a value of 70 per cent of the total
course work. The examination will consist of questions, which will
reflect the type of self-testing, practice exercise and tutor-marked
assignment problems you have previously encountered. All area of the
course will be assessed.

The time between finishing the last unit and sitting for the examination
is to be use to revise the whole course accordingly. You might find it
useful to review your self-test, TMAs and comments on them before the
examination. The end of course examination covers information from all
parts of the course.

COURSE MARKING SCHEME

Assignment Marks
The, best three of the TMAs will be
Assignments 1- 4
selected to make 30% of the course marks.
End of course examination 70% of overall course marks
Total 100% of course materials

FACILITATORS/TUTORS AND TUTORIALS

There are 15 hours of tutorials provided in support of this course. You

will be notified of the dates, times and location of the tutorials as well as
the name and the phone number of your facilitator, as soon as you are
allocated a tutorial group.

Your facilitator will mark and comment on your assignments, keep a

close watch on your progress and any difficulties you might face and
provide assistance to you during the course. You are expected to mail
your tutor-marked assignment to your facilitator before the schedule
date (at least two working days are required). They will be marked by
your tutor and returned to you as soon as possible.

Do not delay to contact your facilitator by telephone or e-mail if you

need assistance.

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The following might be circumstances in which you would find

assistance necessary, hence you would have to contact your facilitator if:

• you do not understand any part of the study or the assigned

readings
• you have difficulty with self-tests
• you have a question or problem with an assignment or with the
grading of an assignment.

You should endeavour to attend the tutorials, this is the only chance to
have face to face contact with your course facilitator and to ask question
which are answered instantly. You can raise any problem encountered in
the course of your study.

To gain more benefit from course tutorials prepare a question list before
attending them. You will learn a lot from participating actively in
discussions with your colleagues.

SUMMARY

Housing and building construction is a course that intends to provide

you with the concept of housing, its construction, uses to human beings
and promotion of the health of its dwellers in both urban and rural
environment.

Upon completing this course, you will be equipped with the knowledge
of housing, its requirements in health promotion, the need to ensure
appropriate inspection in all communities at an appropriate time to
ensure the improvement of the health status of its dwellers and the
protection of the health of all members of the communities around.

You will be able to distinguish between a healthy house and an ordinary

shelter, you will be able to also suggest to people on the quality
materials required in building a healthy house, you will appreciate the
role of all professionals involved in maintaining the housing standards in
both constructions and maintenance. You will also know the role that
can be played by individuals, the community, the government,
international agencies as well as nongovernmental organisations in the
prevention and control of communicable diseases, chronic diseases,
tropical neglected diseases and accident related conditions that are likely
to be spread when housing facilities are abused or poorly maintained.

In addition, you will be able to answer questions on the subject such as:

 What does healthy housing means?

 Of what importance is the knowledge of a healthy housing?

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 Enumerate factors affecting qualities of housing standards
 Who are the professional groups involved in the maintenance of
housing standard?
 What are the preliminaries involved in the construction of various
types of building?
 What are the criteria for the approvals and awarding certifications
of occupancy in housing?
 What are the safety and sanitary requirements in buildings?
 What are the enforcement mechanism of housing laws and
regulations?
 What is the role of environmental health professionals (EHP) in
building approval and registration?
 What are the challenges in the performance of the functions of
EHP in processing building approvals

The above list is just a few of the questions expected and is by no means
exhaustive. To gain more from this course you are advised to consult
relevant books, journals and websites. You need to practically be
visiting practicing and licensed professionals to enable you share their
experiences with on current and emerging issues in building and housing
sector in your environment, this will enable you widen your knowledge
on the topic.

I wish you success in this course. It is my hope you will find it both
illuminating and useful.

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

MAIN
COURSE

CONTENTS PAGE

Module 1 …………………………………………….. 1

Unit 1 Definitions, Scope, Concept of Housing and

Housing Terminologies……………………. 1
Unit 2 Relationship between Housing and Health 14
Unit 3 Factors Affecting Qualities of Housing
Standards and Minimum Requirements…… 22
Unit 4 Safety and Emergency Provisions in
Standard Housing………………………….. 38
Unit 5 Professional Groups Involved in Maintaining
Building and Housing Standards ………….. 54
Unit 6 General Characteristics of Housing
Standard in the Tropics and its Challenges 63

Module 2 …………………………………………….. 73

Unit 1 Introduction to Building Technology…….. 73

Unit 2 Application of Technical Drawing,
Reading and Interpretation of Building
Plan/Drawings…………………………….. 89

Module 3 …………………………………………….. 99

Unit 1 Understand the Preliminaries and the General

Principle of Selecting and Preparing Sites to
Receive Various Types of Foundations……. 99
Unit 2 Understand the Principles of Damp-Proofing
in Building………………………………… 113
Unit 3 Building Plan Processing, Approval and
Certification for Occupancy. ……………… 132

Module 4 …………………………………………….. 142

Unit 1 Housing codes, Edicts, Ordinances, Laws and

Legislation of the Local, State, Federal
Governments and International Levels……. 142
Unit 2 Enforcement of Housing and Building
Laws and Regulations……………………… 157
Unit 3 Role of Environmental Health Professionals
in Building Approval and Registration…….. 174
155
MODULE 1

Unit 1 Definitions, Scope, Concept of Housing and Housing

Terminologies
Unit 2 Relationship between Housing and Health
Unit 3 Factors Affecting Qualities of Housing Standards and
Minimum Requirements
Unit 4 Safety and Emergency Provisions in Standard Housing
Unit 5 Professional Groups Involved in Maintaining Building and
Housing Standards
Unit 6 General Characteristics of Housing Standard in the
Tropics and its Challenges

UNIT 1 DEFINITIONS, SCOPE, TYPES, CONCEPT OF

HOUSING AND HOUSING TERMINOLOGIES

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Definitions of House
3.2 Scope of Housing
3.3 Types of Housing
3.3.1 Detached Single-Unit Housing
3.3.2 The Detached Single-Family House
3.3.3 Semi-Detached Dwellings
3.3.4 Attached Multi-Unit Housing
3.3.5 Multifamily Home Feature
3.3.6 Movable Dwellings
3.4 Concepts of Housing and Housing Terminologies
3.4.1 Affordable Housing
3.4.2 Healthy Housing.
3.4.3 Rural Housing
3.4.4 Transitional Settlements
3.4.5 Permanent Housing
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Housing is one of the essentials of life to every human being. It is next

to air and water in order of human requirement. It is required for

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physiological and psychological comfort of man. There are different

types of housing structures in the world. The type and quality depends
on many factors including socio-economic factors, literacy level,
culture, nature of soil, etc. The quality of housing occupied by people
plays a decisive role in the health status of the residents. Many health
problems are either directly or indirectly related to the building itself,
due to the construction materials that were used and the equipment
installed, or the size or design of the individual dwellings. The home
also has a broad influence on the psychosocial and mental wellbeing by
providing the basis for place attachment and identity as well as a last
refuge from daily life. To live in an adequate shelter means more than a
roof over one's head: It means to have a home, a place which protects
privacy, contributes to physical and psychological well-being, and
supports the development and social integration of its inhabitants – a
central place for human life. Evidence has shown that those that have
the least resources at their disposal suffer the worst housing conditions
while those with best resources are likely to provide for themselves a
house with all the facilities that qualify it to be a sanitary or standard
house. Type of houses differs from urban to rural, one community to
another and from one country to another, but the requirements and
criteria are basically the same.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 define house and housing

 enumerate housing scope
 define dwelling
 explain the concepts of housing and housing terminologies.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Definitions of House

Princeton's Word Net defines house as explained in Wikipedia, the free

encyclopaedia as:

a) a structure that provides privacy and protection from danger

b) protective covering that provides protection from the weather
c) temporary housing for homeless or displaced persons
d) the condition of being protected
While, Kernerman English Learner's Dictionary defines house:
e) as protection from harm or something unpleasant
f) a place where you are protected from harm or something
unpleasant
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g) a place where somebody who is in danger can live temporarily to
protect from unpleasant experiences.

And Webster Dictionary defines house as “that which covers or defends

from injury or annoyance; a protection; a screen.

1. A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be

occupied for habitation by humans or other creatures. The term
house includes many kinds of dwellings ranging from
rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to complex structures
composed of many systems. English-speaking people generally
call any building they routinely occupy "home"

2. Omi’s Public and Community Health Dictionary defines house as

‘a man-made physical structure which is designed to serve as a
shelter and which contribute to his healthy existence. it could be
residential or non residential but built to meet physiological,
psychological and social needs of man”

The social unit that lives in a house is known as a household. Most

commonly, a household is a family unit of some kind, though
households may be other social groups, organisations or individuals.

The English word house derives directly from Old English Hus meaning
"dwelling, shelter, home, house," which in turn derives from Proto-
Germanic Khusan (reconstructed by etymological analysis) which is of
unknown origin. The house itself gave rise to the letter 'B' through an
early Proto-Semitic hieroglyphic symbol depicting a house. The symbol
was called "bayt", "bet" or "beth" in various related languages, and
became beta, the Greek letter, before it was used by the Romans.

House and shelter are interchangeably used and might mean the same in
the English sense of it but a house is more permanent than a shelter.
Random House Webster’s College Dictionary defines shelter as
“something beneath, behind, or within which one is covered or
protected, as from storms or danger; refuge. (1) the protection or refuge
afforded by such a thing(2) a building serving as a temporary refuge or
residence, as for homeless persons or abandoned animals to act as a
shelter for; afford shelter to.(4) to provide with a shelter; place under
cover.”

3.2 Scope of Housing

According to the World Health Organisation Expert Committee on the

Public Health Aspects of Housing (1961), the scope of housing in
relation to health consists of the following:

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a. Town and country planning

b. The design and arrangement of the dwelling unit
c. The use of space by the occupants
d. The maintenance of the structure, i.e., the house in general,
including dwelling areas
e. The availability of community facilities and services, including
those for local circulation and transport.

These aspects of housing are best handled by public health experts, such
as environmental health officers, sanitary engineers as well as other
professionals who also play vital roles (e.g., town planners, architects,
mansions, psychologists, sociologists, etc.). (WHO, 1961), (Arokoyu &
Adeyemo, 2002).

3.3 Types of Houses

Houses can be built in a large variety of configurations. A basic division

is between free-standing or detached dwellings and various types of
attached or multi-user dwellings. Both may vary greatly in scale and
amount of accommodation provided. Although there appear to be many
different types, many of the variations listed below are purely matters of
style rather than spatial arrangement or scale. Some of the terms listed
are only used in some parts of the English speaking world and Nigeria in
particular.

3.3.1 Detached Single-Unit Housing

 A-frame: so-called because of the appearance of the structure,

namely steep roofline. The Addison house: a type of low-cost
house with metal floors and cavity walls made of concrete blocks,
mostly built in the United Kingdom and in Ireland during 1920
through 1921 to provide housing for soldiers, sailors, and airmen
who had returned home from the First World War. The Airey
house: a type of low-cost house that was developed in the United
Kingdom in the 1940s by Sir Edwin Airey, and then widely-
constructed between 1945 and 1960 to provide housing for
soldiers, sailors, and airmen who had returned home from World
War II. These are recognisable by their precast concrete columns
and by their walls made of precast "ship-lap" concrete panels.
 Bungalow: any simple, single-story house without any basement.
 Cottage: is usually a small country dwelling, but weavers'
cottages are three-storied townhouses with the top floor reserved
for the working quarters.
 A farmhouse: is the main residence house on a farm, or a house
built with the same type of styling - located anywhere

159
 Mansion: a quite-large and usually-luxurious detached house.
See also: Manor house, and Georgian house above
 Manufactured house: a prefabricated house that is assembled on
the permanent site on which it will sit.
 Prefabricated house: a house whose main structural sections
were manufactured in a factory, and then transported to their final
building site to be assembled upon a concrete foundation, which
had to be poured locally.
 Ranch: a rambling single-story house, often containing a garage
and sometimes constructed over a basement.

3.3.2 The Detached Single-Family House

Is any free-standing house that is structurally separated from its

neighbouring houses, usually separated by open land, making it
distinctive from such dwellings as duplexes, townhouses, and
condominiums.

3.3.3 Semi-Detached Dwellings

 Duplex house: commonly refers to two separate residences,

attached side-by-side, but the term is sometimes used to mean
stacked apartments on two different floors (particularly in urban
areas such as New York and San Francisco). (See Two decker)
The duplex house often looks like either two houses put together,
or as a large single home, and both legally and structurally,
literally shares a wall between halves. The duplex home can
appear as a single townhouse section with two different
entrances, though the occasional duplex with a shared common
entrance and entry hall have been constructed. The jargon terms
"triplex" and "four-plex" are contrived names that refer to similar
structures with three or four housing units, or floors if referring to
apartments, and again the characteristic sharing of structural
walls, as are the townhouse and six pack forms that adapted the
savings in materials and costs of a shared load bearing wall.
 Semi-detached: two houses joined together; compare duplex.

3.3.4 Attached Multi-Unit Housing

Specific terms under various American federal, state, or local laws

dealing with fair housing, truth in advertising, and so forth, have been
prescribed and engender specific legal meanings. For example, in
American housing codes, all "apartments" must contain a kitchen,
bathing facilities, and a sleeping area, or else that term may not be used.
This generates various differences within the English-speaking world,
and the terms such as "single-family", "two-family", or "three-family"
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building, residence, house, home, or property can be generic and thus

convey little or no building plan (style of building) information. Such
terminology is most common in advertising and real-estate markets that
offer leasing of such units, or sales of such buildings.

 Apartment: A relatively self-contained housing unit in a

building which is often rented out to one person or a family, or
two or more people sharing a lease in a partnership, for their
exclusive use. Sometimes called a flat or digs (slang). Some
locales have legal definitions of what constitutes an apartment. In
some locations, "apartment" denotes a building that was built
specifically for such units, whereas "flat" denotes a unit in a
building that had been originally built as a single-family house,
but later on subdivided into some multi-unit house type.
 Apartment building, Block of flats: A multi-unit dwelling made
up of several (generally four or more) apartments. Contrast this
with the two-family house and the three-family
 Barracks: A type of military housing, formerly connoting a large
"open bay" with rows of bunk beds and attached bathroom
facilities, but during the most recent several decades for the
American Armed Forces most of the new housing units for
unmarried servicemen have been constructed with a dormitory-
style layout housing two to four servicemen. This dormitory-
styling providing additional privacy has been found to promote
the retention of trained personnel in the all-volunteer Armed
Forces of the United States.
 Flat: In Great Britain and Ireland including Nigeria, this means
exactly the same as an "apartment". This term means an
apartment that takes up an entire floor of a large house.
 2-Flat, 3-Flat, and 4-Flat houses: Houses or buildings with 2, 3,
or 4 flats, respectively, especially when each of the flats takes up
one entire floor of the house. There is a common stairway in the
front and often in the back providing access to all the flats. 2-
Flats and sometimes 3-flats are common in certain older
neighbourhoods.
 Housing cooperative (or Co-op): A form of ownership in which
a non-profit corporation owns the entire apartment building or
development and residents own shares in the corporation that
correspond to their apartment and a percentage of common areas.
 Penthouse: The top floor of multi-story building
 Rooming house: A type of single room occupancy building
where most washing, kitchen and laundry facilities are shared
between residents, which may also share a common suite of
living rooms and dining room, with or without board
arrangements. When board is provided (no longer common), a
common dining time and schedule is imposed by the landlord
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 who in such cases also serves as an innkeeper of sorts. In
Australia and the United States, any housing accommodation
with 4 or more bedrooms can be regarded as a rooming house if
each bedroom is subject to individual tenancy agreements.
Nigeria is studying this to enable it develop its own codes.
 Tenement: A multi-unit dwelling usually of frame construction,
quite often brick veneered, made up of several (generally many
more than four to six) apartments (i.e. a large apartment building)
that can be up to five stories. Tenements do not generally have
elevators. In the United States the connotation sometimes implies
a run-down or poorly-cared-for building. It often refers to a very
large apartment building usually constructed during the late
nineteenth to early twentieth century era sited in cities or
company towns.
 Terraced house: Since the late 18th century is a style of housing
where (generally) identical individual houses are conjoined into
rows - a line of houses which a built directly on to each other
built with shared party walls between dwellings whose uniform
fronts and uniform height created an ensemble that was more
stylish than a "rowhouse"..
 Tower block or Apartment tower: A high-rise apartment
building.

3.3.5 Multifamily Home Feature

Tenants usually have some portion of the basement and/or common

activity.

Fire regulations aggressively require a separate emergency exit for all

apartments under U.S. laws and national fire codes. Utilities are either
paid as part of the rent, or (now predominant) the units have separately
provided heat, air conditioning, electrical distribution panels and meters,
and sometimes (uncommonly) water metering, separating all secondary
housing costs by rental unit. Common lighting may or may not be off a
separate meter and circuitry in subdivided former single family
dwellings.

Leasehold documents will specify other common factors such as

specific parking rights, rights to common spaces such as lawn and
gardens on the premises, storage or garage (usually a detached unit, that
cannot economically be converted into an additional housing unit)
facilities and details such as who has responsibility for upkeep, snow
removal, lawn care, and so forth.

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3.3.6 Movable Dwellings

 Park home also called Mobile home: it is a prefabricated house

that is manufactured off-site.
 Tent: usually a lightweight, moveable structure.

3.4 Concepts of Housing and Housing Terminologies

“Healthy housing” must be a comprehensive concept taking into

consideration a variety of factors contributing to the quality of housing
and housing environments. A healthy home is not a specially designed
house, but is also represented by a residential setting that is capable to
fulfill the expectations of the residents. Nevertheless the definitions vary
from country to country. In England social housing is defined “as
housing that is subsidised (irrespective of tenure and ownership –
whether exclusive or shared – or financial arrangements), that will be
available to people who cannot rent or buy houses generally available on
the open market.”

Social housing in England is provided by housing associations and local

authorities and is mostly built for rent. The finances for building social
housing are provided by national government grants to the housing
associations.

Social housing in Germany is considered to be that kind of housing

“which, because of its size, facilities and rent or sales price is intended,
and appropriate, for a broad section of the population. The German
definition of social housing refers predominantly to a subsidy system. It
can be regarded as housing provided for low income groups or others
who cannot expect to get housing through the market (e.g. disabled
people).” The subsidies are provided in form of subsidies by the Bund,
Länder and municipalities for the construction of social housing for rent,
on conditions that enables landlords to fix a lower rent and to
accommodate special social groups of tenants. The Länder are
responsible for the ‘convention rules’ for housing and the
implementation of these rules is delegated to the municipalities. The
subsidies exist also for buying private homes when the buyer cannot
afford the price valid on the market. Applicants are graded on point
systems which are based on current living conditions and membership of
a target group.

3.4.1 Affordable Housing

However, while the phrase “affordable housing” has been bandied about
in recent times, it is instructive to point out that we seem to have rather
missed the point. Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling

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units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to a group of
people within a specified income range. Although the term is often
applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in
the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the concept is
applicable to both renters and purchasers in all income ranges. In the
United States and Canada, a commonly accepted guideline for housing
affordability is a housing cost that does not exceed 30per cent of a
household's gross income. Housing costs considered in this guideline
generally include taxes and insurance for owners, and usually include
utility costs. When the monthly carrying costs of a home exceed 30–35
per cent of household income, then the housing is considered
unaffordable for that household.

3.4.2 Healthy Housing

The present-day concept of healthy housing embodies the physical

structure that man uses for shelter and the environs of that structure,
including all necessary facilities, services, equipment, and devices
needed or desired for the physical and mental health and the social well-
being of the family and individual. When applied environmental health
in relation to health in Africa to the situation in most African countries
‘healthy housing’ is a complex business involving elements of
environmental health, planning, architecture, engineering, economics,
finance, cultural and social traditions, and the behavioural sciences
which are so intertwined that it is difficult to isolate single elements for
study, analysis, and discussion.

3.4.3 Rural Housing

Traditional village settlements are some of the oldest forms of human

organisation, with varying degrees of self-government, and have of late
increasingly become victims of the rural-urban migration. The rural
population lives in dwellings built by themselves according to
traditional patterns from locally available materials, such as mud bricks,
bamboo, thatch roofing, and timber.

The relative habitability of these rural dwellings varies widely from one
area to another and from household to household. Considerable
disparities of living conditions also exist in the rural villages when
compared with urban settlements, and these have rendered the rural
areas unattractive. Lack of infrastructures such as recreation facilities,
transportation, and opportunities for work are among the obvious factors
that continually attract rural populations to the cities.

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3.4.4 Transitional Settlements

In the majority of African towns and cities much of the urban

deterioration and poor standards of living can be attributed to an earlier
rural-urban influx. Workers were attracted by the higher incomes and
the social amenities and freedoms of urban life, illusory though they
sometimes turned out to be. Temporary huts and makeshift
accommodation were replaced by the cheapest forms of housing, and
these were erected when there was little control of building and
sanitation. Overcrowding and its related health problems were therefore
an unsurprising result.

The degree to which squatter communities grow varies from place to

place, and is also related to the ability of municipalities to exercise
regulatory control or to invest in municipal housing programmes. A
growing number of settlements are transitional and provide what is
usually meant to be a temporary measure half-way between the rural
setting that the inhabitants want to leave behind and the urban way of
life which they are reaching out for and hope to be integrated in.
Frequently, however, the change is not completed: stagnation sets in,
and the so-called transitional settlements tend to become permanent.

Such settlements often become very large; at the worst they consist of
extensive areas of hutments without the basic sanitary facilities of water
supplies, waste- disposal systems, or health and social welfare services.
The mixed populations, which are frequently drawn from different
areas, present serious racial, religious and sociological problems because
of their lack of cohesive functional organisations. Several of the major
types of transitional settlements are the results of:

(1) Unscheduled population movements due to displacement of

communities from their normal residences as a result of natural
disasters (floods, hurricanes, fires, drought) or through socio-
political upheavals (wars, strife, etc);
(2) Scheduled mass-movements of population as a result of social or
political conventions, religious or secular festivals, and
pilgrimages to holy cities;
(3) Movable dwellings used for short periods by holiday-makers and
tourists, for youth camps and similar groups, and on a long-term
basis by nomadic groups or others who for financial or social
reasons use caravans and mobile homes for permanent residence;
(4) Planned short-term settlements, mostly for workers on major
engineering projects such as dams and roads (often no provision
is made for wives and children who are expected to remain at the
home base); and

165
(5) Uncontrolled settlements found on the periphery of large cities as
a result of an attempt by work-seeking people to get as near as
they can to the urban setting.

Most transitional settlements are often located beyond municipal

boundaries, and are thus regarded as the financial and moral
responsibility not of the municipality, but of some more remote level of
administration. The need to improve transitional settlements is great and
the following two strategies might be followed to achieve this:

(1) Replace sections of shanty towns and squatters’ communities

with permanent housing and provide complete services;
(2) Supply marginal land with the basic sanitary services and allow
newcomers to purchase the land, by making regular contributions
over a long period, and to construct their own homes with locally
available building materials.

3.4.5 Permanent Housing

In most cases permanent houses conform to properly laid down town

plans and building codes. The housing conditions may however vary on
account of the age of construction of the dwelling and the use to which it
has been subjected. Three major categories generally defined for
permanent housing are:

(1) sound housing with no defects or slight defects, which are

normally correctable by regular maintenance (examples of this
might be poor paintwork, slight damage to steps, small cracks in
walls or in plaster, broken window glass, and slight wear in floors
or door sills);
(2) deteriorating housing which needs more repairs than would be
provided in the course of regular maintenance and has one or
more defects which must be corrected if the unit is to continue to
provide safe and adequate shelter (examples of this would include
shaky steps, holes, open cracks or missing materials over a small
area of floor, wall, or roof; and rotten window or door frames);
and;
(3) dilapidated housing, which would not provide safe and adequate
shelter because it would require extensive repair or rebuilding
due to one or more critical defects (examples of this might be
holes, open cracks or missing materials over a large area of
floors, walls, roofs or other parts of the building; and sagging
floors or walls).

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4.0 CONCLUSION

The word “house” and “shelter” have been used interchangeably

depending on the issues under reference. The meaning of ‘dwelling’ and
‘housing’ is also the same in ordinary discuss but not exactly the same
as illustrated above, though this depends on the country and the
environment of the user. Therefore the concepts and terminologies in
housing also differs from one society to another, however, the most
important thing is the salient meaning refers to the same thing. Many
factors must be noted as responsible for making a house a health place
for living which include appropriate site selection, use of durable and
qualitative materials, use of skilled and experience labour force etc. It
important for professionals like you understands when to use what
terminology and when not use it. You should not refer to a shelter or any
structure as a healthy house until it satisfies the physiological,
psychological and social needs of man. In Nigeria today, using this
definitions, many structures sited in the Government Reserved Areas
(GRAs) cannot be qualified to be called houses or healthy house due to
overcrowdings (social and physical), inappropriate sanitary facilities and
heavy security cover using huge iron rods which disturbs and tempers
with the comfort of the users.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this unit a simple explanation of the basic concepts and meanings of

housing, shelter, dwellings, rural housing, affordable housing, traditional
settlements, transitional housings etc were explain. The scope of
housing and the various terminologies used in various field of endeavour
but very relevant to environmental health profession were discussed and
explained. The scope, with its variance from one place to another
emphasise the need for appropriateness of town and country planning,
the design and arrangement of the dwelling unit, the use of space by the
occupants, the maintenance of the structure, i.e., the house in general,
including dwelling areas and the availability of community facilities and
services, including those for local circulation and transport. The good
qualities of a house improves on the health status of the dwellers and the
presence or absence of some important features could also make or mar
a house such as supply as ample water, appropriate drainage, use of
durable materials during the constructions, maintenance of sanitary
facilities, adequate space within its vicinity, absence of dampness,
provision of adequate lighting, ventilations (natural and artificial), waste
collection and disposal etc as enumerated in the unit are very important.

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6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Assess your own house and document what qualifies it to be a healthy

house or otherwise.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Adejumo, A. A. (2008). “Social Housing in Nigeria – An Imminent

Mass Housing Revolution?”

Adeigbe, O.O. (1988). “Draft Regulations for Content of Land

Development by Ibadan Metropolitan Planning Authority.”
Unpublished Manuscript.

Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Readon Publishers

Ltd, in Collaboration with Ugooma Printing and Publishing Co.
Nigeria Owerri, Imo State.

CECODHAS, Proposal for a European Social Housing Definition,

Brussels. (1998) in: Economic Commission for Europe.
Investigation of Non-Traditional Concrete and Timber-Framed
Properties - Structural Survey Report, South Cambridgeshire
District Council 6172.

Ogu, V. I. & Ogbuozobe, J. E. 2001 “Housing Policy in Nigeria:

Towards Enablement of Private Housing Development.” Habitat
International, Vol. 25, Issue 4, Dec. 2001, pp. 473-492

Peterside, C. S. (2005). “Ameliorating Housing Deficit in Nigeria ...The

Role of Primary and Secondary Mortgage Institutions and the
Capital Market.” Available online at [Link] 20th
July, 2005.

Peterside, C. S. (2003). “Policy Foundation for Affordable Housing in

Nigeria ...Role of the Secondary Mortgage Market.” Available
online at [Link] 14 October 2003

Wilkie, W. (1965). Jordanians Tropical Hygiene and Sanitation.( 4th

ed.). London: Bailllex, Tundell and Cox.

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

UNIT 2 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOUSING AND

HEALTH

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Health Principles of Housing
3.2 Types of Health Principles of Housing
3.3 Principles of Health Needs
3.4 Principles of Health Action
3.5 Examine the Relationship of Housing and Environmental
Health
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In our previous unit we discussed some basic issues on housing this

include the definitions and concepts in housing. We also learnt about
some practices of man which affects quality of housing. In this session
we will examine in details the relationship between housing and health
of the dwellers. We will discuss how sanitary housing improves,
maintain and promote the quality of the life of the dwellers and how ill
health and poor hygiene practices of dwellers affect the quality of a
sanitary housing and, of course, instead of providing the basic needs of
the dwellers it become a source of infection and disease spread.

Housing conditions affect people’s health. Inadequate housing causes or

contributes to many preventable diseases and injuries, including
respiratory, nervous system and cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
Poor design or construction of homes is the cause of most home
accidents. In some European countries, they kill more people than do
road accidents. Use of proper building materials and construction could
prevent indoor pollutants or mould, causing asthma, allergies or
respiratory diseases. About every tenth lung cancer case results from
radon in the home. Appropriate design can prevent both exposure and
the risk to health. (WHO, Regional Office for Europe 2010) Towards
safe and adequate housing, WHO/Europe seeks to assess and quantify
the effect on health of housing conditions and how housing risks
contribute to environmental and health inequalities.

169
With international experts, WHO/Europe evaluates the health gains
from implementation of local plans for housing rehabilitation, and sets
health priorities related to various technical aspects of housing. Priority
issues include thermal comfort and energy, indoor environmental
conditions, home safety, and residential housing environment.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 enumerate the health principles of housing

 identify types of health principles of housing
 explain the principles of health needs
 discuss principles of health action
 examine the relation of housing and environmental health.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Health Principles of Housing

There has been a lot of controversy about the relationship between

housing and health over the years, concerning the social factors that
affect health, such as human behaviour and practice. These are difficult
to measure or observe, because of their less definite character, unlike
physical conditions such as the influence of indoor air pollution on acute
respiratory infections or poor sanitation on gastro-intestinal (feaco-oral)
diseases which can be proved scientifically and epidemiologically.

Research conducted so far on ways of overcoming these difficulties

suggests that such housing health links, which are not clearly
understood, may be stated or defined in the form of “principles”, i.e.,
guiding rules of thought and action. Many of the principles can be
modified to suit specific situations or the prevailing conditions of an
area or locality (climate, culture) and preferences of the people, e.g.,
location of houses, type of building materials and design to use,
availability of resources for improving housing standards, etc. Health
principles are different from housing standards or codes, which are
official norms based on selected principles prescribed for particular
communities at specific times. Standards or codes, on the other hand, are
adapted from principles and limited in scope.

3.2 Types of Health Principles of Housing

The World Health Organisation has formulated two sets of health

principles of housing as follows:

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

Principles related to health needs: These concern the interactions of man

with housing, i.e., man’s use of the house and its influences on human
health.

Principles related to health action: These suggest appropriate health

actions (steps) that can be taken to increase the protective qualities of
housing against health hazards.

3.3 Principles of Health Needs

The principles of health needs are made of six, most of which have sub-
divisions.

 Protection against communicable diseases.

Communicable diseases can be reduced if houses are provided with

facilities for safe water supply, sanitary disposal of excreta, including
waste water (sewage) and solid waste (household waste), adequate
drainage of surface water and necessary provisions for domestic hygiene
and safe food, storage, preparation, cooking, eating, etc.

 Protection against injuries, poisoning, and chronic diseases.

Housing should protect the occupants from avoidable injuries,

poisonings and exposures that contribute to chronic diseases and
malignancies.

 Reducing psychological and social stress to a minimum.

Housing may promote mental well-being and reduce psychological

stress significantly, since the home is known to be free of dangers.

 Improving the housing environment.

The neighborhood and community, as well as the dwelling itself do

affect human health a great deal.

 Enabling individuals make informed use of housing.

Health also depends on how the residents use their houses.

 Protecting people at special risk.

The dwelling conditions of certain groups of people put them at special

health risk, leaving them especially vulnerable to multiple health

171
hazards (WHO, 1989, 1961; Schaefer, 1987; Wilkie, 1959; WHO,
1991).

3.4 Principles of Health Action

The principles of health action in relation to housing are derived from

three social facts of life that affect human health.

a. Poverty is a major barrier to improved housing and, hence, to a

country’s socio economic development;
b. Housing decisions are highly decentralised and fragmented, i.e.,
government agencies, house builders, and families are involved;
c. The health aspect of housing are poorly understood and not
considered in government, community and family decisions.

The principles of health action which deal with the ways the community
can take action to raise the standard of housing quality include the
following:

1. Health advocacy in housing decisions should be strongly

emphasised by public health or environmental health authorities
and other related agencies and interest groups at administrative
levels and through various channels of communication.
2. In government circles, health advocacy should focus on a broad
range of policy issues rather than housing alone, e.g.,
socioeconomic development, policies on taxation and financing
of housing scheme on the owner occupier basis, land and housing
tenure, local governments, urbanisation management, family
planning, etc.
3. To implement socially desirable policies, health advocacy should
cut across various sectors and integrate into the technical and
social process that can be utilised to develop and maintain
community resources. Along with economic issues, health should
be considered in the processes of development planning and
management, urban and land use planning, setting of housing
standards and regulations, design and construction, including
monitoring and surveillance, to provide necessary information for
future planning.
4. For housing policies and standards to be effective, extensive
public and professional education is required to promote the
provision and use of adequate information in ways that will
improve health status. In view of the fact that the construction
and use of housing are determined by people’s choices and
behaviours, education should be broad-based and targeted at a
wider audience. These include householders, architects, local
builders, manufacturers and dealers of building materials, as well

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as public health personnel (public health physicians,

environmental health officers, sanitary engineers, primary health
care workers, and policy leaders or managers of government
departments or agencies etc.
5. Finally, in dealing with the needs and problems of housing
(human habitats), community involvement at all levels is
paramount, as this enhances self-help efforts, neighbourhood help
and communal co-operatives. Apart from individuals who own
houses, community support is also needed to enable people make
informed use of housing and improve their living conditions. The
objective is to assist individuals meet their housing needs
economically, which can be achieved through the establishment
of a permanent dialogue between communities and the
government.

By so doing, the community can be properly guided to get the necessary

support in addressing its housing problems (Park, 2007; WHO, 1961,
1987, 1989, 1991).

3.5 Examine the Relationship of Housing and Environmental

Health

Sofoluwe documented the relationship between good housing and

environmental health as follows;

“Good housing forms an important aspect .of environmental health.

According to World Health Organisation experts, houses should provide
as few opportunities as possible for the direct transmission of disease
and should encourage healthful habits-among the occupants, (WHO,
1961). All public health authorities and experts agree that the standard
of housing in a community affects the quality of health within the
community. It is however very difficult to say specifically, what are the
effects of housing on health.

That is, it is not possible to say with certainty that a particular man has a
particular disease because he lives in a bad house, just as one can do for
bad water or bad waste disposal. This is because many other interrelated
_factors are often present with bad housing ((Lun, 1961).

Reports from the literatures have not helped the situation much (Willie
1959), Benjamin 1953). These factors are particularly important in the
developing countries ‘where poverty, malnutrition, lack of education
and medical care together with lack of knowledge relating to disease
prevention and personal hygiene, play important role on the health of the
people. Many research workers and writers like Mackintosh (1965),
Sofoluwe (1969). Salvato (1958) Wilner et al. (1962) Haddock (1961)

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Stockwell (1962), Halli-day (1928), Wright & Wright (1942), have
related certain ill health to specific poor conditions of housing. Studies
in the United States of America quoted by Salvato (1958) and others like
Schorr (1970), Britten (1942) and Fisher & Pierce (1967) showed that
when people live in slum areas, the rate at which they have
communicable diseases is about 65 per cent higher than national
average. Also during the cholera outbreak in Ibadan in 1970-1971, the
people who live in built-up slum areas reported more cases than those in
planned areas. The studies in the U.S.A. also show that tuberculosis rate
is about eight (8) times as high in slum areas as the national average that
infant death rate is five times higher, juvenile delinquency is two (2)
times higher and life expectancy is about 6.7 years shorter among slum
dwellers than the national average. It was also reported that the
frequency of fire outbreak was 1.5 times more in slum areas than the
national average.

To determine scientifically further, the effects of housing factors on

health, the WHO commission studies and found relationship between
some conditions/elements that have direct negative effect on the health
of its occupants as shown in the table below;

Table 2.1: WHO Technical Report on Inadequate Housing (2006)

Housing Factor Health Effect

CO, NO2, Formaldehyde Respiratory effects and poisoning

Pesticides and chemical household Allergies, respiratory effects,
products poisoning
Cockroaches Allergic effects
Accessibility Accidents and social Home fires / fire detectors Fire-
effects related injuries and mortality
Sanitation and hygiene equipment Infectious diseases,
diarrhoea, etc.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In the above discuss, we have discussed the relationship between

sanitary housing that support the needs of its dwellers and their health.
Sanitary or healthy housing has all facilities, equipments, services and
devices needed or desired for healthful living; we have seen that all
houses are shelters but not all shelters are houses.

A “house” which does not have all the facilities, equipments, services
and devices needed or desired for healthful living is not a house but a
mere shelter and therefore may not support the desired growth and

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development. Human practices in a house also determine its quality,

hence good sanitation, cleanliness; good maintenance culture will
increase the lifespan of a house and enable it to support healthful living.
The specifications in the unit are mostly that of WHO and each
environment is allowed to adapt it to its own needs and circumstances
and therefore are not cast on a stone.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this unit you learnt the principles related to health needs which
concerns the interactions of man with housing, i.e., man’s use of the
house and its influences on human health, Principles related to health
action which suggests appropriate health actions (steps) that can be
taken to increase the protective qualities of housing against health
hazards. It discussed the principles of health action that is those actions
and practices that may affect the quality of a house such as poverty
which is considered as a major barrier to improved housing and, hence,
to a country’s socio economic development, some government policies
and decisions that are highly decentralised and fragmented, i.e.,
government agencies, house builders, and families are involved and the
role house plays in health promotion are poorly understood and not
considered in government, community and family decisions. Individuals
concentrate on the beauty of a house rather than its specification,
government is concerned about space management and cost while
families and communities are very interested in their homogeneity and
cultural values of their dwellings. The most important of all is the ability
to take cognisance of all the above and ensure the house has facilities
and structures that support healthful living. This is the main concern of
an environmental health practitioner.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

List two (2) principles each of health needs and health action in housing.
Enumerate five relationships between housing and environmental health.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Readon Publishers

Ltd, in collaboration with Ugooma Printing and Publishing Co.
Nigeria Owerri, Imo State.

Park, K. (2007). Parts Textbook on Preventive & Social Medicine. India:

Banarsides Bharrot Publisher Jabaipar. pp. 606-609.

Schaefer, M. (1987). “Health Principles of Housing, World Health.”

WHO, July pp.18-19. ‘

175
Sridhar, M. K. C. (2008). “The Role of Environmental Health in
Achieving the Millenium Development Goals in Health.” 5(2);
pp. 94-102.

WHO (1967). “Appraisal of the Hygienic Quality of Housing and its

environment.” Tech. Report Series No. 353; Genera.

WHO (2001). “Core Questions on Drinking Water & Sanitation for

Household Survey.”

WHO (2004). “Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Links to Health (WSH)

Facts and Figures Updated.”

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

UNIT 3 FACTORS AFFECTING QUALITIES OF

HOUSING STANDARDS AND MINIMUM
REQUIREMENTS

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Types of Housing Standards
3.2 Basic Housing Standards
3.3 Design Requirements of Dwelling Units
3.3.1 Space Requirement
3.3.2 Provision of Privacy
3.3.3 Functional Use of Rooms
3.4 Requirements for Household Services and Facilities
3.4.1 Water Supply
3.4.2 Excreta Disposal
3.4.3 Refuse Disposal
3.4.4 Washing and Bathing Facilities
3.4.5 Cooking Dinning and Storage Facilities
3.5 Human Requirements in Housing
3.5.1 Physiological Requirements
3.5.2 Protective Requirements
3.5.3 Town, Village and Regional Planning
Requirements.
3.5.4 The Village, Town and Regional Planning
Requirements Consist of the Following
3.5.5 Minimum Housing Standards in Nigeria
3.6 Characteristics of Urban and Rural Housing
3.6.1 Urban Housing
3.6.2 Rural Housing
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the previous session, we have seen the relationship between housing

and health. We have discussed those principles that enumerated the
human needs and actions/decisions that affect the qualities of the house.
When considering standards in housing, the most important and
essential goals to consider include disease prevention, protection against
adverse weather and climate, as well as the security of life and property.
These are achievable when housing meets the basic requirements for

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human habitation. To do that there must be set standards to enforce.
Standards could be defined as official norms (guiding principles) created
and used for determining or regulating the conditions (physical and
social) under which people can live without jeopardising their health.
They are the useful and firmly established concepts among public health
authorities concerned with housing. Therefore to achieve these
standards, some basic requirement must be provided for the inhabitants
of any house or building. This unit discusses such standards and the
basic requirements needed to ensure healthy living in the houses.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 describe housing standards

 enumerate various types of housing standards
 discuss the minimum (basic) housing standards
 discuss the basic human requirements in housing
 explain protective requirements at home.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Types of Housing Standards

Housing standards are of different types:

Minimum Standards: Are the rock bottom conditions below which no

housing should be allowed to exist. They are critical conditions that
must be followed for the occupants to attain maximum health benefits in
the residential environment, e.g., ventilation and illumination, water
supply, waste disposal facilities, etc.

Desirability Standards: These are aimed at fulfilling human comfort

and convenience.

Target Standards: These are normally tailored towards the

achievement of specific objectives of living within a given time frame,
after which they may be altered or cease to exist as the situation
warrants, e.g., Millennium Development Goals of reducing by half,
populations without water supply and basic sanitation by 2015.

The human requirements of healthy housing are physiological and social

in nature. Some of them may be stated precisely, while others must be
put in less exact terms. When the basic human requirements are clearly
defined, they can be seen in their true perspectives, as essential means
for meeting or satisfying the human needs. Examples include ceiling the
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height of a room, room and window sizes, means for safe disposal of
waste and water supply, ventilation and illumination, etc.

Furthermore, housing standards also vary from one country to another

and from region to region, because of the difference in climate, culture
or traditional customs, social practices, choice of building materials,
levels of income or economic status. It must be stated here that housing
standards are not ends in themselves, but only means to an end in public
health, which is the attainment of the ultimate goal of health, physically,
mentally, and socially and, by extension, the establishment and
maintenance of world peace (WHO, 1961; Schaefer, 1987; FMENV,
2005).

3.2 Basic Housing Standards

Housing, like other aspects of environmental health and sanitation, is

aimed at fulfilling four key objectives of health to which public health
programme are directed. These are as follows:

 the prevention of premature death

 the prevention of disease, illness and injury
 the attainment of efficiency of living
 the provision of comfort.

In realisation of these, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has set

out the standards for meeting the fundamental human needs in the
residential environment, which include the following:

(i) Design requirements of dwelling units,

(ii) Requirements for household services and facilities,
(iii) Physiological requirements,
(iv) Requirements for town, village and regional planning.
(v) Protective requirements,
(vi) Requirements for special groups (e.g., the elderly and
handicapped).

3.3 Design Requirements of Dwelling Units

3.3.1 Space Requirement

The amount of space for occupants in the dwelling unit is determined by

many factors such as culture, tradition, custom, social and economic
status of the people involved. Space is measured by area and by volume.
The cubic air space per occupant in a dwelling unit varies with the floor
area, the height of the ceiling, the rate and means of ventilation, the

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thermal (temperature) and illumination requirements, etc. Also, the
number of rooms required for each household varies.

However, the following are the recommended standards:

(i) Each room should have adequate floor space of at least

120sqft(1 2x1 0)40m2 (4m x 3.3m);
(ii) A maximum cubic air space of 500 cubic ft;
(iii) A minimum total area of windows in each habitable room of 1/8
(one-eighth) of the total floor area;
(iv) A separate room(s) provided for cooking, eating (dining) and
leisure, except for families with one room for two adults or
husband and wife.

3.3.2 Provision of Privacy

The definition of privacy varies according to culture and patterns of

living. Thus, people have different views about privacy.

In some areas, privacy is regarded as seclusion in individual rooms.

There is also the privacy of vision, restricting the possibility of looking
into a dwelling unit through the doors or windows.

(i) Ideally, each member of a household should have a separate

room, except husband and wife as in developed countries, but this
does not apply in all situations.
However, the provision of a room separate from the sleeping
room, for leisure activities and for intra and inter family social
use, is the recommended standard. This room is called the parlour
or living room in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
(ii) Adolescents or adult members of opposite sex should not share
bedrooms, except husband and wife for moral reasons.
(iii) The location and arrangement of bedroom should be such that
they do not open directly into each other or bathroom or water
closet apartment (toilet).
(iv) Toilet facilities or water closet provisions in the house should be
in a separate room for privacy and hygienic purposes.
(v) The location of windows should be such as to provide the privacy
of vision, i.e., restrict the possibility of looking into the room,
while ensuring adequate ventilation and lighting.

3.3.3 Functional Use of Rooms

For proper maintenance of healthy conditions in the residential

environment, a house should have separate areas outside the dwelling

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unit for rearing of domestic animals and storage of working implements

(WHO, 1989, 1987, 1961; WAHEB, 1991).

3.4 Requirements for Household Services and Facilities

The minimum standards set for basic household services and facilities to
meet human needs are as follows:

 Water supply in the building and facilities for safe disposal of

household refuse;
 Facilities for proper disposal of excreta or (sewage), including
waste water and drainage of surface water;
 Facilities for washing of clothes, kitchen utensils, bathing and
compound cleaning;
 Facilities for food storage, preparation, cooking and
consumption, including storage of personal belongings.

3.4.1 Water Supply

Water to be used for human consumption should be readily available in

sufficient quantities that meet both national and international standards
for drinking water quality (WHO, 2010; FMENV, 2005).
It should be clean, potable and not contain any chemical substances,
microorganisms and other substances in quantities that may endanger
human health.

 It should be supplied by sanitary plumbing or other water supply

systems from approved sources to the house or court yard near
the dwelling unit, as to facilitate easy transport of water to the
house. The location of the source of water should be within a
minimum distance of 30 metres from sources of pollution.
 It should be made available in such quantities that will be enough
to carry out domestic chores, cleaning and personal hygiene. For
example, the World Health Organisation (WHO 1961), West
Africa Health Examination Board (WAHEB, 1991), and Federal
Ministry of Environment Nigeria (FMENV 2005) have
recommended at least 270 litres of water per person per day in
urban areas, and 120 litres per person per day for rural
communities.

For those using private water suppliers in rural areas, at least 45 litres
per person per day is ideal.

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The recommended sources of potable water for use in houses include the
following:

Improved drinking water facilities

 Piped water into dwelling (plot or yard)

 Public tap/standpipe
 Tube well/borehole
 Protected dug well
 Protected spring
 Rain water collection

Source: WHO! UNICEF, 2006

3.4.2 Excreta Disposal

 Every house should have adequate sanitary latrines/toilets

designed to prevent flies, other pest vectors, contamination of
water supplies and top soil.
 The latrine/ toilet should provide adequate privacy for the
occupants/users.
 The latrine/ toilets should be adequate to serve the household
family members as required.

Examples of improved latrines/ toilets approved for dwelling units are

shown below.

Improved latrine / toilet facilities

 Flush /poor flush toilet

 Piped sewer system
 Septic tank
 Pit latrine
 Unknown place/not known where
 Ventilated improved pit latrine (VIP)
 Pit latrine with a slab
 Composting toilet

Source: WHO/ UNICEF, 2006

Recommended latrine/ toilet facilities for households/ dwelling units

1 - 10 persons 1 toilets / latrine

11 - 20 persons 2 toilets / latrines
21 - 40 persons 3 toilets / latrines

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50 - 75 persons 4 toilets / latrines

75 - 100 persons 5 toilets / latrines

For more than 100 persons 1 more toilet for every additional 30 persons
(FMENV, 2005).

3.4.3 Refuse Disposal

 Every house should be provided with a sanitary waste bin having

a tight filling cover for collection and storage of household waste.
 A waste collection shed should be provided in storey buildings
with more than 4 floors (FMENV, 2005).

3.4.4 Washing and Bathing Facilities

 Every household should have a room separate from the kitchen as

bathroom and equipped with wash basin facilities, if affordable.
 The dwelling unit should also have a place for the washing of
clothes (laundry) with adequate facilities for disposal of waste
water.
 Bathroom should not be less than 1 .5m.

3.4.5 Cooking Dinning and Storage Facilities

The minimum standard concerning the provision of hygiene facilities for

the storage, preparation, serving and consumption of food are aimed at
keeping food stuffs wholesome and free from contamination. They are
as follows:

 Adequate device or equipment for cooking food, consisting of

preferably smokeless fuel, venting of smoke fumes, fuel has open
flame, provision for safe storage of reserve fuel that in the
dwelling unit, prevention of fire hazards.
 Adequate kitchen sink separate from a lavatory basin for food
preparation and the washing of utensils.
 Food storage facilities consisting of separate facilities for dry
storage of nonperishable food stuffs and facility for perishable
foods to prevent spoilage.
 Storage facilities for cooking utensils, cleaning equipment and
materials, etc.

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3.5 Human Requirements in Housing

3.5.1 Physiological Requirements

This set of human requirements deals with how the conditions of

dwellings affect the body processes, health growth and development.
For the body to function optimally, it requires the right temperatures
(thermal conditions), moisture, a minimum amount of noise and
reasonable supply of pure air and sufficient light.

i. Provision of heating and cooking facilities in the dwelling unit to

maintain optimum thermal conditions adequate for proper
regulation of body processes comprising.
 Gravity or mechanical ventilation or radiant energy
generated from heated panels to keep the house hot in cool
climate.
 Both artificial and natural ventilation systems in warm
climates to control heat.
ii. Facilities for control of excessive noise consisting of these:
 installation of devices with sound absorbing materials in
the building
 community planning by restriction of noisy operations
from residential areas
 judicious use of noisy equipment and appliances in the
dwelling.
iii. Prevention of dampness by a lying of cement mortar consisting of
1 part of cement to 3 parts of fine grain sand.
iii. Adequate ventilation to:
 keep concentrations of toxic substances in air to a
minimum to avoid hazards to health;
 keep concentrations of non-toxic substances to a minimum
to avoid undesirable reactions, e.g., cough or sneezing;
 create a comfortable environment or conditions free from
unpleasant odour.
iv. Adequate illumination (lighting) by both natural and artificial to
enable occupants see what they are doing.

3.5.2 Protective Requirements

Protective requirements provide safe environments for family members

against home accidents, disease vectors (insects and rodent), unwanted
animal and human intrusion as well. Human dwellings, therefore, should
have these:

i. Adequate safe guards against structural failures comprising:

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 durable materials for roofs, walls, doors and windows;

 seasoned and treated wooden members with approved
chemicals against termite attack;
 good design engineering and construction of the structure,
e.g., good foundation and masonry.
ii. Fire prevention devices consisting of:
 at least three (3) fire escape routes to the outside of the
house
ii. Prevention against falls comprising:
 cleanable non slippery and smooth floor surface
 strong hand rails installed and logically placed with
adequate illumination at changes in elevation
 guard rails (75-90cm) installed at balconies and low
window sills. Not porous enough to allow small children
to pass through.
iii. Protective devices against natural hazards consisting of:
 lightening rod installation to prevent thunder/ lightening
 proper location (approve site) and construction of
dwellings.
v. Facilities for prevention of insect and rodent vectors consisting
of:
 window/door screens and fly catchers in dwelling against
mosquitoes and other flying insects and
 flat proofing construction and installation to prevent rat
ingress.
vi. Protective facilities and devices against dangerous animals and
human intrusion consisting of:
 Sound construction of the housing structure and
installation of hard ware (burglar proofs) on doors,
windows and other openings to prevent marauders.

3.5.3 Town, Village and Regional Planning Requirements

Town, village and regional planning are important to healthful housing

in many ways.

1. Aid in the proper location of residential neighbourhood and

management for meeting the human health needs
2. Protection of the neighbourhood against external hazards, e.g.,
noise pollution, heavy traffic due to proximity of industrial
operations in residential settlements
3. Facilitate the proper allocation and efficient use of scare
resources (manpower, time money, etc) to achieve the optimum
result of human benefits and satisfaction

185
4. Guide in decision-taking in the efficient use of resources for the
management of housing programmes
5. Facilitate the process of land use planning and implementation
without disrupting human values
6. Facilitate the planning of circulation facilities (traffic facilities)
without disrupting normal community units and activities
7. Aid in the site planning of neighborhoods with provisions for
social amenities (neighbourhood store, open spaces, places for
informal meeting) and future community development
8. Create opportunities for the zoning and establishment of social
institutions and facilities (schools, recreation, transport, water
supply, etc.).

3.5.4 The Village, Town and Regional Planning Requirements

Consist of the Following:

1. A master plan (blue print) prepared for the logical growth and
development of towns, villages and regions
2. Must be implemented, since conditions vary between and within
countries. Generally, they serve as guide, but can be modified by
countries to suit their circumstances.

3.5.5 Minimum Housing Standards in Nigeria

The basic minimum requirements set for housing in Nigeria are as

follows:

i) Site

The soil (land) should be porous and well-drained:

 it should not be liable to flooding

 it should be free from pollution
 reclaimed site should be allowed to settle for at least 10-20 years
before development.

ii) Plot area built upon

 the building structure should occupy not more than 50per cent of
the plot area (site) for residential purposes
 For non -residential buildings, it should not exceed 75per cent of
the plot area (site).

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

ii) Set back

 adequate space should be allowed all round the building to ensure

ventilation and lighting
 it should be at least 1/3 of the build-up area in rural areas and 2/3
in urban areas.

iii) Foundation of building

This is the first part of the building that is built to the ground level.

 the depth of excavation should be at least 30cm, depending on the

soil type
 it should be laid with concrete made up of one (1) part of cement
to three (3) parts of sand and six (6) parts of gravel (1 :3:6) or
[Link], one(1) part cement, four (4) parts of sand eight (8) parts of
gravel
 The concrete (casting) should be made to 15cm thick all over the
excavated foundation for bungalows or 23cm thickness for other
buildings in normal soil (WAHEB, 1991).

v) Damp proof course (DPC)

This refers to the top most section of the foundation wall laid with
cement mortar to prevent moisture rising through the walls of the
building (capillary attraction), causing dampness.

 it should be laid with a layer of cement mortar of 1.3cm to 2.5cm

thickness
 the cement mortar should consist of 1 part of cement to 3 parts of
sand and mixed with water.

vi) Room sizes

 the living room should be at least 12m2 of the floor area and
cubic air space of at least 400cubicft. (121m3)
 the height of the room to the ceiling should be 2.7 meters on the
average
 width should be 2.4 meters.

vii) Ventilation

 windows should open directly to the external air and placed in

opposite directions of the walls or adjacent to ensure “through
and through ventilation” or cross ventilation

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 the area of each window should not be less than of the floor area
of the room.

viii) Lighting

Day light (natural light) should neither cause undue glare nor be more
than 1per cent of the half of the floor area.

ix) Kitchen

 the kitchen should not be less than 2.0m2 and located within the
building.

x) Bath room

 it should be located within the dwelling unit (building)

 it should be at least 1 .5m2.

xi) Persons per room

 1 room for at least 2 persons (adults)

 2 rooms for at least 3 persons (adults)
 3 rooms for at least 5 persons (adults)
 4 rooms for at least 7 persons (adults)
 Above 5 rooms for at least 10 persons (additional 2 persons for
each room)

Note that a child above 10 years is regarded as an adult and should be so

considered in calculations.

xii) Water supply

 water should be adequate (in both quantity and quality) made

readily available always and free from microbial and chemical
contaminants
 it should be piped by sanitary plumbing into the building or
courtyard or within a reasonable distance for easy transportation
into the dwelling.
 the source of water should be located at least 30 meters away
from sources of possible contamination.

xiii) Excreta disposal

 there should be a sanitary latrine/toilet provided for safe disposal

of human excreta (sewage), including waste water (sullage).

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

 the latrine/toilet facility must be the type recommended by

WHO/UNICEF, 2005 (See Table 2).

ix) Refuse (solid waste) disposal

 each dwelling should have facilities for refuse collection and

storage in a sanitary dustbin with a tight fitting cover to exclude
pest and odour nuisance
 a sanitary refuse shed with roof should be provided for waste
storage, prior to final disposal.

x) Drainage of surface water

 Adequate drainage of rain water and waste water should be

provided and well maintained.

xi) Animal rearing

 A separate accommodation should be provided for rearing of

domesticated livestock (animals and poultry birds) (WHO, 1961;
WHO, 1991; WHO/UNICEF, 2005; FMENV, 2005; Park, 2007).

3.6 Characteristics of Urban and Rural Housing

The general objective of housing is shelter against adverse weather and

climatic conditions, plus other hostile forces that may pose risk to
human health. Both aim at fulfilling the fundamental human needs for
healthy living and survival.

The concern requirements for portable water supply, safe disposal of

waste including excreta, surface water drainage, safe food preparation
and storage, personal and domestic hygiene, washing and general
cleaning, structural safety, etc. are what charaterise urban and rural
housing

3.6.1 Urban Housing

An urban area has been defined as a man-made environment

encroaching and replacing a natural setting and having a relatively high
concentration of people whose economic activity is largely non-
agricultural. This definition does not include the rural village.

Urban housing, therefore, includes the pattern of settlements and the

associated factors present in the environment that may increase the risk
of or protect against communicable and non-communicable diseases,
injuries and other environmental health hazards (WHO, 1991). In
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developing countries, rapid population growth and rate of rural urban
migration have resulted in the emergence of slum settlements in the
cities where most of the people live in filthy and pest-infested
environments. A UN-HABITAT Survey on slums in 2001 revealed three
(3) out of ten (10) urban residents lived in slum areas, with Africa
habouring 71.9 per cent of the urban population as slum dwellers.
Statistics also show per cent of the world’s population are in the cities,
but this figure is expected to rise to 2/3 by 2030. The developing
countries harbour the fastest growing cities, and the fastest
neighbourhoods are in the slums.

This scenario, according to experts, depicts grave health dangers, as the

cities are the locus of extreme poverty and foci of disease transmission.
The inhabitants lack basic facilities, and services due to poor housing
that make life miserable (UN-HABITAT, 2007; UN-HABITAT, 2005;
FNENV, 2005; WHO, 1991).

3.6.2 Rural Housing

The characteristics of rural housing are less complex than urban

housing, owing to a number of factors that come into play, which
include socio-cultural and economic factors. In a typical rural setting,
traditional custom is a strong determinant of housing standards and
characteristics. Rural housing differs markedly from urban housing in
many respects, in terms of structural designs, construction and
standards, as well as the uses by the residents. Unlike the urban
settlements, rural housing is not based on planning because of a lack of
planning and regulation of standards. However, the basic requirements
for healthy living in both urban and rural housing are the same, e.g.,
water supply, basic sanitation, adequate space, ventilation/lighting,
structural safety, etc. The only major difference between the two is the
absence of community services and facilities in the neighbourhood and
the hazard arrangement of the settlement in rural housing without
planning (WHO, 1961).

Most countries, however, have minimum standards established for rural

housing (Park, 2007). In the Nigerian context, the local government
authorities have powers to make bye- laws for proper town and village
planning, building regulations and implementation of housing policies,
but these have been neglected.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In this unit we have examined the standards of housing and the

minimum requirements of each segment in relation to environmental
health practice. Two types of housing standards were enumerated, i.e.

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desirability and target standards. Various elements such as ventilation,

lighting, water requirements, toilets requirements, DPC, drainage
requirement either it is open or closed drainages etc were examined and
standard set for all. What is mentioned in this unit is a minimum
requirement and depends on other factors. Sanitation authorities are at
liberty to set new standards if studies in a particular environment show
that this minimum standard is unacceptable due to prevailing
circumstances. The requirements in urban and rural setting might differ
on some issues such as on wastes and requirement for water supply as
explained above. In rural environment, traditions and customs might
force a slight shift in some circumstances. There is the need for an
environmental health practitioner to be able to scan his/her
environmental as an act appropriately without compromising the
principles of the health promotion and protection.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this unit we defined “standards” as official norms (guiding principles)

created and used for determining or regulating the conditions (physical
and social) under which people can live without jeopardising their
health. Therefore to achieve these standards, some basic criteria must
be used to give a guide to people and enforcement personnel. These
requirements must be provided for the inhabitants of any house or
building. This unit discussed such standards and the basic requirements
needed to ensure healthy living in the houses in relations to all human
needs such as portable water requirement, toilet requirements, privacy,
washings requirements, etc basically all there were aimed at fulfilling
four key objectives of health to which public health programmes are
directed, these are the prevention of premature death, the prevention of
disease, illness and injury, the attainment of efficiency of living and the
provision of comfort to the inhabitants. These standard set varies
between the rural and urban areas. Therefore it is important to study the
resources available in your environment and the socioeconomic situation
of your people before enforcing these standards.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Assess the current provisions of health requirements in the house you

live and compare with the standards in this unit and enumerate only five
(5) deficiencies.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Amadi A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Readon Publishers

Ltd, in collaboration with Ugooma Printing and Publishing Co.
Nigeria Owerri, Imo State.

191
Arokoyo, S. B. & Adeyemo A. M. (Eds).(2002). Perspective on Urban
Development Planning and Management. Lagos: Amethyst &
Colleagues Publishers. pp. 243

FMENV (2005). Policy Guidelines on Sanitary Inspection of Premises.

Abuja:

FRN (1963). Public Health Laws cap.103, Laws of Eastern Nigeria, (wk
6 Sect of (a-n) (subsidiarylegislation part Ill Sanitation) sect. 42-
63).

FRN (2007),.National Environmental Health Practice Regulations.

Official Gazette No. 21, Vol.94, Lagos.

Okorodudu, S. A. (2002). “Public Sector Housing Crisis in Nigerian

Cities: Implications for Planning.” In: Arokoyo S. B. &
Adeyemo, A. M. (Eds). Lagos: Amethyst Colleagues Publishers.:
pp.219 226.

Ogu, B. C. (1991). Environmental Management in Nigeria: Issues,

Concepts & Laws. Okigwe: FASMEN Communications. pp. 76-
80.

Schaefer, M. (1987). Health Principles of [Link] Health, WHO

July pp.18-19. ‘

Sridhar, M. K. C. (2008). “The Role of Environmental Health in

Achieving the MillenumDevelopment Goals in Health.” 5(2); pp.
94-102.

WHO (1967). “Appraisal of the Hygienic Quality of Housing and its

environment.” Tech. Report Series No. 353; Genera.

WHO (2001), “Core Questions on Drinking Water & Sanitation for

Household Survey.”

WHO (2004). “Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Links to Health (WSH)

Facts and Figures Updated.”

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

UNIT 4 SAFETY AND EMERGENCY PROVISIONS IN

STANDARD HOUSING

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Defination of Safety
3.2 Reasons for the Need for Safety Precautions in Housing
3.3 List Safety and Emergency Provisions in Housing
3.3.1 Means of Escape
3.3.2 Smoke Alarms
3.3.3 Internal Fire Spread (Linings)
3.3.4 Internal Fire Spread (Structure)
3.3.5 Resistance to the Passage of Heat
3.4 Suggested Method for Carrying Out a Risk Assessment in
Houses
3.5 Explain the General Principles of Fire Safety
3.6 Protective Requirements
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the previous unit, we have learnt how housing requirements are very
necessary and the various standards set to ensure the protection and
promotion of health. However, as part of the requirements, there is the
need to have safety and emergency provisions so that if all what is
planned failed due to natural or manmade causes the consequences will
be minimal. Satisfying life activity in a safe and pleasant environment is
a source of health and well-being to all inhabitants. Yet, the physical,
psychological and organisational home environment is all too often
responsible for injury and disease in our houses. This unit will examine
these safety and emergency requirements that should be put in place in
our houses and those issues that should be considered during
construction that will provide the maximum safety to its dwellers. It is
the responsibility of all dwellers in a compound to contribute in making
their environment very safe for living, in fact a safety programme need
to be prepared for all to participate either at home, offices and any
public place where people gather for a while. You are to ensure such
safety measures and programmes are complied with. There are many
safety measures to be considered. But this unit will focus more on safety
against fire. Fire safety within the home is an extremely important issue,

193
especially in mixed use premises and where unrelated occupiers, who
live independently from one another, share common areas of the same
building.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 define safety in housing

 enumerate reasons for the need for safety precautions in housing
 explain safety and emergency provisions in housing
 discuss method for carrying out a risk assessment in houses
 explain the general principles of fire safety.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Definition of Safety

Safety according to Encarta dictionary refers to freedom from danger:

protection from, or not being exposed to, the risk of harm or injury or
lack of danger, inability to cause or result in harm, injury, or damage or
a place or situation where harm, damage, or loss is unlikely.

Safety in relation to housing refers to a situation and/or condition in a

dwelling place of man where all facilities, equipments, devices and
structures provided are placed and manipulated to support healthful
living of man and the environment. It implies that all devices and
equipments that can help to reduce hazards due to unforeseen situations
and circumstances must be put in place and ensured that it is all working
in perfect order. Such devices and instruments include safe stairs, dry
and smooth floor, fire extinguishers, warning signs and labels, ample
sources of light etc.

3.2 Reasons for the Need for Safety Precautions in Housing

A lot of resources are used to build up a house for self and family or for
renting and take huge resources also to provide the facilities and
equipments in the house. These facilities must be protected against all
form of partial or total damage, therefore there is the need to provide
additional resources to provide some services such as maintenance of
electricity facilities, plumbing system, building structure and to also
procure those devices and equipments that could be used to either
prevent completely or reduce the negative effect that might challenge
those planned facilities when there is emergency situation in the
premises. Therefore the main reasons for providing these safety facilities
among others are:
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 to eliminate all forms of risks that has potentials for injury,

disease or/death
 to reduce, to the barest minimum, any damage or risk arising
from failure of any system in the premises
 to safeguard the resources invested in the premises so as to
maximise its utilisation
 to be able to have some form of alert that will help dwellers
prepare or take measures against risks and dangers

You may wish to consider the reasons in the following way:

1. Moral

 duty of reasonable care in the house

 unacceptability of putting health and safety of
residence/occupants at risk
 society’s attitude to moral obligations of protecting lives and
property
 making the moral case to owners and managers of houses and
estates.

2. Legal

 the preventive (enforcement)

 punitive (through criminal sanctions)
 And compensatory effects of law.

3. Economic

Direct and indirect costs associated with incidents and/or unhealthy

houses and their impact on the insurers, owners and managers (includes
insured and un-insured costs)

3.3 List Safety and Emergency Provisions in Housing

Barry (1999), in “The Construction Buildings” discussed these

provisions which is adopted here explained that fire safety regulations
are concerned to assure a reasonable standard of safety in case of fire
outbreak. The application of the regulations is directed to the safe escape
of people from buildings in case of fire rather than the protection of the
building and its contents.

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The requirements to the building regulations are concerned to:

3.3.1 Means of Escape

The requirements for means of escape from one and two storey houses
are that each habitable room either opens directly on to a hallway or
stair leading to the entrance, or that it has a window or door through
which escape could be made and that means are provided for giving
early warning in the case of fire. With increased height and size, where
floors are more than 4.5 m above ground, it is necessary to protect
internal stairways or provide alternative means of escape. Where
windows and doors may be used as a means of escape their minimum
size and the minimum and maximum height of window must be defined.

3.3.2 Smoke Alarms

To ensure the minimum level of safety it is recommended that all new

houses should be fitted with self-contained smoke alarms permanently
wired to a separately fused circuit at the distribution board. Battery-
operated alarms are not acceptable. Where more than one smoke alarm
is fitted they should be interconnected so that the detection of smoke by
any one unit operates in all of them. Some mechanism should be
developed for rural areas since the above may not be applicable.

3.3.3 Internal Fire Spread (Linings)

Fire may spread within a building over the surface of materials that
encourage spread of flame across their surfaces, when subject to intense
radiant heat, and those which give off appreciable heat when burning.
There is the need to have some classification of the performance of
linings relative to surface spread of flame over wall and ceiling linings
and limitations in the use of thermoplastic materials used in roof lights
and lighting diffusers since we are yet to develop such in the country for
now.

3.3.4 Internal Fire Spread (Structure)

The premature failure of the structural stability of a building during fires

is restricted by specifying a minimum period of fire resistance for the
elements of the structure. An element of structure is defined as part of a
structural frame, a load bearing wall and a floor.

The requirements are that the elements should resist collapse for a
minimum period of time in which the occupants may escape in the event
of fire. Periods of fire resistance vary from 30 minutes for dwelling
houses with a top floor not more than 5 m above ground, to 120 minutes

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for an industrial building, without sprinklers, whose top floor is not

more than 30 m above ground.

3.3.5 Resistance to the Passage of Heat

Before the advent of oil and then gas as fuels for heating, it was possible
to heat individual rooms by means of solid fuel burning open fires or
stoves and people accepted the need for comparatively thick clothing for
warmth indoors in winter.

With the adoption of oil and gas as fuels for heating it was possible to
dispense with the considerable labour of keeping open fires and stoves
alight and the considerable area required to store an adequate supply of
solid fuels. With the adoption of oil and gas as fuel for heating it was
practical to heat whole buildings and there was no longer the
inconvenience of cold corridors, toilets and bathrooms and the draughts
of cold air associated with open fireplaces. The population increasingly
worked in heated buildings, many in sedentary occupations, so that
tolerance of cold diminished and the expectation of thermal comfort
increased.

Of recent years the expectation of improved thermal comfort in

buildings, the need to conserve natural resources and the increasing cost
of fuels have led to the necessity for improved insulation against transfer
of heat. To maintain reasonable and economical conditions of thermal
comfort in buildings, walls should provide adequate insulation against
excessive loss or gain of heat, have adequate thermal storage capacity
and the internal face of walls should be at a reasonable temperature.

For insulation against loss of heat, lightweight materials with low

conductivity are more effective than dense materials with high
conductivity, whereas dense materials have better thermal storage
capacity than lightweight materials.

Where a building is continuously heated it is of advantage to use the

thermal storage capacity of a dense material on the inside face of the
wall with the insulating properties of a lightweight material behind it.
Here the combination of a brick or dense block inner leaf, a cavity filled
with some lightweight insulating material and an outer leaf of brick
against penetration of rain is of advantage.

Where buildings are intermittently heated it is important that inside

faces of walls warm rapidly, otherwise if the inside face were to remain
cold, the radiation of heat from the body to the cold wall face would
make people feel cold. The rate of heating of smooth wall surfaces is

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improved by the use of low density, lightweight materials on or
immediately behind the inside face of walls.

The interior of buildings is heated by the transfer of heat from heaters

and radiators to air (conduction), the circulation of heated air
(convection) and the radiation of energy from heaters and radiators to
surrounding colder surfaces (radiation). This internal heat is transferred
through colder enclosing walls, roofs and floors by conduction,
convection and radiation to colder outside air.

3.4 Suggested Method for Carrying Out a Risk Assessment

in Houses

The process can be broken down into five steps:

 identify fire hazards

 identify people at risk
 evaluate, remove or reduce risk and protect against remaining
risk
 record, plan and inform or train
 review.

Step 1: Identify the hazards within the premises

For a fire to start, three things are needed: a source of ignition, fuel and
oxygen. If any one of these is absent, a fire cannot start. Taking
measures to avoid the three coming together will therefore reduce the
chances of a fire occurring.

Sources of ignition: identify potential sources of ignition, i.e. sources of

heat which could get hot enough to ignite any materials around them. In
premises covered by this guide they may include:

Smokers’ materials such as cigarettes, matches and lighters (if people

smoke within the premises); naked flames, for example candles and
night lights; electric, gas or oil-fired heaters (fixed or portable); boilers;
cookers, toasters and other kitchen equipment (especially when shared);
faulty or misused electrical equipment; electric blankets, computers,
TVs, washing machines and dryers; lighting equipment (fixed and
movable), for example halogen lamps and table lamps; the electrical
installation itself, the gas installation, arson attack; and in larger or
mixed use properties, any plant rooms etc.

Sources of fuel: anything that burns is fuel for a fire. Things that will
burn reasonably easily and are in large enough quantity to provide fuel
for a fire or cause it to spread to another fuel source are potential
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hazards. In premises covered by this guide they may include the

following, but this list is not exhaustive: furniture, furnishings, textiles,
bedding, clothing and curtains, laundry; accumulations of unwanted
mail, waste paper, cardboard, newspapers and magazines (including that
awaiting recycling collection); waste storage and refuse containers;
flammable liquid-based products such as paint, varnish, thinners,
adhesives, white spirit, methylated spirit and cooking oils; liquefied gas
(LPG), paraffin, heating oils and petrol; paper products, packaging
materials, stationery, advertising material and books; decorations for
seasonal and religious occasions.

Others are Plastics and rubber such as videotapes, polyurethane foam-

filled furniture and polystyrene-based display materials; and wall, floor
and ceiling coverings and surface finishes.

Compliance with these regulations will reduce the risk these items
present.

Particular care should be taken when premises are undergoing alteration,

repair or redecoration. During such times flammable materials that
would not normally be present may be stored in the premises, possibly
in escape routes or in rooms which are otherwise unused. Care should be
taken as to where and how these products are stored. Premises which
normally have good fire precautions and present a low fire risk may
have their fire safety compromised by temporary careless storage of
these products or by the disabling of fire precautions during the period
of the works.

Sources of oxygen: the oxygen source will be the air in the building.
Where only normal natural domestic ventilation is provided the risk will
generally be normal.

Step 2: Identify people at risk

It is necessary to identify those who will be at risk if there is a fire and

where they are likely to be found. In premises covered by this guide
these will generally be residents and their visitors and anybody working
in the premises such as a caretaker or cleaner and any visiting
contractors. Only in buildings with mixed residential and commercial
use are there likely to be other people to consider.

The risk assessment should consider people at risk, who may include:
people asleep (who will be disorientated and slow to respond); people
who are unfamiliar with the premises (guests and visitors); people with
disabilities (including mobility impairment and hearing or vision
impairment); people who may have some other reason for not being able

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to leave the premises quickly (such as parents with young children);
people who are sensorial impaired due to alcohol, drugs or medication;
unaccompanied children and young people; anyone working in
enclosed, isolated parts of the building; and anyone who has difficulty
understanding English.

In evaluating the risk to people with disabilities it may be necessary to

discuss their individual needs with them or seek professional advice.

Step 3: Evaluate, remove or reduce risk and protect against

remaining risk

Hazards should be removed where it is practicable to do so, and where

they cannot be removed they should be reduced as far as possible. What
is considered reasonable in a particular case will depend on an
evaluation of the potential to cause harm and the chance of that harm
occurring. Some simple examples are given below:

 replace portable heating appliances with fixed convector heaters

or a central heating system;
 ensure electrical sockets are adequate in number and sited
appropriately to avoid overloading and trailing leads;
 ensure electrical, mechanical and gas equipment is installed,
used, maintained and protected in accordance with the
manufacturer’s instructions;
 ensure all furniture complies with the furniture and furnishings
 ensure combustible items such as furniture, laundry and
decorations are stored properly and are kept away from potential
ignition sources such as
 cookers, heaters and boilers;
 ensure refuse is properly stored and disposed of; and
 in crowded accommodation, provide adequate shelving and
cupboard space so that everyday items are not in proximity to
cookers, heaters and so on.

Having taken measures to remove or reduce fire hazards as far as is

practicable, arrangements need to be put in place to protect people from
the remaining fire risk as far as is reasonably possible by ensuring that
adequate fire precautions are in place to warn people in the event of a
fire and to allow them to escape to a place of safety.

Step 4: Record, plan, inform, instruct and train

It is a good idea for everyone to keep a written record of their fire safety
risk assessment. If you have five or more employees (including any who
work part-time and not necessarily at the particular premises being risk-
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assessed) and if the premises are licensed, or if an alterations process

takes place.

Significant findings should include details of:

The fire hazards that have been identified (but ignore trivial things such
as a tin of solvent-based glue)

The actions taken, or which will be taken, to remove or reduce the

chance of a fire occurring (preventive measures)

Persons who may be at risk, particularly those especially at risk;

The actions taken, or which will be taken, to reduce the risk to people
from the spread of fire and smoke (protective measures)

The actions people need to take if a fire occurs. This will include any
special arrangements made with staff such as housekeepers or others
(the emergency plan)

Any information, instruction and training identified as being needed,

and how it will be given; and

Any discussions that have taken place with residents (or, with staff).

It is recommended that a record of the significant findings of the fire

risk assessment is kept in all cases, even where it is not a requirement to
do so. A format should be developed to be used for the information
collection.

An appropriate emergency plan should be put in place. In most

residential accommodation this is unlikely to extend beyond advising
residents what to do in the event of a fire or fire alarm and how to
contact the fire and rescue service. In large or mixed use premises a
more sophisticated plan may be necessary. The responsible person must
provide any employees with appropriate information and training on
risks identified in the risk assessment and information on fire safety
measures and procedures for the premises. There is no requirement
under the FSO to provide training to residents, but providing them with
basic information on fire precautions is a simple and effective way of
reducing fire risk in the premises.

Step 5: Review

The risk assessment and the general fire precautions in the premises
should be reviewed regularly. There is no specific timescale for this

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other than where there is a reason to suspect that it is no longer valid or
where there has been a significant change in the premises. In practice
the fire precautions should be kept under constant review. Where
problems are identified they should be dealt with as soon as possible.

3.5 Explain the General Principles of Fire Safety

a. Escape routes

This section provides guidance on the general principles relating to

escape routes along with examples of typical escape route solutions for
different building layouts. Most residential premises covered by this
guide will be considered as ‘normal’ risk. This is based on the general
assumption that the occupants are able-bodied and will be capable of
using the means of escape unaided to reach a place of ultimate safety,
and that there are no unusually high risk elements. If this is not the case
or there are other factors which present a higher than normal risk then
additional measures may be required.

b. Layout of accommodation units themselves must be

considered

Poor layout within a unit of accommodation can present a fire risk to the
occupant before he or she is able to reach the escape route. Ideally,
sleeping areas or rooms should be closer to the exit door to the
accommodation than living areas or kitchen facilities wherever possible;
fire risks such as the storage of significant quantities of flammable
materials and ready sources of ignition should be removed or reduced. If
it is not possible to do so, the risk should be regarded as ‘higher’ and the
property may need a higher level of fire safety protection than normal.
Other examples of higher risk might include very large premises,
premises where there are integral commercial uses, and those with
unusually poor levels of construction or with complicated layouts.
Similarly, the occupancy of the building may present a higher than
normal risk, thereby warranting a higher level of protection –for
example where significant numbers of occupiers have limited mobility
or are unable to move without assistance, or premises catering for
people subject to alcohol or substance misuse.

Conversely, some premises present a risk which can be regarded as

‘low’. Examples may include premises with all of the following
characteristics:

 a low occupancy level and all the occupants are able-bodied and
capable of using the means of escape without assistance;

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 very little chance of a fire occurring and few, if any, highly

combustible or flammable materials or other fuel for a fire;
 where fire cannot spread quickly throughout the property and will
be quickly detected so people can make their escape; and
 where there is more than one acceptable escape route.

The guidance on acceptable standards for escape routes in this document

is based upon ‘normal’ risk.

When considering the safety of the existing escape route, in addition to

the occupant profile it is necessary to consider:

 the layout and complexity of the route;

 the travel distance to a place of safety;
 the type of construction and state of repair; and
 the presence of other fire safety measures such as automatic fire
detection and warning systems, emergency lighting or fire
suppression systems.

In all buildings a fully protected escape route (staircase) offering 30

minutes fire resistance is the ideal solution and it will usually be
appropriate for all bedsit-type accommodation. However, in lower risk
buildings (i.e. single household occupancy of up to four storeys and low
risk shared houses), due to the lower risk and shorter travel distance to
the final exit, this need not be insisted upon as long as all the following
conditions are met:

 the stairs should lead directly to a final exit without passing

through a risk room;
 the staircase enclosure should be of sound, conventional
construction throughout the route;
 all risk rooms should be fitted with sound, close-fitting doors of
conventional construction (lightweight doors and doors with very
thin panels should be avoided); and
 an appropriate system of automatic fire detection and warning is
in place.

An alternative solution is possible in low risk two storey shared houses.

Where the first floor is no more than 4.5 metres above ground level,
rooms used for sleeping could be provided with access to a suitable
escape window from the first floor leading to a place of ultimate safety.
In this situation consideration of the internal escape route is not
essential. The option of escape windows will only be acceptable if they
meet the relevant requirements, if it is necessary to pass through the
common escape route to reach the escape window, consideration should
be had to the travel distance involved. Where the common escape route
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is not a protected route, unusually long travel distances may be
unacceptable and other fire precautions may be necessary (this will not
usually be the case in conventional houses).

In the worst-case scenario, it may be that the requirements of the

paragraphs above cannot be provided and the only exit internally is
through a risk room. Whilst this should always be avoided where
possible, in some cases it may be impracticable to do so. Where this is
the case it may exceptionally be possible to accept exit via a risk room
provided the exit from the bottom of the staircase at ground floor level is
possible in more than one direction (i.e. via either the front or the rear
rooms). 30-minute fire resisting construction and fire doors between
each of the ground floor rooms and the staircase will be required
alongside an enhanced system of automatic fire detection. Where escape
from the bottom of the staircase is only possible in one direction, a
further alternative might be the installation of a water suppression
system. These arrangements will generally be unsuitable for bedsit-type
occupation.

When fire starts, if there are no fire safety measures in place then the
people have to escape fast before they become affected or trapped in the
fire. The presence of fire safety measures extends this time. In practice
this means the installation of some form of fire warning and detection
system and an escape route which will remain unaffected by the fire for
sufficient time to allow people to reach a place of safety. By necessity,
the travel distance along the escape route must be limited.

Limiting the travel distance from rooms to a place of safety reduces the
risk of people being trapped by a fire on their escape route. This
guidance does not set a maximum travel distance, as this should be
considered in the context of overall risk. However, previous standards
have suggested maximum safe distances. For example, nine metres was
considered the maximum acceptable distance from a room exit door to a
place of relative safety. This is a useful reference but need not be
applied as a rigid standard, and may be increased or decreased
depending upon the level of risk once the appropriate fire prevention
measures have been put in place. When assessing travel distances, the
distance should be considered from all parts of the premises to the
nearest place of relative safety, which is:

 a protected stairway enclosure (storey exit);

 a separate fire compartment from which there is a final exit to a
place of ultimate safety; or
 the nearest available final exit.

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If there is a suitable second staircase or exit or if there are additional

fire safety measures (an enhanced system of fire detection and warning,
for example, or a water suppression system), the premises may be
considered lower risk and the travel distances and levels of protection
may be adjusted accordingly where this lower risk can be demonstrated.

In single room units or other accommodation which has an exit door

leading directly to a protected stairway enclosure or a separate fire
compartment from which there is a final exit to a place of ultimate
safety, it will only be necessary to consider the travel distance from the
furthest point within the unit to that exit door. It is unlikely that in the
types of accommodation covered by this guide the distance will be so
large as to have any impact on safety, but if such cases do arise then
additional safety measures may be appropriate. In any event, cooking
facilities within these rooms should, wherever possible, be sited away
from the exit door so as not to prejudice it in the event of fire.

In units with more than one room leading off an internal lobby or
hallway (flats), the travel distance within that lobby/hallway will need to
be considered. If it is unusually large or there are a large number of
rooms leading off it (for example a large flat in multiple occupation), the
travel distances may necessitate making the internal lobby/hallway a fire
Protected route; or it may necessitate the provision of an alternative exit
or additional fire safety measures such as enhanced fire detection and
warning system or an automatic water suppression system. Doors to
sleeping rooms within the unit should, wherever possible, be closer to
the exit door than doors to higher-risk rooms such as kitchens and
communal living rooms.

In more complex buildings, such as those with more than one escape
route or with complex layouts, greater attention to travel distances will
be required by occupants.

These are by no mean exhaustive but just to provide you some guide to
the situations. Where the structure differs from what is described above
some procedures must be quickly thought of. All measures are taken to
reduce or eliminate lost of lives and property

(Above is adopted from housing safety guidance on fire safety provision

for certain types of existing structures by the Chattered Institute of
Environmental health and the Chief Fire Officers Associations UK
2005)

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3.6 Protective Requirements

Protective requirements provide safe environments for family members

against home accidents, disease vectors (insects and rodent), unwanted
animal and human intrusion as well. Human dwellings, therefore, should
have these:

i. Adequate safe guards against structural failures comprising:

 durable materials for roofs, walls, doors and windows;
 seasoned and treated wooden members with approved
chemicals against termite attack;
 good design engineering and construction of the structure,
e.g., good foundation and masonry.
ii. Fire prevention devices consisting of at least 3 fire escape routes
or egress to the outside of the house
iii. Prevention against falls comprising:
 cleanable non slippery and smooth floor surface;
 strong hand rails installed and logically placed with
adequate illumination at changes in elevation
 guard rails (75 90cm) installed at balconies and low
window sills.
iv. Protective devices against natural hazards consisting of:
 lightening rod installation to prevent thunder/ lightening
and
 proper location (siting) and construction of dwellings.
v. facilities for prevention of insect and rodent vectors consisting of:
 window/door screens and fly catchers in dwelling against
mosquitoes and other flying insects and
 flat proofing construction and installation to prevent rat
ingress.
vi. Protective facilities and devices against dangerous animals and
human intrusion consisting of sound construction of the housing
structure and installation of hard ware (burglar proofs) on doors,
windows and other openings to prevent marauders

4.0 CONCLUSION

Safety precautions are necessary due to emergencies at home and

elsewhere. Therefore any environmental health practitioner, who
sometimes acts as safety officer, must be very current in understanding
the various elements that could serve as potential risk at home and
design some safety measures against it. It is important for you to inform
and educate people on the reasons why they need to invest on safety and
its measures. The assessment of risks in houses must be a collective role
of both the safety officers and the dwellers. There must be a collective

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resolve by all stakeholders to be part of the safety and emergency plan at

home, the community and the general environment. There might be
variations from one house to another in the safety requirements in each
house especially against fire which is our focus of discussion in this
session, also between rural and urban areas, but the principles are same
i.e. protecting lives and property of dwellers and their environment.

5.0 SUMMARY
The unit explained in details the safety precautions in buildings or house
and the various reasons why we must provide safety measures in our
houses. It explained that fires in buildings generally start from a small
source of ignition, the ‘outbreak of fire’, which leads to the ‘spread of
fire’ followed by a steady state during which all combustible material
burns steadily up to the final ‘decay stage’. It is in the early stages of a
fire that there is most danger to the occupants of buildings from smoke
and noxious fumes. Building regulations set standards for means of
escape, limitation of spread of fire and containment of fire. To be able to
tackle emergency situations in any premises there is the need for an
appropriate assessment of the risks involved and the various methods
have been explained which included early identify fire hazards, identify
people at risk, valuate, remove or reduce risk and protect against
remaining risk, systematic and adequate record, planning and
information dissemination or training of personnel including inhabitants
and finally consistent review of the process to see which one need
change, improvement and modification. The unit had dwelled also on
the need to provide protective requirements, provide safe environments
for family members against home accidents, disease vectors (insects and
rodent), unwanted animal and human intrusion as well. These are all
measures emphasised to ensure safety of houses and its inhabitants.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Define safety in housing.
2. State two reasons for the need for safety precautions in housing.
3. List five steps in carrying out a risk assessment in houses.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Owerri: Readon
Publishers Ltd, in collaboration with Ugooma Printing and
Publishing Co.

Adeigbe, O.O. (1988). “Draft Regulations for Content of Land

Development by Ibadan Metropolitan Planning Authority.”
Unpublished Manuscript.

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Barry, R. (1999). The Construction of Buildings. Vol. 1. (7th ed.).
London: Blackwell Science Ltd.

Willkie, W. (1965). Jordanians Tropical Hygiene and Sanitation. (4th

ed). London: Bailllex, Tundell and Cox.

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UNIT 5 PROFESSIONAL GROUPS INVOLVED IN

MAINTAINING BUILDING AND HOUSING
STANDARDS

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 The Professional Groups
3.2 Secondary Stakeholders
3.2.1 Draft Man
3.2.2 Lawyers
3.2.3 Land Administrators
3.2.4 A Drafter, Draftsperson, or Draughtsman
3.2.5 Masons - Masonry
3.2.6 Labourers
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The functions of safety provision and maintenance of housing standard

earlier discussed in Unit 2 are usually performed by highly skilled
professionals in the health and environmental sciences. The
professionals work sometimes as individuals but mostly as a team in
same organisation or in their different organisation, it might be in one
project or different projects, each professional understand the role of
his/her colleague and hence the need to update the inventory of those
that are primarily responsible for maintaining standards in the
construction and maintenance of houses. Each of the professional is
either a primary or secondary stakeholder in the exercise and the
function of each must be recognised and appreciated for the public to
understand that all of them are important. The building and housing
environment is a dynamic industry and hence each day new crop of
professional and service providers are emerging, however, the most
important is they are all meant to ensure quality building construction
and maintenance of housing standards in our society. This unit will
highlight these professionals and the basic functions they perform.

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2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 list the professionals responsible for maintaining housing and

building standards
 enumerate the function of each professional stakeholder in
maintaining standard in housing.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 The Professional Groups

The professional is grouped into two, they are:

Primary Stakeholders
Secondary Stakeholders

The primary stakeholders are those skilled professional that are trained,
licensed and provided with professional seals to perform a professional
role by their respective registering councils during the provision of the
following services:

 Site selection and analysis

 Site sketching, drawing and approval
 Building plan processing and approval
 Building construction process
 Building inspection and supervision
 Occupancy processing and approval.

These professionals includes, but not limited to:

Town/Urban Planner or city planner is a professional who works in the

field of urban planning/land use planning for the purpose of optimising
the effectiveness of a community's land use and infrastructure. They
formulate plans for the development and management of urban and
suburban areas, typically analysing land use compatibility as well as
economic, environmental and social trends. In developing their plan for
a community (whether commercial, residential, agricultural, natural or
recreational), urban planners must also consider a wide array of issues
such as sustainability, air pollution, traffic congestion, crime, land
values, legislation and zoning codes. The importance of the urban
planner is increasing throughout the 21st century, as we begin to face
issues of increased population growth, climate change and unsustainable

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development. An urban planner could be considered as a green collar

profession.

Urban planners are usually hired by developers, private property

owners, private planning firms and local/regional governments to assist
in the large-scale planning of communal and commercial developments,
as well as public facilities and transportation systems. Urban planners in
the public role often assist the public and serve as valued technical
advisors in the myriad web of the community's political environment.
Related disciplines include regional, city, environmental, transportation,
housing and community planning.

Land Surveyor- One of the primary roles of the land surveyor is to find
the boundary of a person's property. That boundary is described in legal
documents and the land surveyor follows that description and locates the
boundary on the physical land and marks it, so the owner knows what
land he owns. As an example, such a legal description may refer to a
point as being 120.25 feet south of some existing marker. The land
surveyor in that case would find the existing marker and use measuring
instruments to find the point 120.25 feet south of that, and place a new
marker at that location. These markers are called monuments. Surveying
or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately
determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and
the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the
surface of the Earth, and they are often used to establish land maps and
boundaries for ownership or governmental purposes.

Architect - An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and

oversight/supervision of the construction of buildings. To practice
architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the
design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the
space within the site surrounding the buildings that have as their
principal purpose human occupancy or use.

Professionally, an architect's decisions affect public safety, and thus an

architect must undergo specialied training consisting of advanced
education and a practicum (or internship) for practical experience to
earn a license to practice architecture. The practical, technical, and
academic requirements for becoming an architect vary by jurisdiction.

The terms architect and architecture are also used in the disciplines of
landscape architecture, naval architecture and often information
technology (for example a software architect). In most of the world's
jurisdictions, the professional and commercial uses of the terms
"architect" and "landscape architect" are legally protected.

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Quantity Surveyor- A quantity surveyor (QS) is a professional
working within the construction industry concerned with building costs.
The profession is one that provides a qualification gained following
formal education, specific training and experience that provide a general
set of skills that are then applied to a diverse variety of problems.
Predominantly these relate to costs and contracts on construction
projects.

Environmental Health Practitioner - Environmental Health

Professional is defined as a person working in an environmental health
position and who has at least a diploma or graduate degree obtained
from an approved training institution who has acquired relevant
practical and theoretical knowledge and skills has been certified and
licensed by established regulatory authority to practice and provide
environmental health services in the country of domicile.

Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) are responsible for carrying

out measures for protecting public health, including administering and
enforcing legislation related to environmental health and providing
support to minimise health and safety hazards. They are involved in a
variety of activities, for example inspecting food facilities, investigating
public health nuisances, and implementing disease control.
Environmental health officers are focused on prevention, consultation,
investigation, and education of the community regarding health risks
and maintaining a safe environment. Environmental health officers are
usually employed by local government or state health authorities to
advice on and enforce public health standards. However, many are
employed in the private sector and in the military.

Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining

science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise
that reality can be modelled in ways that communicate spatial
information effectively. Modern cartography is closely integrated with
geographic information science (GIScience) and constitutes many
theoretical and practical foundations of geographic information systems.

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Cartographer - "Cartographer" A medieval depiction of the Ecumene

(1482, Johannes Schnitzer, engraver), constructed after the coordinates
in Ptolemy's Geography and using his second map projection. The
translation into Latin and dissemination of Geography in Europe, in the
beginning of the fifteenth century, marked the rebirth of scientific
Cartography, after more than a millennium of stagnation.

Engineers (Building, Electrical, Mechanical etc), - Architectural

engineering, also known as building engineering, is the application of
engineering principles and technology to building design and
construction. Definitions of an architectural engineer may refer to:

 An engineer in the structural, mechanical, electrical, construction

or other engineering fields of building design and construction.
 A licensed engineering professional in parts of the United States.
 In informal contexts, and formally in some places, a professional
synonymous with or similar to an architect. In some languages,
"architect" is literally translated as "architectural engineer."

Structural engineering involves the analysis and design of physical

objects such as buildings, bridges, equipment supports, towers and
walls. Those concentrating on buildings are responsible for the structural
performance of a large part of the built environment and are, sometimes,
informally referred to as "building engineers". Structural engineers
require expertise in strength of materials and in the seismic design of
structures covered by earthquake engineering. Architectural Engineers
sometimes practice structural as one aspect of their designs; the

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structural discipline when practiced as a specialty works closely with
architects and other engineering specialists.

Mechanical engineering and electrical engineering engineers are

specialists commonly referred to as "MEP" (mechanical, electrical, and
plumbing) when engaged in the building design fields. Also known as
"building services engineering" in the United Kingdom, Canada, and
Australia. Mechanical engineers design and oversee the heating
ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), plumbing, and rain gutter
systems. Plumbing designers often include design specifications for
simple active fire protection systems, but for more complicated projects,
fire protection engineers are often separately retained. Electrical
engineers are responsible for the building's power distribution,
telecommunication, fire alarm, signalisation, lightning protection and
control systems, as well as lighting systems.

3.2 Secondary Stakeholders

These are those semi skilled or technicians, or those skilled in their field
but do not provide direct service in technical land use of in building
construction and utilisation but their services are required as a support
service or as technical service but have no license to certify any action
without the approval of the primary stakeholder.

These non-professionals includes, but not limited to:

3.2.1 Draft Man

This is a visual artist who specialises in artistic drawings. Or is a person

who prepares technical drawings and plans under the direction of an
architect or engineer. In the past, drafters sat at drawing boards and used
pencils, pens, compasses, protractors, triangles, and other drafting
devices to prepare a drawing by hand. During the late 1980s and early
1990s, drawing boards became largely superseded by the application of
Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) systems for the creation
of technical drawings. Consequently, some drafters may be referred to
as CADD operators.

3.2.2 Lawyers

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in

the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practising
law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign
government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of
political and social authority, and deliver justice. Working as a lawyer

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involves the practical application of abstract legal theories and

knowledge to solve specific individualised problems, or to advance the
interests of those who retain (i.e. hire) lawyers to perform legal services.
The role of the lawyer varies significantly across legal jurisdictions, and
so it can be treated here in only the most general terms or in relation to
housing administration and management.

Conveyancing is the drafting of the documents necessary for the

transfer of real property, such as deeds and mortgages. In some
jurisdictions, all real estate transactions must be carried out by a lawyer
(or a solicitor where that distinction still exists). Such a monopoly is
quite valuable from the lawyer's point of view; historically,
conveyancing accounted for about half of English solicitors' income
(though this has since changed), and a 1978 study showed that
conveyancing "accounts for as much as 80 per cent of solicitor-client
contact in New South Wales." In most common law jurisdictions outside
of the United States, this monopoly arose from an 1804 law that was
introduced by William Pitt the Younger as a quid pro quo for the raising
of fees on the certification of legal professionals such as barristers,
solicitors, attorneys and notaries. This function of lawyers is also giving
them a brisk business through property administration, registration and
deed of assignment.

3.2.3 Land Administrators

Land management is the process of managing the use and development

(in both urban and rural settings) of land resources. Land resources are
used for a variety of purposes which may include organic agriculture,
reforestation, water resource management and eco-tourism projects

3.2.4 A Drafter, Draftsperson, or Draughtsman

Is a person who makes a drawing (technical or otherwise). A

professional drafter who makes technical drawings is sometimes called a
drafting technician. People who communicate with technical drawings,
(those who design and those who are trades people), may use technical
standards that define practical symbols, perspectives, units of
measurement, notation systems, visual styles, or layout conventions.
These enable a drafter to communicate more concisely by using a
commonly-understood convention. Together, such conventions
constitute a visual language, and help to ensure that the drawing is
unambiguous and relatively easy to understand.

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3.2.5 Masons - Masonry

Is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound

together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units
themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick,
stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone, cast stone, concrete block,
glass block, stucco, and tile. Masonry is generally a highly durable form
of construction. However, the materials used, the quality of the mortar
and workmanship, and the pattern in which the units are assembled can
significantly affect the durability of the overall masonry construction

3.2.6 Labourers

A labourer is a person doing one of the construction trades, traditionally

considered unskilled manual labour, as opposed to skilled labour. In the
division of labour, labourers have all blasting, hand tools, power tools,
air tools, and small heavy equipment, and act as assistants to other
trades, e.g., operators or cement masons. The 1st century BC engineer
Vitruvius writes in detail about labourer practices at that time. In his
experience a good crew of labourers is just as valuable as any other
aspect of construction. Other than the addition of pneumatics, labourer
practices have changed little. With the advent of advanced technology
and its introduction into the construction field, the labourers have been
quick to include much of this technology as being labourers work.

4.0 CONCLUSION

The roles in maintaining standards in building construction and its

maintenance are performed by different professionals. The list is
inexhaustive and the functions are performed depending on the available
laws and regulations, level of knowledge and awareness, availability of
the relevant professionals either in rural and/or urban environment. The
current situations in Nigeria are poor information on the relevant laws
and regulations. The professionals are very few in any part of the
country. Majority of professional wants to practice in urban areas to
enable them get high pay. Enforcement of some of the available laws
has been difficult due to poor enforcement procedures and poor court
system. However, where there is team work among the professionals the
service is improved and better quality houses will be built and maintain.
To facilitate the practice of maintaining standard in housing can only be
enhanced if the feeling of superiority of one profession over the other is
eliminated or reduced to the barest minimum.

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5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit you learnt that the major or primary stakeholders in the
practice of building construction and its maintenance is performed by
skilled professionals such as town planners, quantity and land surveyors,
environmental health practitioners, engineers etc. They are generally
responsible for site selection and analysis, site sketching, drawing and
approval, building plan processing and approval, building construction
process, building inspection and supervision, occupancy processing and
approval etc. There are some unskilled participants in building
construction and maintenance, but their roles are very important for the
skilled professional to perform their duties. For the purposes of ensuring
appropriate service to the field both must work together and appreciate
the role of each. That conducive approach is required the quality of our
houses to be maintained and support healthful living.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. List five (5) Professional responsible for maintaining housing
standards.
2. Enumerate two (2) function of each professional stakeholder in
maintaining standard in housing.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Owerri: Owerri
Readon Publishers Ltd, in collaboration with Ugooma Printing
and Publishing Co.

Benedictus, L. (26 September 2009). "The chartered surveyor: Made to

measure". The Guardian. [Link]
2009/sep/26/chartered-surveyor. Retrieved 8 October 2011.

Dale, P.D. & McLaughlin, J.D. (1988). Land Information Management.

Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[Link]
Online Etymology of the term "architect"

Larsson, G. (2010). Land Management as Public Policy. University

Press of America.

Port, M.H. Hunt & Sir Henry Arthur (1810–1889). Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004.

The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance Jacob Burckhardt -

2[Link] &item=67
Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers

217
UNIT 6 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HOUSING
STANDARDS IN THE TROPICS AND ITS
CHALLENGES

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Tropical Zone
3.2 Poverty and Housing in the Tropics
3.3 Inadequacy of Mortgage Facilities
3.4 Scarcity of Skilled Personnel
3.5 Reliability on Imported Materials
3.6 Rapid Population Growth
3.7 Family Set Up
3.8 Poor Sanitation
3.9 Insect Pests and other Vermin
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

We have learnt in the previous units that good housing forms an

important aspect of environmental health. Many professionals are
involved in its maintenance of standards. We also noted the expressions
of World Health Organisation experts that says, houses should provide
as few opportunities as possible for the direct transmission of disease
and should encourage healthful habits-among the occupants, (WHO,
1961). We are in agreement that all public health authorities and experts
agree that the standard of housing in a community affects the quality of
health within the community. Therefore we need to understand that
there are some factors that are particularly important in the developing
countries such as poverty, malnutrition, lack of education and medical
care together with lack of knowledge relating to disease prevention and
personal hygiene, play important role on the health of the people. Many
research workers and writers like Mackintosh (1965), Sofoluwe (1969).
Salvato (1958) Wilner et al. (1962) Haddock (1961) Stockwell (1962),
Halli-day (1928), Wright & Wright (1942), have related certain ill health
to specific poor conditions of housing. Studies in the United States of
America quoted by Salvato (1958) and others like Schorr (1970), Britten
(1942), Fisher & Pierce (1967) showed that when people live in slum
areas, the rate at which they have communicable diseases is about 65
percent higher than national average. Also during the cholera outbreak

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in Ibadan in 1970-1971, the people who live in built-up slum areas

reported more cases than those in planned areas. The studies in the
U.S.A. also show that tuberculosis rate is about eight times as high in
slum areas as the national average, that infant death rate is five times
higher. Juvenile delinquency is two times higher and life expectancy is
about 6.7 years shorter among slum dwellers than the national average.
It was also reported that the frequency of fire outbreak was 1.5 times
more in slum areas than the national average. In view of these there is
the need for us to specifically study some general factors affecting
healthful housing in the tropics. This discuss is adopted from the chapter
on “Housing in the tropics” by Prof. Sofoluwe in his book.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 describe tropical zone

 identify specific (challenges) factors affecting healthful housing
in the tropics.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Tropical Zone

Microsoft Encarta (2009) describe tropics, as “two parallels of latitude

on the terrestrial globe lying equidistant from the equator from latitude
23°27' north to 23°27' south, the most northerly and southerly points on
the earth's surface at which the sun is perpendicular at noon on at least
one day of each year.

Between these latitudes are all those points on the earth's surface over
which the sun is almost directly overhead during the entire year. The
tropic north of the equator is called the tropic of cancer, because the sun
at the summer solstice (at which time it is vertically over the tropic)
enters the constellation of cancer; the southern one is, for a similar
reason, called the tropic of Capricorn. This belt of the earth's surface is
known as the torrid zone”. Therefore, when some diseases are described
as tropical diseases it is referred to as illnesses that either occur uniquely
in tropical and subtropical regions, which is rare, or, more commonly,
are either more widespread there or more difficult to prevent or
control—mainly for reasons of climate, poverty, and primitive sanitation
conditions. West Africa and indeed Nigeria is very much situated in the
tropics with all the characteristics of the tropics available in the country.
There are certain important factors which make the provision of good
and sanitary houses difficult and almost impossible in the tropics. The
most important of these factors are climate, poverty, inadequacy or lack

219
of mortgage facilities, scarcity of skilled personnel, reliability on
imported materials, rapid population growth and family set-up, poor
sanitation, insect pests and other vermin. These factors are discussed
below.

Climate

Two basic differences exist between houses in the tropics and houses in
the cooler regions of the world (Oakley, 1961). In temperate regions,
houses are designed so that heat produced within the houses is retained
as much as possible while in the tropical regions houses are designed so
that the heat produced in the houses is eliminated as quickly as possible.
In the cooler places, there is no fear that direct rays of the sum may heat
the walls of the houses and male them too hot, while in the tropics,
houses must he designed to prevent as much as possible the direct sun
rays from the walls.

As far as housing is concerned, the climatic conditions in the tropics can

be divided into two main groups (Atkinson, 1953; Lee, 1947; Nickson,
1948; Drew and Fry, 1947). These are:

(a) the warm humid climatic conditions and

(b) the hot-dry climatic conditions.

a) Housing in warm-humid climate

This type of climatic condition is found very close to the equator. The
temperature range is very low and the relative humidity is very high.
Houses are better one room thick in plan with very big windows. In
order to reduce the effects of direct sun rays on the walls, houses should
be planned so that the long axes are in east-west direction, provision of
verandah will ensure that roof over hangs the walls adequately Multi-
storey houses are advantageous, since near the surface of the land, the
higher one goes up, the faster the breeze and the more comfortable it is
inside the houses, especially during the hot periods. Walls should not be
too thick and should be made of materials which have poor heat
capacity. The walls are better brightly, painted and roofs constructed of
materials that will reflect much of the sun rays. The windows should be
large and made of wooden, metal or glass louvres. Louvred windows are
advantageous in this region because they could be used to regulate the
amount of ventilation and can admit fresh air while rain water is kept
out.

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

b) Housing in hot-dry regions

This type of climate is found around the Southern border of the hot
deserts in the northern hemisphere and the north border of the hot
deserts in the southern hemisphere. The daily range of temperature is
high and relative humidity is low. The sky is often cloudless and the
effect of sun is direct and strong. The wind is strong and hot during hot
periods. House plans should be inward looking into the courtyard to
reduce the effects of the strong wind and sun (Oakley 1961).

The walls should be thick and made of materials that have great capacity
for heat. The windows should be small and located high to reduce the
direct effects of the strange and dusty wind. Flat and thick roofs are also
advantageous to cool the inside of the houses during the day.

3.2 Poverty and Housing in the Tropics

Poverty affects housing in two ways in the developing countries.

(a) It causes individuals to build substandard houses without

necessary facilities.
(b) It limits the ability of the governments to provide enough houses
to the people.

In many developing countries land belong to individual, so t is very easy

for people to obtain land for building houses. Since the majority of the
people have very low income, it is not possible for them to set aside
adequate capital for building decent houses. In many towns where
people secure building plots from family land free of charge, the people
put up all sorts of shanties to live in. This practice is often too difficult
for the town planning authorities to control or prevent. The authorities
are baffled by the number of people involved and by the fact that they
are unable to provide, alternate decent buildings for the people
concerned.

Various governments in the developing countries have very small

revenues for execution of welfare projects for the people. It is therefore
impossible for them to provide decent houses for everybody. The few
governments which are lucky to have revenue for housing schemes are
often hindered by political and other forces.

There are many steps which developing countries can take to reduce the
effects of poverty on housing programmes. The first and perhaps, the
most expensive but difficult to do is to plan their development schemes
in such a way that many people do not have to drift from their natural
habitats to urban centres. If this is considered and taken care of during

221
 planning, the governments will find it relatively easy to provide for
those who must live in the towns. To ensure that people have decent
houses in their natural habitats, governments should adopt aided self
help approach. Under this approach the governments can provide
technical supervision and loans for those essential materials which have
to be imported. The use of local materials must be encouraged as much
as possible. The shape of a building for minimum cost has been given by
Davis and White (1961). This is given as follows.
a

Fig. 6.1: Wall Plan for Minimum Wall Cost

If length of the building =a

Breadth of the building =b
No. of rooms =n
Area (A) =ab
b =A
a
Total length of walls (I) = 2a + 2b + b(n — 1)
= 2a + (n + 1)b
= 2a +(n + 1) _A_ (r)
a
for minimu1 dl = 0
da

dl = 2- (n + 1)A = 0
da a2

a2 = (n + 1)A
2

a = [A(n + 1)A] ½
√2

From equation (r)

I 2a2 + (n + 1 )A
a
I min (n + 1)A + (n + 1 )A
a
= 2A (n + 1) = 2b (n + 1)
a
a2 = (n + 1)ab
2

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

a = (n + 1)b
2

b = 2a _
n +1
a = n +1
b 2

I min = 2a + 2 (h + 1) A; b = _2A_
n+1
Example:
The plan area of a house = 500 sqm
No. of room = 4
For minimum wall length a = 4 + 1
b 2

Where a = length of room

b = breadth of room

a = 5 b=2a
b 25

a X b = 500

2a2 = 500 a2 = 2,500

5 2

a = 35.3m

b = 14.1m

3.3 Inadequacy of Mortgage Facilities

In most of the developed countries, there are many finance houses,

banks and other agencies which are ready to give loans to qualified
applicants to enable them buy or build their own houses. In a place like
Israel, the mortgage schemes arc so efficient and reliable that parents
often take endowment schemes for their children early at birth to enable
the children own their own houses when they marry later in life. In
many developing countries, as already mentioned, money is very scarce.
There are very few finance houses to give mortgage loans. The few ones
that exist are inefficiently run. They often award loans based on other
considerations apart from the abilities of the applicants to repay with the

223
results that the small capitals they have are often wasted on few
influential people who are not in position to pay back the loans.

3.4 Scarcity of Skilled Personnel

This is not a serious problem as far as private houses are concerned.

However, it is a very serious problem affecting execution of big housing
schemes. For private houses, there is-adequate number of craftsmen like
bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers and electricians who are able to
provide the necessary labour required. Though the workmanship of
some of the houses built by these craftsmen may be poor, with moderate
supervision they are able to build houses up to two storeys without any-
serious danger to human health. There are very few middle and senior
cadre technical personnel like technical officers, engineers, architects
and quantity surveyors to plan and execute housing programmes.

3.5 Reliability on Imported Materials

This is one of the most important factors which affect provision of

sanitary houses in the developing countries. The majority of the
materials used for building houses are imported from the developed
countries with the result that the materials are very expensive and may
not be available in adequate quantity. Even some materials -which are
being manufactured locally, require some ingredients which have to be
imported. Cement is one of the materials which are always in short
supply. It is common to have 50kg of cement costing more than N5.00
(7.5 dollars). Steps are being taken to encourage the use of local material
for building. Wood is an important material which is being popularised.
Many people are still suspicious to use the local materials. Various
governments should intensify research into the use of local materials for
all aspects of housing. The research activities must be backed with
public enlightenment and demonstrations to enable the people adopt the
new materials being investigated. Among the important areas where
researches and developments are needed are:

(a) the use of wood for walls and floors,

(b) the use of local laterite and clay for bricks and, blocks,
(c) the use of local clay for soil pipes and sewers,
(d) the use of local clay for roofing tiles,
(e) preservation of roofing grasses to make them resistant to termites
and fire (South Pacific Commission, 1954).

3.6 Rapid Population Growth

The developing countries are characterised by rapid population growth.

This baffles all the planning programmes of many governments. Many

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cities and towns in the developing countries have very high growth rate.
The provisions of social amenities like housing, water supply and health
programmes are unable to keep pace with the rates of population
increase. The urban centres of the developing countries therefore
harbour worst slums in the world.

The best approach to the solution is to spread out the siting of industries
and other employment opportunities so that people will not have to flock
to few urban centres to look for jobs. Also the various governments
should pursue radical progranmes on slum clearance. The conventional
approach whereby the government wait- until money is available to
develop few square meters of slum areas is slow and conservative.
Investigations have shown that many people continue to live in slums
because they have no money to build houses in modern planned-areas.
One approach which can quicken the pace of slum clearance-from the
town and city centers in the developing countries is for the governments
to declare-the slums as government land. Industrialists both foreign and
local who are looking for land to build factories should be encouraged or
compelled to buy land from the slum areas instead of acquiring land in
the outskirts of the towns and cities. The money paid for such land will
help the slum dwellers to move to planned areas. If the governments
have to subsidies this approach, the subsidy will not be as high as that
for the-conventional approach

3.7 Family Set Up

Many well-planned and properly-executed housing estates have been

turned to slum areas as soon as people from slum town centers are
housed there. A flat built for a family of six may contain more than
twenty people. This is because of the extended family pattern which
allows even distant relatives to have rights to live with the owners of the
flats. In many areas, the house planners and designers do not consider
the prevailing customs when planning housing programmes. It is not
uncommon for these planners to build houses for polygamous
communities similar to those for monogamous people.

3.8 Poor Sanitation

Environmental sanitation is in a very poor state in many different parts

of the developing countries. Only very few cities have modem sewage
disposal systems.

The majority of the towns and cities practice primitive bucket-latrine

system or other systems like the pit latrine, the septic tanks or deposition
of excreta into surrounding bush. The waste water from the kitchens, the
bathrooms, the laundry and surface run-off from rain are discharged into

225
open gutters which are often blocked by refuse. It is often very
sickening to observe decent houses being surrounded with filth. For
many months during the wet periods, roads leading to many decent
houses are not motorable. Foul smell from blocked gutters fills the
atmosphere around all the houses. In many newly developed areas, the
roads have no provision for eliminating slum water. This often forms
breeding spots for mosquitoes.

Many town authorities are very poor. The methods of collecting taxes
and rates are very inefficient because many well-to-do people either do
not pay at all, or pay what is grossly incompatible with their property.
To wait until the governments are able to have money to build modern
sewers may be to wait indefinitely. The governments should design
sewers for different areas of the towns and cities and legislate that house
owners should construct the portion of sewers which passes through the
front of their houses, except for houses along the roads where trunk
sewers of large diameters-are involved. The landlords along, such trunk
sewers should be made to pay money equivalent to what landlords in
other areas spend to construct their sections of the sewers. The
construction of the sewers by the landlords should be supervised by the
government sanitarians and engineers to ensure that the sewers comply
with government specifications.

In many cities and towns, there are town planning authorities who
control the qualities and standard of houses to be built. Unfortunately
when the plans of such houses have been approved, many authorities do
not ensure that the landlords build what is approved. The authorities
should always follow the progress of construction of all houses whose
plans have been approved through different stages to completion. On
completion, the houses should be inspected and issued with certificate of
occupancy by sanitarians before people are allowed to move into them.
This programme should always be honestly and diligently carried out.
These provisions must be included in relevant local government bye
laws and there must be provision that will ensure compliance.

3.9 Insect Pests and other Vermin

All the developing countries are in the tropical or sub-tropical zones.

Many pathogenic bacteria and vectors which cause very serious diseases
find the climate suitable for their proliferation. For this reason,
occupants of tropical houses are constantly being troubled by vectors
like mosquitoes, houseflies, tsetse flies and black flies.

It is important to try as much as possible during construction to include

devices which will prevent these vectors from the tropical houses. Also,

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the physical environment of tropical houses must be such that will not
encourage breeding of the vectors.

4.0 CONCLUSION

Tropical zone has some unique characteristics in terms of its climate,

heat and cold both at extreme end, humid and dry heat with abundant
sunshine, windy and with sometime high temperature that favours the
breading of vectors and vermin. The countries that are located in this
geographical zone share many things in common. Some disease
conditions are peculiar to the zone.

The stakeholders in this zone need to understand their situation both

natural and artificial to enable them handle housing issues with care and
with consideration of the time of extreme heat which require house to
provide some relief from the heat and provide warmness when it is
extremely cold. Choice of building materials, site, socioeconomic
situation of the owners, rural and urban characteristics must be
considered by the stakeholders to enable the houses be described as
healthful house.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this unit you were made to understood that there are certain important
factors, some are natural for instance climate while some are artificial
such poor sanitation, which make the provision of good and sanitary
houses difficult and almost impossible in the tropics. The most
important of these factors discussed in this unit are climate, poverty,
inadequacy or lack of mortgage facilities, scarcity of skilled personnel,
reliability on imported materials, rapid population growth and family
set-up, poor sanitation, insect pests and other vermin. Some of the
factors are more pronounced in one country than another while some are
all available in one country such as Nigeria.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

List 10 factors that make it difficult to provide healthful housing in the

tropics.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Owerri: Readon

Publishers Ltd. in collaboration with Ugooma Printing and
Publishing Co.

Sofoluwa, G. O, & Bennen, F. J.(1985). Principles and Practice of

Community Health in Africa. Ibadan: University Press Ltd.
227
MODULE 2

Unit 1 Introduction to Building Technology

Unit 2 Application of Technical Drawing, Reading and
Interpretation of Building Plan

UNIT 1 INTRODUCTION TO BUILDING

TECHNOLOGY

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Some Building Teams
3.1.1 A Brick
3.1.2 Building Blocks
3.1.3 Mortar for Brick Work and Block Work
3.1.4 Bonding Bricks
3.1.5 English and Flemish Bond
3.1.6 Bond at Angles and Jambs
3.1.7 A Concrete Slab
3.1.8 The Wall
3.1.9 Roof
3.1.10 Rafter
3.1.11 The Roofs
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the previous Module, we concentrated on housing and its related

matters including factors affecting housing in the tropics such as
poverty, climate. It is a well know fact that a house started from a simple
structure initiated by an owner through expression of his wish to have a
building called a house. That idea is espresso either in writing or
verbally to a professional who put those thoughts on paper through some
form of drawings initially as a sketch, later as a professional drawing,
another professional cost it to give an ides of the financial implication,
later a builder handles the construction etc. The building engineer works
with men and materials and calls each material with the name known in
the building industry. The building itself has parts and components
which make up the whole of the house. These involve a lot of

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communication and discussion and the process has its language and
terminologies which you need to understand. Therefore this unit will
highlight some key issues in building technology, its terms, its various
parts and components. It is important to note and learnt these
terminologies and know the part so that in the course of your
supervision just terminologies will not put you off the discussion or
away from what you want to do. This unit is mostly adopted from the
book “Construction of buildings” by Barry and is fully acknowledged in
the reference section of this course.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to:

 discuss some building terms and terminologies

 describe building parts/components.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Some Building Teams

3.1.1 A Brick

A block, or a single unit of a ceramic material used in masonry

construction, usually stacked together, or laid using various kinds of
mortar to hold the bricks together and make a permanent structure.
Bricks are typically produced in common or standard sizes in bulk
quantities. They have been regarded as one of the longest lasting and
strongest building materials used throughout history.

In the general sense, a "brick" is a standard-sized weight-bearing

building unit. Bricks are laid in horizontal courses, sometimes dry and
sometimes with mortar. When the term is used in this sense, the brick
might be made from clay, lime-and-sand, concrete, or shaped stone. In a
less clinical and more colloquial sense, bricks are made from dried
earth, usually from clay-bearing subsoil. In some cases, such as adobe,
the brick is merely dried. More commonly it is fired in a kiln of some
sort to form a true ceramic.

3.1.2 Building Blocks

Building blocks are wall units, larger in size than a brick that can be
handled by one man. Building blocks are made of concrete or clay.

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 Concrete blocks

These are used extensively for both load bearing and non-load bearing
walls, externally and internally. A concrete block wall can be laid in less
time and may cost up to half as much as a similar brick wall.
Lightweight aggregate concrete blocks have good insulating properties
against transfer of heat and have been much used for the inner leaf of
cavity walls with either a brick outer leaf or a concrete block outer leaf.

A disadvantage of some concrete blocks, particularly lightweight

aggregate blocks, as a wall unit is that they may suffer moisture
movement which causes cracking of applied finishes such as plaster. To
minimise cracking due to shrinkage by loss of water, vertical movement
joints should be built into long block walls, subject to moisture
movement, at intervals of up to twice the height of the wall. These
movement joints may be either a continuous vertical joint filled with
mastic or they may be formed in the bonding of the blocks.

Because the block units are comparatively large, any settlement

movement in a wall will show more pronounced cracking in mortar
joints than is the case with the smaller brick wall unit. For some years it
was fashionable to use concrete blocks as a fair face external wall finish.
The blocks were accurately moulded to uniform sizes and made from
aggregates to provide a variety of colours and textures. Blocks made to
give an appearance of natural stone with plain or rugged exposed
aggregate finish were used.

These special blocks are less used that they were, particularly because of
the fairly rapid deterioration in the appearance of the blocks due to
irregular weather staining of smooth faced blocks and the patchy dirt
staining of coarse textured blocks.

Concrete blocks are manufactured from cement and either dense or

lightweight aggregates as solid, cellular or hollow blocks. A cellular
block has one or more holes or cavities that do not pass wholly through
the block and a hollow block is one in which the holes pass through the
block. The thicker blocks are made with cavities or holes to reduce
weight and drying shrinkage. The most commonly used size of both
dense and lightweight concrete blocks is 440mm long x 215mm high.
The height of the block is chosen to coincide with three courses of brick
for the convenience of building in wall ties and also bonding to
brickwork. The length of the block is chosen for laying in stretcher
bond. For the leaves of cavity walls and internal load bearing walls
100mm thick blocks are used. For non-load bearing partition walls 60 or
75mm thick lightweight aggregate blocks are used. Either 440 mm x
215mm or 390 x 190mm blocks may be used.

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Concrete blocks may be specified by their minimum average

compressive strength for:

 all blocks not less than 75mm thick and

 a maximum average transverse strength for blocks less than
75mm thick, which are used for non-load bearing partitions.

The usual compressive strengths for blocks are 2.8, 3.5, 5.0, 7.0. 10.0,
15.0, 20.0 and 35.0 N/mm2. This is the compressive strength of blocks.

3.1.3 Mortar for Brick Work and Block Work

Clay bricks are rarely exactly rectangular in shape and they vary in size.
Some facing bricks are far from uniform in shape and size and if a wall
were built of bricks laid without mortar and the bricks were bonded the
result might be as shown, exaggerated, in Figure 1.1.

Because of the variations in shape and size, the courses of bricks would
not lie anywhere near horizontal. One of the functions of brickwork is to
support floors and if a floor timber were to bear on the brick marked A it
would tend to cause it to slide down the slope on which it would be
resting. It is essential, therefore, that brickwork be laid in true horizontal
courses, and the only way this can be done with bricks of differing
shapes and sizes is to lay them on some material which is sufficiently
plastic, while the bricks are being laid, to take up the difference in size,
and which must be able to harden to such an extent that it can carry the
weight normally carried by brickwork.

The material used is termed mortar. The basic requirements of a mortar

are that it will harden to such an extent that it can carry the weight
normally carried by bricks, without crushing, and that it will be
sufficiently plastic when laid to take the varying sizes of bricks. It must
have porosity similar to that of the bricks and it must not deteriorate due
to the weathering action of rain or frost. Sand is a natural material which
is reasonably cheap and which, if mixed with water, can be made
plastic, yet which has very good strength in resisting crushing. Its grains
are also virtually impervious to the action of rain and frost. The material
required to bind the grains of sand together into a solid mass is termed
the matrix.

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 Fig. 1.1: A Pallet of Bricks Stacked without Mortar

3.1.4 Bonding Bricks

In building a wall it is usual to lay bricks in regular, horizontal courses

so that each brick bears on two bricks below. The bricks are said to be
bonded as they bind together by being laid across each other along the
length of the wall.

The advantage of bonding is that the wall acts as a whole so that the
load of a beam carried by the topmost brick is spread to the two bricks
below it, then to the three below that and so on down to the base or
foundation course of bricks.

The failure of one poor quality brick will not affect the strength and
stability of the whole wall as the load carried by the weak brick and the
two foundation bricks is transferred to the adjacent bricks.

Because of the bond, window and door openings may be formed in a

wall, the load of the wall above the opening being transferred to the
brickwork each side of the openings by an arch or lintel.

The effect of bonding is to stiffen a wall along its length and also to
some small extent against lateral pressure, such as wind.

The four faces of a brick which may be exposed in fair face brickwork
are the two, long, stretcher faces and the two header faces. The face on
which the brick is laid is the bed. Some bricks have an indent or frog
formed in one of the bed faces. The purpose of the frog or indent is to
assist in compressing the wet clay during moulding. The frog also serves
as a reservoir of mortar on to which bricks in the course above may
more easily be bedded.

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The thickness of a wall is dictated primarily by the length of a brick.

The length of bricks varies appreciably, especially those that are hand
moulded and those made from plastic clays that will shrink differentially
during firing.

It has been practice for some time to describe the thickness of a wall by
reference to the length of a brick as a 1 B (brick) wall, or a 2 B wall,
rather than a precise dimension.

The external leaf of a cavity wall is often built of brick for the advantage
of the appearance of brickwork. The most straightforward way of laying
bricks in a thin outer leaf of a cavity wall is with the stretcher face of
each brick showing externally. So that bricks are bonded along the
length of the wall they are laid with the vertical joints between bricks
lying directly under and over the centre of bricks in the courses under
and over. This is described as stretcher bond as illustrated below. This
wall is described as a B thick wall.

At the intersection of two half brick walls at corners or angles and at the
jambs, sides of openings, the bricks are laid so that a header face shows
in every other course to complete the bond, as illustrated below.

The appearance of a wall laid in stretcher bond may look somewhat

monotonous because of the mass of stretcher faces showing. To provide
some variety the wall may be built with snap headers so that a stretcher
face and a header face show alternately in each course with the centre of
the header face lying directly under and over the centre of the stretcher
faces in courses below and above.

This form of fake Flemish bond is achieved by the use of half bricks,
hence the name ‘snap header’. The combination and variety in colour
and shape can add appreciably to the appearance of a wail. Obviously
the additional labour and likely wastage of bricks adds somewhat to
cost.

3.1.5 English and Flemish Bond

Because brick by itself does not provide adequate resistance to the

transfer of heat, to meet the requirements of the building regulations for
the conservation of fuel and power, it is used in combination with other
materials in external cavity walling for most heated buildings. In
consequence brick walling 1 B and thicker is less used than it was.

Solid brick walls may be used for heated and unheated buildings for
arcades, screen walling and as boundary and earth retaining walling for
the benefit of the appearance and durability of the material.

233
For the same reason that a B wall is bonded along its length a solid wall
1 B and thicker is bonded along its length and through its thickness.

The two basic ways in which a solid brick wall may be bonded are with
every brick showing a header face with each header face lying directly
over two header faces below or with header faces centrally over a
stretcher face in the course below, as illustrated in Fig. 54.

The bond in which the header faces only show is termed ‘heading’ or
‘header bond’. This bond is little used as the great number of vertical
joints and header faces is generally considered unattractive.

The bond in which header faces lie directly above and below a stretcher
face is termed Flemish bond. This bond is generally considered the most
attractive bond for facing brickwork because of the variety of shades of
colour between header and stretcher faces dispersed over the whole face
of the walling. Figure 1.2 illustrates brickwork in Flemish bond.

English bond, illustrated below, avoids the repetition of header faces in

each course by using alternate courses of header and stretcher faces with
a header face lying directly over the centre of a stretcher face below.
The colour of header faces, particularly in facing bricks, is often
distinctly different from the colour of stretcher faces. In English bond
this difference is shown in successive horizontal courses. In Flemish
bond the different colours of header and stretcher faces are dispersed
over the whole face of a wall, which by common consent is thought to
be a more attractive arrangement.

Fig. 1.2: A wall constructed in glazed-headed Flemish bond with

bricks of various shades and lengths

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

3.1.6 Bond at Angles and Jambs

At the end of a wall at a stop end, at an angle or quoin and at jambs of

openings the bonding of bricks has to be finished up to a vertical angle.
To complete the bond a brick B wide has to be used to close or complete
the bond of the B overlap of face brickwork.

As earlier stated, bricklaying work generally begins with the corners of

the structure-to-be. These corners are built up on an appropriate
foundation to a height of several bricks, using a gauge-rod to determine
the exact height at which each course is to be laid. The remainder of the
course is laid using a line strung between the corners to maintain the
correct height for the newly laid bricks. After the bricks have been laid
— but before the mortar has set — the mortar bed is tidied and finished,
a process known as pointing.

Ordinarily, bricks — or parts of bricks — within a course, are arranged

such that perpends do not vertically align in any two successive courses.
If this rule is observed, then the weight acting on any brick is distributed
across an area that widens with each downwardly successive course.
There is a large variety of arrangements for the cutting and orienting of
bricks guaranteeing that perpends never directly align from one course
to the next. Any such arrangement is called a Bond.

A brick is given a classification based on its orientation relative to the

viewer.

 Stretcher: A brick laid flat with the long narrow side of the brick
exposed
 Header: A brick laid flat with the short end of the brick exposed.
 Soldier: A brick laid vertically with the long narrow side of the
brick exposed.
 Sailor: A brick laid vertically with the broad face of the brick
exposed.
 Rowlock: A brick laid on the long narrow side with the short end
of the brick exposed.
 Shiner: A brick laid on the long narrow side with the broad face
of the brick exposed.

Cut of a brick

Occasionally, a brick must be cut to fit a given space.

 Quarter-bat: A brick cut to a quarter of its length.

 Half-bat: A brick cut in half across its width.
 Three-quarter-bat: A brick cut to three-quarters of its length.

235
 Queen closer: A brick cut in half down its length.

3.1.7 A Concrete Slab

This is a common structural element of modern buildings. Horizontal

slabs of steel reinforced concrete, typically between 100 and 500
millimeters thick, are most often used to construct floors and ceilings,
while thinner slabs are also used for exterior paving. Ground supported
slab - Suspended concrete slabs. Where ground under a floor is sloping,
has poor or uncertain bearing capacity, or is liable to volume change due
to seasonal loss or gain of moisture and a ground supported slab might
sink or crack due to settlement, it may be wise to form the ground floor
as a suspended reinforced concrete slab, supported by external and
internal load- bearing walls, independent of the ground. Suspended
concrete slabs are constructed with one of the pre-cast reinforced
concrete plank, slab or beam and block floor systems described later for
upper floors, because there is no ready means of constructing centering
on which to cast an in-situ concrete floor. The one way spanning, pre-
cast concrete floor bears on internal and external load bearing
foundation walls with end bearing of at least 90 mm, and is built into the
walls. The depth of the plank, slab or beams depends on the loads to be
carried and the span between supporting walls.

3.1.8 The Wall

After the construction of the hardcore, the erection of the walls is

commenced. This is again illustrated by the wall in Figure 1.3 the string
is again attached to nails WZYX to form the rectangle as was one during
the erection of the foundation walls the materials for the walls are then
set up to form the walls. The space forming the doors into the rooms are
left out when erecting the walls. When the walls reach the window level,
the spaces for the windows are also left out. The door and window
frames may be fixed during the erection of the walls. Alternatively the
openings for the doors and windows may just be left until later so that
the frames may be fixed when pastering is carried out. When the wall
erection progresses to the top of the doors and windows, then the lintels
must be constructed, the lintels are the structures constructed across the
top of the door and window frames to support the weight of the building,
see Figure 1.3 The lintel is normally made of reinforced concrete.

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

Fig. 1.3: The Lintel

Lintels are very important in all buildings especially in one or ‘more

storey buildings, lintels must be provided. If lintels are not provided, the
frames of the doors and the windows will bear the weight and the walls
will crack at the roof level where the top of each walls is left at the same
elevation or level. The steel bolts and nuts to anchor the roof brushes to
the wall are then inserted into the walls. The lower ends of the bolts are
enlarged to ensure that they cannot be easily pulled out.

In many cases, steel binds are employed in place of bolts and nuts.
Whatever materials are used, it should be strong enough and fixed
properly to ensure that the roof is not carried off by strong wind.

The walls of a house may be built of cement - sand blocks, cement soil
blocks, soil bricks, tradition mud, wood, bamboos and other materials.
Blocks, bricks and mud are most common because they are more
durable and are fire resistant. Therefore they are safer.

3.1.9 Roof

The roofs
The section through a typical roof of a building is shown in Figure 1.4

Fig. 1.4: Section of a Typical Roof

237
The tie beam holds the feet of the rafters and prevents the rafters from
spreading out. The rafters carry the purlins which in turn carry the
roofing materials or sheets. These support the principal rafters and
prevent them from sagging.

The tie beams are normally made of 7.5cm by 10cm wood or 5cm by
15cm wood. The facial board is normally made of 2.5 by 30cm planks.
The roof trusses should be constructed by competent carpenters.
Roofing is a special aspect of the building construction. It should be
properly carried out. The trusses require adequate quantities of nails of
different sizes. The sizes vary according to the different sizes of planks
used to form the trusses. Also the roofing sheets require special nails
and washers to hold them to the purling. Many materials are employed
as roofing sheets. The method of fixing the sheets vary with the type of
materials employed. Corrugated iron sheets require nails and washers
together with special leather below the washers. Whereas, the
corrugated asbestos cement requires special nails and leather.

Functional Requirements

The functional requirements of a roof are:

 Strength and stability

 Resistance to weather
 Durability and freedom from maintenance
 Fire safety
 Resistance to the passage of heat
 Resistance to the passage of sound

Strength and stability

The strength and stability of a roof depend on the characteristics of the
materials from which it is constructed and the way in which the
materials are formed as a horizontal platform or as a triangular
framework.

Flat roof

A roof may be constructed as a flat roof that is a timber, metal or

concrete platform which is usually horizontal or inclined at up to 5° to
the horizontal.

The strength and stability of a flat roof depend on adequate support from
walls or beams and sufficient depth or thickness of timber joists or
concrete relative to span to avoid gross deflection under the dead load of
the roof itself and the load of snow and wind pressure or uplift that it
may suffer.

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

Sloping roof

A sloping or sloped roof is inclined at between 5° and 10° to the

horizontal, either as a sloping platform or as a shallow frame. Both the
monopitch roof and the butterfly roof are constructed with shallow
timber or metal trussed rafters designed to support the dead load of the
roof and imposed loads of snow and wind.

The butterfly roof is in effect two monopitch roofs which depend for
support on a central beam which is carried on internal columns or end
walls.

Both the monopitch and the butterfly roofs depend for strength and
stability on the depth of the trussed rafters.

The monopitch roof with sloping soffit is constructed as a flat roof

inclined out of horizontal, with timber or metal rafters providing
strength and stability. Because of the shallow slope, this roof does
impose some small lateral pressure on the wall under the lowest edge of
the roof, which is designed to support both the lateral and horizontal
pressure from the roof.

In many domestic and industrial buildings a thick concrete slab,

supported on foundations or directly on the subsoil, is used to construct
the ground floor of a building. In high rise buildings and skyscrapers,
thinner, pre-cast concrete slabs are slung between the steel frames to
form the floors and ceilings on each level.

A concrete slab may be prefabricated or in situ. Prefabricated concrete

slabs are built in a factory and transported to the site, ready to be
lowered into place between steel or concrete beams. They may be pre-
stressed (in the factory), post-stressed (on site), or unstressed. It is vital
that the supporting structure is built to the correct dimensions, or the
slabs may not fit.

In situ concrete slabs are built on the building site using formwork - a
type of boxing into which the wet concrete is poured. If the slab is to be
reinforced, the rebars are positioned within the formwork before the
concrete is poured in. Plastic tipped metal, or plastic bar chairs are used
to hold the rebar away from the bottom and sides of the form-work, so
that when the concrete sets it completely envelops the reinforcement.
For a ground slab, the form-work may consist only of sidewalls pushed
into the ground. For a suspended slab, the form-work is shaped like a
tray, often supported by a temporary scaffold until the concrete sets.

239
The formwork is commonly built from wooden planks and boards,
plastic, or steel. On commercial building sites today, plastic and steel are
more common as they save labour. On low-budget sites, for instance
when laying a concrete garden path wooden planks are very common.
After the concrete has set the wood may be removed, or left there
permanently.

In some cases formwork is not necessary - for instance, a ground slab

surrounded by brick or block foundation walls, where the walls act as
the sides of the tray and hardcore acts as the base.

Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a

building technique based around vertical structural members, usually
called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior
wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof made of horizontal
ceiling joists and sloping rafters (or pre-fabricated roof trusses).

Modern light-frame structures usually gain strength from rigid panels

(plywood and other plywood-like composites such as oriented strand
board (OSB) used to form all or part of wall sections) but until recently
carpenters employed various forms of diagonal bracing (called wind
braces) to stabilize walls. Diagonal bracing remains a vital interior part
of many roof systems, and in-wall wind braces are required by building
codes in many municipalities or by individual state laws in the United
States.

Light frame construction using standardised dimensional lumber has

become the dominant construction method in North America and
Australia because of its economy. Use of minimal structural materials
allows builders to enclose a large area with minimal cost, while
achieving a wide variety of architectural styles. The ubiquitous platform
framing and the older balloon framing are the two different light frame
construction systems used in North America.

The ceiling

This is the structure that bides the roof structure from the view of the
occupants of the building. It prevents the heat or cold from the roof from
affecting the building occupants. It also beautifies the room. The ceiling
has its own logging structure just as the roof has its trusses. The ceiling
logging structure may be made of 5cm by 5cm wood, by metals or by
plastic. The ceiling may also be made with wood completely.

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3.1.10 Rafter

Is one of a series of sloped structural members (beams) that extend from

the ridge or hip to the wall-plate, down slope perimeter or eave, and that
are designed to support the roof deck and its associated load. This is a
type of beam that supports the roof of a building. In home construction
rafters are typically made of wood. Exposed rafters can be a feature of
traditional roof styles. In recent buildings there is a preference for
engineered trusses (trussed rafters) on the grounds of cost, economy of
materials, off-site manufacture and ease of construction, as well as
design considerations such as span limitation and roof load.

3.1.11 Post and lintel

A timber frame building, a contemporary example of articulated post

and beam (lintel) construction

Fig. 1.5: Stonehenge, an example of Neolithic architecture post and

lintel construction

Post and lintel, or in contemporary usage post and beam, is a simple

construction method using a lintel, header, or architrave as the
horizontal member over a building void supported at its ends by two
vertical columns, pillars, or posts. This architectural system and building
method has been commonly used for centuries to support the weight of
the structure located above the openings created by windows and doors
in a bearing wall. In architecture, a post-and-lintel or trabeated system
refers to the use of horizontal beams or lintels which are borne up by
columns or posts. The name is from the Latin trabs, beam; influenced by
trabeatus, clothed in the trabea, a ritual garment. There are two main
force vectors acting upon the post and lintel system: weight carrying
compression at the joint between lintel and post, and tension induced by

241
deformation of self-weight and the load above between the posts. The
two posts are under compression from the weight of the lintel (or beam)
above. The lintel will deform by sagging in the middle because the
underside is under tension and the topside is under compression.

Arches- The biggest disadvantage to a post and lintel construction is the

limited weight that can be held up, and the small distances required
between the posts. Ancient Roman architecture development of the arch
allowed for much larger structures to be constructed. The arcuated
system, which involves the use of arches, replaced the post and lintel
trabeated system in larger buildings and structures, until the industrial
era introduction of steel girder beams.

4.0 CONCLUSION

Understanding the names and terminologies in building is important to

you in all respect. Understanding the mix and types of materials and
when each is used is equally important, especially for those houses in
the tropics where toy function. All materials used in building for you to
appreciate and approve its use must have the property of retaining heat
during cold session and expel heat during hot season. It is equally
important also to note that whatever action or inaction that takes place in
the process of building a structure or a house, what matters is its support
for healthy living in its final form when completed. And that is one of
the areas you function most because you are now left to issues a
certificate approving occupation of the building as fit for human
habitation.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this unit some terminologies such as bricks, concrete blocks, mortar,

bonding, Flemish and English bonding, roofs and its types, slabs and
concrete slabs, framing and light-frame construction. The unit had
explained the various terms and parts of building and the materials used
in its construction. The various components of building in this unit are
all important in providing the needed support for a healthful living when
the house is finally completed. The materials used also will determine its
durability and support for the needs of the occupants.

6.0 TUTOR- MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. List 5 parts of building and their uses

2. Name two (2) types each of
3. Rafter
4. Slabs
5. Floors

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6. Walls
7. Ceiling

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Owerri: Readon

Publishers Ltd, in Collaboration with Ugooma Printing and
Publishing Co.

Barry, R. (1999). The Construction of Buildings. Vol. 1. (7th ed.).

London: Blackwell Science Ltd.

WAHEB (1965). Water and Building Sanitation.

Wilkie, W. (1965). Jordan’s Tropical Hygiene and Sanitation.(4th ed.).

London: Bailher Jindall and Lox. pp.87-160.

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UNIT 2 APPLICATION OF TECHNICAL DRAWING
AND READING OF BUILDING PLANS

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Definition of Building Plan
3.2 Sketch for a Building.
3.3 Site Plan
3.3.1 Site Analysis
3.3.2 Site Plan Building Blocks
3.4 Identify Some Instruments Used in Drawing and Buildings
3.5 Application of Technical Drawings
3.6 Reading and Interpretation of Building Plan
3.6.1 Aspects of the Building Plan to be Checked
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the last unit you have learnt the various parts that make up a building
and the terminologies used in describing the various components of the
building. You must have earlier also learnt that “a building is any
independent structure comprising one or more rooms or other spaces,
covered by a roof and usually enclosed by external walls or building
walls which extend from the foundations to the roof” (WHO, 1967). The
first step in the process of building, after site selection and land
acquisition, is the drawing of a plan of the house. This is the actual
representation of the proposed structure on paper which is usually done
by draughts men. This unit will introduce you to the aspect of technical
drawings, its applications and the various instruments used in the
drawings. Indeed you will learn also the need on how to interpret
building plans. This is necessary for you function as a sanitarian.

3.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 define building plan

 describe sketches of building
 identify some instruments used in drawing and buildings
 discuss applications for technical drawing.
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3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Definition of Building Plan

The West Africa Health Examination Board (WAHEB, 1991) also

defines building plan as the drawing of the structure of a building made
to scale on a piece of paper. It shows the site; elevation, cross section
and other details of the building (e.g., roof plan, electrical installation,
sanitary plumbing, size of doors and windows and their locations, etc.)
The plan serves as a guide or road map for the builders, engineers and
other workmen to follow correctly all details of the plan required during
construction, so that the owner or developer gets what he wants. It also
serves as a prerequisite for granting the title of ownership (property
right) to individuals by the government which, in turn can, be used to
facilitate business transactions and obtain a loan from a bank.

3.2 Sketch for a Building

Fig. 2.1:

A sketch is a quickly executed freehand drawing that is not intended as a

finished work. In general, sketching is a quick way to record an idea for
later use. Architect's sketches primarily serve as a way to try out
different ideas and establish a composition before undertaking a more
finished work, especially when the finished work is expensive and time
consuming. Architectural sketches, for example, are a kind of diagrams
these sketches, like metaphors, are used by architects as a mean of
communication in aiding design collaboration. These tools help
architects to abstract attributes of hypothetical provisional design
solutions and summarise their complex patterns, hereby enhancing the
design process.

3.3 Site Plan

Site plan is an architectural plan, landscape architecture document, and

a detailed engineering drawing of proposed improvements to a given lot.

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A site plan "usually shows a building footprint, travel ways, parking,
drainage facilities, sanitary sewer lines, water lines, trails, lighting, and
landscaping and garden elements".[1]

Such a plan of a site is a "graphic representation of the arrangement of

buildings, parking, drives, landscaping and any other structure that is
part of a development project".[2]

A site plan is a "set of construction drawings that a builder or contractor

uses to make improvements to a property. Counties can use the site plan
to verify that development codes are being met and as a historical
resource. Site plans are often prepared by a design consultant who must
be either a licensed engineer, architect, landscape architect or land
survey".

3.3.1 Site Analysis

Site analysis is an inventory completed as a preparatory step to site

planning, a form of urban planning which involves research, analysis,
and synthesis. It primarily deals with basic data as it relates to a specific
site. The topic itself branches into the boundaries of architecture,
landscape architecture, engineering, economics, and urban planning.
Site Analysis is an element in site planning and design. Kevin A. Lynch,
an urban planner developed an eight cycle step process of site design, in
which the second step is site analysis, the focus of this section.

3.3.2 Site Plan Building Blocks

A site plan is a top view, bird’s eye view of a property that is drawn to
scale. A site plan can show site:

 Property lines
 Outline of existing and proposed buildings and structures
 Distance between buildings
 Distance between buildings and property lines (setbacks)
 Parking lots, indicating parking spaces
 Driveways
 Surrounding streets
 Landscaped areas
 Easements
 Ground sign location.

Site planning in landscape architecture and architecture refers to the

organisational stage of the landscape design process. It involves the
organisation of land use zoning, access, circulation, privacy, security,
shelter, land drainage, and other factors. This is done by arranging the

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compositional elements of landform, planting, water, buildings and

paving and building. Site planning generally begins by assessing a
potential site for development through site analysis. Information about
slope, soils, hydrology, vegetation, parcel ownership, orientation, etc.
are assessed and mapped. By determining areas that are poor for
development (such as floodplain or steep slopes) and better for
development, the planner or architect can assess optimal location and
design a structure that works within this space.

3.4 Identify Some Instruments Used in Drawing and

Buildings

The list demonstrated here are not exhaustive, many modern instruments
have being discovered and are currently in use by professionals. Some
of the instruments are listed as follows;

Fig.2.2: Drafters at Work (Copying technical drawings in 1973)

Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and

discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something
functions or has to be constructed. Drafting is the visual language of
industry and engineering. This need for unambiguous communication in
the preparation of a functional document distinguishes technical drawing
from the expressive drawing of the visual arts. Artistic drawings are
subjectively interpreted; their meanings are multiply determined.
Technical drawings are understood to have one intended meaning.

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Manual or by instrument

Fig. 2.3: A Drafting Table

Fig. 2.4: Technical Drawing Instruments

Fig.2.5: Stencils for Correct Technical Lettering

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3.5 Application of Technical Drawings

The basic drafting procedure is to place a piece of paper (or other

material) on a smooth surface with right-angle corners and straight
sides—typically a drawing board. A sliding straightedge known as a T-
square is then placed on one of the sides, allowing it to be slid across the
side of the table, and over the surface of the paper.

"Parallel lines" can be drawn simply by moving the T-square and

running a pencil or technical pen along the T-square's edge, but more
typically the T-square is used as a tool to hold other devices such as set
squares or triangles. In this case the drafter places one or more triangles
of known angles on the T-square—which is itself at right angles to the
edge of the table—and can then draw lines at any chosen angle to others
on the page. Modern drafting tables (which have by now largely been
replaced by CAD workstations) come equipped with a drafting machine
that is supported on both sides of the table to slide over a large piece of
paper. Because it is secured on both sides, lines drawn along the edge
are guaranteed to be parallel.

In addition, the drafter uses several technical drawing tools to draw

curves and circles. Primary among these are the compasses, used for
drawing simple arcs and circles, and the French curve, typically a piece
of plastic with complex curves on it. A spline is a rubber coated
articulated metal that can be manually bent to most curves. Drafting
templates are sold commercially by a number of vendors, usually
customised to a specific task, but it is also not uncommon for a drafter to
create their own templates.

This basic drafting system requires an accurate table and constant

attention to the positioning of the tools. A common error is to allow the
triangles to push the top of the T-square down slightly, thereby throwing
off all angles. Even tasks as simple as drawing two angled lines meeting
at a point require a number of moves of the T-square and triangles, and
in general drafting can be a time consuming process.

A solution to these problems was the introduction of the mechanical

"drafting machine", an application of the pantograph (sometimes
referred to incorrectly as a "pentagraph" in these situations) which
allowed the drafter to have an accurate right angle at any point on the
page quite quickly. These machines often included the ability to change
the angle, thereby removing the need for the triangles as well.

In addition to the mastery of the mechanics of drawing lines, arcs and

circles (and text) onto a piece of paper—with respect to the detailing of
physical objects—the drafting effort requires a thorough understanding

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of geometry, trigonometry and spatial comprehension, and in all cases
demands precision and accuracy, and attention to detail of high order.

Although drafting is sometimes accomplished by a project engineer,

architect—or even by shop personnel such as a machinist—skilled
drafters (and/or designers) usually accomplish the task and are always in
demand to some level.

Today, the mechanics of the drafting task have largely been automated
and accelerated through the use of computer-aided design systems
(CAD). There are two types of computer-aided design systems used for
the production of technical drawings" two dimensions ("2D") and three
dimensions ("3D").

2D CAD systems such as AutoCAD or Micro Station replace the paper

drawing discipline. The lines, circles, arcs and curves are created within
the software. It is down to the technical drawing skill of the user to
produce the drawing. There is still much scope for error in the drawing
when producing first and third angle orthographic projections, auxiliary
projections and cross sections. A 2D CAD system is merely an
electronic drawing board. Its greatest strength over direct to paper
technical drawing is in the making of revisions. Whereas in a
conventional hand drawn technical drawing, if a mistake is found, or a
modification is required, a new drawing must be made from scratch. The
2D CAD system allows a copy of the original to be modified, saving
considerable time. 2D CAD systems can be used to create plans for
large projects such as buildings and aircraft but provide no way to check
the various components will fit together.

3D CAD systems such as Autodesk Inventor or solid works first

produce the geometry of the part; the technical drawing comes from user
defined views of the part. Any orthographic, projected and section views
are created by the software. There is no scope for error in the production
of these views. The main scope for error comes in setting the parameter
of first or third angle projection, and displaying the relevant symbol on
the technical drawing. 3D CAD allows individual parts to be assembled
together to represent the final product. Buildings, aircraft, ships and cars
are modelled, assembled and checked in 3D before technical drawings
are released for manufacture.

Both 2D and 3D CAD systems can be used to produce technical

drawings for any discipline. The various disciplines; electrical,
electronic, pneumatic, hydraulic, etc, have industry recognised symbols
to represent common components.

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3.6 Reading and Interpretation of Building Plan

In most countries of the world, building regulation building approval is a

multi-disciplinary task that involves more than one department. In
Nigeria, building plan approval falls within 1 regional planning) and
public health departments of the local governments and state, as
applicable. However, in normal practice, the public health/
environmental health department is in control, and the plan is first
submitted here.

After thorough checks and necessary comments or recommendations by

the health officer (EHO), it is passed to the works engineer and lands
department (urban and regional planning) for their input.

3.6.1 Aspects of the Building Plan to be checked

Important areas to be checked by the health officer during the vetting of

the building plan are as follows:

i. The building site as to its suitability;

ii. Size of the building that is going into the plot in compliance with
the building regulations;
iii. The size of the rooms in compliance with the regulations, as to
adequacies;
iv. Availability, dimension or size and position of windows and
doors to ensure proper ventilation and lighting as required;
v. Availability and adequacy of sanitary facilities (toilets, bathroom,
kitchen, store) and their location in relation to living rooms, bed
room, etc.;
vi. The distance between the building and set- back, including
building line, and adjourning building or plots as provided in the
building regulations;
vii. The total area built upon i.e. the area of the plot occupied by the
building. This can be assessed by measurement of the building
proper and subtraction from the plot area and finding the
percentage. The 50per cent minimum allowable area built upon
for residential buildings and 75 per cent for non-residential are
used as a guide.

If the health officer (EHO) is satisfied that the plan meets all the above
requirements, as stipulated in sanitary provisions of the building
regulations, he may recommend it for approval. However, after approval
has been granted, the health officer shall carry out follow- up visits to
the site during construction until completion, to ensure that the
regulations are not contravened, which is usually the case, if this aspect
is neglected (WAHEB, 1991). The law also provides that no

251
reconstruction or amendments of existing buildings shall commence
until the plan is submitted to the health officer for approval (FRN, 1963;
FRN, 2007).

4.0 CONCLUSION

The need for all professional in the construction and maintenance of

housing in our environmental to know some rudiments of what is
involved to draw a building plan, the instruments used and the
professionalism involved cannot be over emphasised. The practical
demonstration of the use of the instruments is facilitated by the expertise
of the user. New innovations that do not require physical handling of
instruments are daily being discovered due the use of various computer
soft wires. However due to the need for the younger ones to know what
was used before these discoveries and its use in rural areas even as at
now where electricity is still a luxury, there is the need for the
understanding and training on the availability, utilisation and
maintenance of these instruments.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this unit you learnt some basic drawing instruments and the various
computer applications such as computer-aided design systems (CAD).
The 2D CAD systems such as AutoCAD or micro station replace the
paper drawing discipline. These are computer-aided design systems used
for the production of technical drawings" two dimensions ("2D") and
three dimensions ("3D") discussed in the unit. Sketches and use of
drafting tables and the instruments on tables have been enumerated. You
are encouraged to visit any Architect or construction unit of any
ministry or offices to see more of these facilities to enable you
appreciate what other professional do as a means of earning a living.
You may not be able to draw a building plan, but you with knowledge
you acquired in this unit you should be able to sketch out your building
or site. You have also leant from this unit what to check for when you
are inspecting a building plan. As an EHO you must ensure you the
building site as to its suitability, the size of the building that is going
into the plot in compliance with the building regulations. The unit have
taught you to check for adequacy of the size of the rooms, availability,
dimension or size and position of windows and doors to ensure proper
ventilation and lighting, availability and adequacy of sanitary facilities,
the distance between the building and set- back, including building line,
and adjourning building or plots, the total area built upon i.e. the area of
the plot occupied by the building. You reference is the current building
regulations in your area.

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6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Define building plan.

2. List five instruments used in building drawings.
3. What is the use of AutoCAD.
4. Visit any technical drawing room to see the instruments available
there.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
Adeigbe, O.O. (1988). “Draft Regulations for Content of Land
Development by Ibadan Metropolitan Planning Authority.”
Unpublished manuscript.
Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Owerri: Readon
Publishers Ltd, in Collaboration with Ugooma Printing and
Publishing Co.
Barry, R. (1999). The Construction of Buildings. Vol. 1. (7th ed.).
London: Blackwell Science Ltd.

Wilkie, W. (1965). Jordanians Tropical Hygiene and Sanitation. (4th

ed.). London: Bailllex, Tundell and Cox.

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MODULE 3

Unit 1 Understand the Preliminaries and the General Principle of

Selecting and Preparing Sites to Receive Various Types of
Foundations
Unit 2 Understand the Principles of Damp-Proofing in Building
Unit 3 Building Plan Processing, Approval and Certification for
Occupancy

UNIT1 UNDERSTAND THE PRELIMINARIES AND

THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE OF SELECTING
AND PREPARING SITES TO RECEIVE
VARIOUS TYPES OF FOUNDATIONS

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Building Site
3.2 Site Analysis
3.3 Processes Involved in Site Analysis
3.4 Foundation in Buildings
3.4.1 Soil and its Types in Building
3.4.2 Top Soil
3.4.3 Subsoil
3.4.4 Coarse Grained Non-Cohesive Soil
3.4.5 Gravel Consists of Particles of a Natural Coarse
Grained Deposit of Rock Fragments
3.4.6 Sand –
3.4.7 Fine Grained Cohesive Soils
3.5 Site Investigation
3.5.1 Site Visit
3.5.2 Trial Pits
3.5.3 Functional Requirement
3.6 Foundation Construction
3.7 Site Preparation
3.7.1 Contaminants
3.7.2 Site Drainage
3.7.3 Cement
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the previous unit we have learnt the definition of building and sketch
plan, the description of site plan, you have also learnt some instruments
used in drawings and buildings and how some instruments are applied
for technical drawings etc. This unit will build on that and discuss the
issues relating to the building sites and the foundation of buildings. We
already have leant in the previous modules that building construction is
the process of adding structure to real property. The vast majority of
building construction jobs is small renovations, such as addition of a
room, or renovation of a bathroom. Often, the owner of the property acts
as labourer, paymaster, and design team for the entire project. However,
all building construction projects include some elements in common –
design, financial, estimating and legal considerations. Many projects of
varying sizes reach undesirable end results, such as structural collapse,
cost overruns, and/or litigation reason; those with experience in the field
make detailed plans and maintain careful oversight during the project to
ensure a positive outcome. The causes of these deficiencies can be
complex but to avoid it all you must understand the necessary
preliminaries that are involved and the principles of selecting and
preparing sites with a view to take all precautions necessary in
preventing dampness and its related problem.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 describe building site

 define site analysis
 list process involved in site analysis
 discuss foundation in building
 describe site investigation
 foundation construction
 site preparation.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Building Site

As in the house build anywhere in the world, the site for a tropical house
must be free from all items arid activities that can adversely affect the
health of the occupants or that can undermine the structural safety of the
buildings. There must be legislations on the type of sites which are not
suitable for houses. These legislations must be honestly and efficiently
complied with. Sites which are not sanitary or cannot be made sanitary

255
must be avoided. Sites around noisy factories, busy highways, airports
and market places are not ideal for residential houses. Uncontrolled
tipping or poorly managed refuse tipping sites and poorly managed
sewage treating plants must not be too close to human houses.

To ensure that the structural stability of the houses is not endangered,

land reclaimed with refuse must not be used for building until certified
suitable through scientific soil test, normally after 20 - 30 years since the
last refuse was deposited. Water-logged areas which poor drainage must
be avoided unless the drainage can be economically improved (Alcock,
l948). The ground water must be at least 2 meters below the ground
surface.

3.2 Site Analysis

Site analysis is an inventory completed as a preparatory step to site

planning, a form of urban planning which involves research, analysis,
and synthesis. It primarily deals with basic data as it relates to a specific
site. The topic itself branches into the boundaries of architecture,
landscape architecture, engineering, real estate development, economics,
and urban planning. Site analysis is an element in site planning and
design. Kevin A. Lynch, an urban planner developed an eight cycle step
process of site design, in which the second step is site analysis, the focus
of this section.

3.3 Processes Involved in Site Analysis

The site design process is divided up into three sections; research phase,
analysis phase, and synthesis phase. These three phases are divided into
the eight chronological steps in the design process.

 Research phase: The first step is defining the problem and its
definition. This is part of the research phase. The site design and
site planning process begins with the initial problem to be solved.
This is started by a client contracting a planner to work with a
particular site.
 Analysis phase: The next step involves programming the site as
well as site and user analysis, which is focused on in-depth
below. There are numerous site elements related to the analysis
during this phase. This is part of the analysis phase in site
planning.
 Synthesis phase: From the analysis, a programme is developed,
which is part of the synthesis phase. The third step deals with
schematic design of a site plan as well as a preliminary cost
estimate for the site. Step four involves more developed designs
and a detailed cost estimate. Step five is the construction

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documents for the plan. Bidding and contracting for the project
follows as step six. Construction then will take place as step
seven. The final step, step eight, in the site design process is
occupation and management of the site.

Elements: Numerous elements go into a given site analysis. These

elements include location, neighbourhood context, site and zoning, legal
elements, natural physical features, man-made features, circulation,
utilities, sensory, human and cultural, and climate components. The
following elements typically are considered in most sites:

 Location: The site should be related to major streets or landmarks

previously existing. Aerial photographs help in this assessment
stage. There should be documentation of distances and time from
major places. This should be completed by either driving or
walking the distance first-hand.
 Neighbourhood context: Zoning of the neighbourhood is
important and information of this type can typically be found at
the municipal planning department of the site. Numerous issues
at this stage require direct observation. Features of this sort
include architectural patterns, street lighting, and condition of
existing buildings. This would also include the immediate
surroundings of the site. The reaction of the surrounding
buildings towards the site and people moving around should be
analysed.
 Size and zoning: Site boundaries can be located by either
verifying the dimensions physically or contacting the county tax
assessor’s office. Zoning classifications, set-backs, height
restrictions, allowable site coverage, uses, and parking
requirements are obtained by obtaining zoning classifications
from a zoning map, which can be located from the city planning
department.
 Legal: Typical legal information can be obtained from the deed to
the property. The deed is held by the owner of the title insurance
company. In this deed is information such as the property
description, present ownership, and the governmental jurisdiction
the site is located in, and the city or county.
 Natural physical features: Most of this information will be
derived from the topographic features on the site. A contour map
of this magnitude can be located from the survey engineer.
Drainage problems as well as existing natural features of trees,
ground cover, ground texture, and soil conditions on the site
should be directly observed.
 Man made features: Features located on the site such as
buildings, walls, fences, patios, plazas, bus stop shelters should
be noted. The site and location of such features should be directly

257
 measured. Documentation of existing historical districts should
be made, some of which may already have reports completed.
Locating this information can be done through the municipal
planning department for the site.
 Circulation: The uses of streets, roads, alleys, sidewalks, and
plazas are important in this inventory step. It is not necessarily an
analysis of these elements but more an analysis of what occurs on
these circulation gateways.
 Utilities: Information for utilities concerning the site can be found
through the utility departments and companies in the local area.
Generally this company has a print of the drawing of this
information needed. Information in this print includes the
location of all utilities and their locations around or on the site
itself.
 Sensory: Much of the sensory information collected will be done
through firsthand experience. This type of information is obtained
from sketching and photographs (sometimes aerial photographs).
Direct observation of other sensory elements of noise, odours,
smoke, and pollutant areas must also be completed.
 Human and cultural: This information can be obtained through
census statistics on the neighbourhood. Information regarding
these statistics is available from the local municipal planning
agency. This information includes activities among people on the
site and their relationships to these activities.
 Climate: This information can be obtained through the local
weather service. Conditions such as rainfall, snowfall, humidity,
and temperature over months must be considered and analysed.
The sun-path and vertical sun angles throughout an entire year
are important to note.

3.4 Foundation in Buildings

The foundation of a building is that part of walls, piers and columns in

direct contact with and transmitting loads to the ground. The building
foundation is sometimes referred to as the artificial, and the ground on
which it bears as the natural foundation.

Ground is the general term for the earth’s surface, which varies in
composition within the two main groups, rocks and soils. Rocks are
hard, strongly cemented deposits such as granite, soils and clay. Rocks
suffer negligible compression and soils measurable compression under
the load of buildings.

The size and depth of a foundation is determined by the structure and

size of the building it supports and the nature and bearing capacity of the
ground supporting it.

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3.4.1 Soil and its Types in Building

Soil is the general term for the upper layer of the earth’s surface which
consists of various combinations of particles of disintegrated rock such
as gravel, sand or clay with some organic remains of decayed vegetation
generally close to the surface.

3.4.2 Top Soil

The surface layer of most of the low lying land in this country, which is
most suited to building, consists of a mixture of loosely compacted
particles of sand, clay and an accumulation of decaying vegetation.

This layer of top soil, which is about 100 to 300mm deep, is sometimes
referred to as vegetable top soil. It is loosely compacted, supports
growing plant life and is unsatisfactory as a foundation. It should be
stripped from the site of buildings because of its poor bearing strengths
and its ability to retain moisture and support vegetation which might
adversely affect the health of occupants of buildings.

3.4.3 Subsoil

Subsoil is the general term for soil below the top soil. It is unusual for a
subsoil to consist of gravel, sand or clay. The majority of subsoils are
mixes of various soils. Gravel, sand and clay may be combined in a
variety of proportions. To make a broad assumption of the behaviour of
a particular soil under the load on foundations it is convenient to group
soils such as gravel, sand and clay by reference to the size and nature of
the particles.

The three broad groups are coarse grained non-cohesive, fine grained
cohesive and organic. The nature and behaviour under the load on
foundations of the soils in each group are similar.

3.4.4 Coarse Grained Non-Cohesive Soil

Soils which are composed mainly of or combinations of, sand and soils
gravel consist of largely siliceous, unaltered products of rock
weathering. They have no plasticity and tend to lack cohesion.

3.4.5 Gravel

Gravel consists of particles of a natural coarse grained deposit of rock

fragments and finer sand. Many of the particles are larger than 2 mm.

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3.4.6 Sand

Sand is natural sediment of granular, mainly siliceous, products of rock

weathering. Particles are smaller than 2 mm, are visible to the naked eye
and the smallest size is 0.06 mm. Sand is gritty, have no real plasticity
and can be easily powdered by hand when dry. Dense, compact gravel
and sand requires a pick to excavate for foundation trenches. A test of
the suitability of these soils as a foundation is that it is difficult to drive
a 5 mm wooden peg more than some 150mm into compact gravel or
sand. As a foundation for small buildings, such as a house, it is
sufficient to spread and level a continuous strip of concrete in the
excavated trenches as a level base for load bearing walls.

The continuous strip of concrete is spread in the trenches excavated

down to an undisturbed level of compact soil. The strip of concrete may
well need to be no wider than the thickness of the wall. In practice the
concrete strip will generally be wider than the thickness of the wall for
the convenience of covering the whole width of the trench and to
provide a wide enough level base for bricklaying below ground. A
continuous strip foundation of concrete is the most economic form of
foundation for small buildings on compact soils.

3.4.7 Fine Grained Cohesive Soils

Fine grained cohesive soils, such as clays, are a natural deposit of the
finest siliceous and aluminous products of rock weathering. Clay is
smooth and greasy to the touch, shows high plasticity, dries slowly and
shrinks appreciably on drying. Under the pressure of the load on
foundations clay soils are very gradually compressed by the expulsion of
water through the very many fine capillary paths, so that buildings settle
gradually during building work and this settlement may continue for
some years after the building is completed. The initial and subsequent
small settlement by compression during and after building on clay sub
soils will generally be uniform under most small buildings, such as
houses, to the extent that no damage is caused to the structure and its
connected services.

3.5 Site Investigation

To select a foundation from tables, or to design a foundation, it is

necessary to calculate the loads on the foundation and determine the
nature of the subsoil, its bearing capacity, it’s likely behaviour under
seasonal and ground water level changes and the possibility of ground
movement. Where the nature of the subsoil is known from geological
surveys, adjacent building work or trial pits or borings and the loads on
foundations are small, as for single domestic buildings, it is generally

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sufficient to excavate for foundations and confirm, from the exposed

subsoil in the trenches, that the soil is as anticipated.

Under strip and pad foundations there is a significant pressure on the

subsoil below the foundations to a depth and breadth of about one-and-
a-half-times the width of the foundation. If there were, in this area below
the foundation, a soil with a bearing capacity less than that below the
foundation, then appreciable settlement of the foundation might occur
and damage the building. It is important, therefore, to know or ascertain
the nature of the subsoil both at the level of the foundation and for some
depth below.

Where the nature of the subsoil is uncertain or there is a possibility of

ground movement or a need to confirm information on subsoil, it is wise
to explore the subsoil over the whole of the site of the building.

As a first step it is usual to collect information on soil and subsoil

conditions from the County and Local Authority, whose local
knowledge from maps, geological surveys, aerial photography and
works for buildings and services adjacent to the site may in itself give an
adequate guide to subsoil conditions. In addition geological maps from
the British Geological Survey, information from local geological
societies, ordnance survey maps, mining and river and coastal
information may be useful.

3.5.1 Site Visit

A visit to the site and its surroundings should always be made to record
everything relevant from a careful examination of the nature of the
subsoil, vegetation, evidence of marshy ground, signs of ground water
and flooding, irregularities in topography, ground erosion and ditches
and flat ground near streams and rivers where there may be soft alluvial
soil. A record should be made of the foundations of old buildings on the
site and cracks and other signs of movement in adjacent buildings as
evidence of ground movement.

3.5.2 Trial Pits

To make an examination of the subsoil on a building site, trial pits or

boreholes are excavated. Trial pits are usually excavated by machine or
hand to depth of two (2) to four (4) m and at least the anticipated depth
of the foundations. The nature of the subsoil is determined by
examination of the sides of the excavations. Boreholes are drilled by
hand auger or by machine to withdraw samples of soil for examination.
Details of the subsoil should include soil type, consistency or strength,
soil structure, moisture conditions and the presence of roots at all

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depths. From the nature of the subsoil the bearing capacity, seasonal
volume changes and other possible ground movements are assumed. To
determine the nature of the subsoil below the foundation level it is either
necessary to excavate trial pits some depth below the foundation or to
bore in the base of the trial hole to withdraw samples. Whichever system
is adopted will depend on economy and the nature of the subsoil. Trial
pits or boreholes should be sufficient in number to determine the nature
of the subsoil over and around the site of the building and should be at
most say 30 m apart.

Ground movements that may cause settlement are:

(1) compression of the soil by the load of the building

(2) seasonal volume changes in the soil
(3) mass movement in unstable areas such as made up ground and
mining areas where there may be considerable settlement
(4) ground made unstable by adjacent excavations or by dewatering,
for example, due to an adjacent road cutting.

It is to anticipate and accommodate these movements that site

investigation and exploration is carried out.

3.5.3 Functional Requirement

The functional requirement of a foundation is on its strength and

stability. The requirements from the building regulations are, as regards
‘Loading’, that ‘The building shall be so constructed that the combined,
dead, imposed and wind loads are sustained and transmitted to the
ground safely and without causing such deflection or deformation of any
part of the building, or such movement of the ground, as will impair the
stability of any part of another building’ and as regards ‘ground
movement’ that ‘The building shall be so constructed that movements of
the subsoil caused by swelling, shrinkage or freezing will not impair the
stability of any part of the building’.

A foundation should be designed to transmit the loads of the building to

the ground so that there is, at most, only a limited settlement of the
building into the ground. A building whose foundation is on sound rock
will suffer no measurable settlement whereas a building on soil will
suffer settlement into the ground by the compression of the soil under
the foundation loads.

Foundations should be designed so that settlement into the ground is

limited and uniform under the whole of the building. Some settlement of
a building on a soil foundation is inevitable as the increasing loads on
the foundation, as the building is erected, compress the soil. This

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settlement should be limited to avoid damage to service pipes and drains

connected to the building. Bearing capacities for various rocks and soils
are assumed and these capacities should not be exceeded in the design of
the foundation to limit settlement.

In theory, if the foundation soil were uniform and foundation bearing

pressure were limited, the building would settle into the ground
uniformly as the building was erected, and to a limited extent, and there
would be no possibility of damage to the building or its connected
services or drains. In practice there are various possible ground
movements under the foundation of a building that may cause one part
of the foundation to settle at a different rate and to a different extent than
another part of the foundation.

This different or differential settlement must be limited to avoid damage

to the superstructure of the building. Some structural forms can
accommodate differential or relative foundation movement without
damage more than others. A brick wall can accommodate limited
differential movement of the foundation or the structure by slight
movement of the small brick units and mortar joints, without affecting
the function of the wall, whereas a rigid framed structure with rigid
panels cannot be to the same extent. Foundations are designed to limit
differential settlement; the degree to which this limitation has to be
controlled or accommodated in the structure depends on the nature of
the structure supported by the foundation.

3.6 Foundation Construction

Strip foundations consist of a continuous strip, usually of concrete,

formed centrally under load bearing walls. This continuous strip serves
as a level base on which the wall is built and is of such a width as is
necessary to spread the load on the foundations to an area of subsoil
capable of supporting the load without undue compaction. Concrete is
the material principally used today for foundations as it can readily be
placed, spread and levelled in foundation trenches, to provide a base for
walls, and it develops adequate compressive strength as it hardens to
support the load on foundations. Before Portland cement was
manufactured, strip foundations of brick were common, the brick
foundation being built directly off firm subsoil or built on a bed of
natural stones.

The width of a concrete strip foundation depends on the bearing

capacity of the subsoil and the load on the foundations. The greater the
bearing capacity of the subsoil, the less the width of the foundation for
the same load.

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A table in approved document A to the building regulations sets out the
recommended minimum width of concrete strip foundations related to
six specified categories of subsoil and calculated total loads on
foundations as a form of ready reckoner. The widths vary from 250mm
for a load of not more than 20kN/linear metre of wall on compact gravel
or sand through 450mm for loads of 40kN/linear metre on firm clay, to
850mm for loads not exceeding 30kN/linear metre on soft silt, clay or
sandy clay.

The dimensions given are indicative of what might be acceptable in the

conditions specified rather than absolutes to be accepted regardless of
the conditions prevailing on individual sites.

The strip foundation for a cavity external wall and a solid internal, load
bearing wall would be similar to the width recommended in the
Advisory Document for firm clay subsoil when the load on the
foundations is no more than 50kN/linear metre. In practice the linear
load on the foundation of a house would be appreciably less than
50kN/linear metre and the foundation may well be made wider than the
minimum requirement for the convenience of filling a wider trench with
concrete for the convenience of laying brick below ground.

The least thickness of a concrete strip foundation is determined in part

by the size of the aggregate used in the concrete, the need for a
minimum thickness of concrete so that it does not dry too quickly and
lose strength and to avoid failure of the concrete by shear.

If the thickness of a concrete strip foundation were appreciably less than

its projection each side of a wall the concrete might fail through the
development of shear cracks by the weight of the wall causing a 450
crack. If this occurred the bearing surface of the foundation on the
ground would be reduced to less than that necessary for stability.

Shear is caused by the two opposing forces of the wall and the ground
acting on and tearing or shearing the concrete as scissors or shears cut or
shear materials apart.

3.7 Site Preparation

Turf and vegetable top soil should be removed from the ground to be
covered by a building, to a depth sufficient to prevent later growth. Tree
and bush roots, that might encourage later growth, are grubbed up and
any pockets of soft compressible material, that might affect the stability
of the building, are removed. The reasons for removing this vegetable
soil are firstly to prevent plants, shrubs or trees from attempting to grow
under the concrete. In growing, even the smallest of plant life exerts

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considerable pressure, which would quite quickly rupture the concrete

over site. The second reason for removing the vegetable top soil is that it
is generally soft and compressible and readily retains moisture which
would cause concrete over it to be damp at all times. The depth of
vegetable top soil varies and on some sites it may be necessary to
remove 300mm or more vegetable top soil.

In practice most of the vegetable top soil over a building site is

effectively moved by excavations for foundations, leveling and drain
and other service pipes to the extent that it may be necessary to remove
top soil that remains within or around the confines of a building.

3.7.1 Contaminants

There are some possible contaminants in or on ground to be covered by

a building that may be a danger to health or safety. Building sites that
may be likely to contain contaminants can be identified from planning
records or local knowledge of previous uses. Sites previously used as
asbestos, chemical or gas works, metal works, munitions factories,
nuclear installations, oil stores, railway land, and sewage works and land
fill are some examples given.

3.7.2 Site Drainage

Surface water (storm water) is the term used for natural water that is
rainwater that falls on the surface of the ground including open ground
such as fields, paved areas and roofs. Rainwater that falls on paved areas
and from roofs generally drains to surface water.

3.7.3 Cement

The cement most used is ordinary Portland cement but there are many
types in use in Nigeria and the West African sub region that are equally
good. It is manufacture by heating a mixture of finely powdered clay
and limestone with water to a temperature of about l2°C, at which the
lime and clay fuse to form a clinker. This clinker is ground with the
addition of a little gypsum to a fine powder of cement. Cement powder
reacts with water and its composition gradually changes and the
particles of cement bind together and adhere strongly to materials with
which they are mixed, Cement hardens gradually after it is mixed with
water. Some thirty minutes to an hour after mixing with water the
cement is no longer plastic and it is said that the initial set has occurred.
About 10 hours after mixing with water, the cement has solidified and it
increasingly hardens until some seven (7) days after mixing with water
when it is a dense solid mass.

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4.0 CONCLUSION

In building construction and maintenance, it is necessary to understand

that state of foundation as it is made is vital to the strength, survival and
stability of the building. The type of soil on which it is placed now
becomes paramount because foundation does not exist in a vacuum.
There are some types of soils that do not support putting a foundation on
it without adequate clearance, preparation and treatment. The use of
sand, cement and gravels is a profession exercise. It is important for you
to ensure that building engineers comply with the specification and the
formula of the mix and the time duration required of all the mix for use
in building. Some factors determine the quantity of cement, water sand
to be used.

5.0 SUMMARY

in this unit you learnt that the site for construction must be adequately
and professionally examined. The site design process is divided up into
three sections as enumerated in the unit the first is the research phase
followed by analysis phase and the final is synthesis phase. These three
phases are divided into the eight chronological steps in the design
process which involves a lot of procedures and steps and includes
considering the location, neighborhood context, site and zoning, legal
elements, natural physical features, man-made features, circulation,
utilities, sensory, human and cultural, and climate components. These
conditions or elements typically are considered in most sites proposed
for construction. The foundation of buildings must be made in such a
way to receive all the weight of the structure and must be well
distributed to avoid sagging and cracking of the building, site
investigation must be done to determine the type and nature of the soil,
quality and previous use of the area, how to initiate foundation
construction is vital and how to prepare sites for construction is also an
issues that must be monitored to ensure healthy and strong building.
These are very applicable to both urban and rural areas.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Write short notes on the following:

1. Building site and site analysis.

2. Processes involved in site analysis.
3. Foundation in building.
4. Site investigation.
5. Preparation of sites for construction.

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7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Alan, G. (1972). Environmental Planning: A Condensed Encyclopaedia.

Park Ridge, New Jersey: Noyes Publications, 1972. p.271.

Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Owerri: Readon

Publishers Ltd, in Collaboration with Ugooma Printing and
Publishing Co.

Barry, R. (1999). The Construction of Buildings. Vol. 1. (7th ed.).

London: Blackwell Science Ltd.

Edward, T. W.(2004). Site Analysis: Diagramming Information for

Architectural Design. Tallahassee, Florida: Architectural Media
Ltd., 2004. pp.1-158.

James, A. L. Jr. (2008). Site Analysis: A Contextual Approach to

Sustainable Land Planning and Site Design. (2nd ed.). Hoboken,
New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2008. 1-371.

Steven, B. M. (2006). "Site Planning and Design." The Web Book of

Regional Science.

Paul, D. S. & Beatriz, De Paz (2005). Pre-Design. Chicago, IL: Kaplan

AEC Architecture, 2005. 1-382.

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UNIT 2 UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLES OF DAMP-
PROOFING IN BUILDING

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Damp Proofing
3.1.1 A Damp-Proof Course
3.1.2 Damp-Proof Membrane
3.1.3 Rising Damp
3.1.4 Damp-Proof Membrane
3.1.5 Dam-Proof Membrane below Site Concrete
3.1.6 Surface Damp-Proof Membrane
3.1.7 Damp-Proof Courses in Cavity Wall
3.1.8 Prime Functions
3.2 Materials Used for Damp roofing
3.3 Remedial DPC
3.4 Enumerate Three (3) Types of Dampness
3.4.1 Structural Dampness
3.4.2 Health Effects of Structural Damp
3.4.3 Identification, Prevention and Treatment
3.4.4 Humidity
3.4.5 Prevention and Treatment
3.4.6 Condensation
3.4.7 Walls
3.5 Prevention and Treatments
3.5.1 Treatment of Rising Damp
3.5.2 Replastering
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the previous unit we have learnt that site for construction must be
adequately and professionally examined. We have seen how site design
process was divided up into three sections namely research phase then
analysis phase and then synthesis phase. These three phases are also
divided into the eight chronological steps in the design process which
was listed as the location, neighborhood context, site and zoning, legal
elements, natural physical features, man-made features, circulation,
utilities, sensory, human and cultural, and climate components. In this
unit we will progress to discuss damp proofing in building, its

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importance, how it is constructed, the various materials that can be used

for it and its uses. It is needless to say that any building without a DPC
renders the foundation liable to problems that will be enumerated in the
unit.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 define terms in damp proofing

 state the materials used in damp proofing
 describe remedial damp proofing
 enumerate three(3) types of dampness
 list the health effects of dampness
 explain the prevention and treatment of dampness.

4.0 MAIN CONTENT

4.1 Damp Proofing

Damp proofing in construction is a type of waterproofing applied to

building foundation walls to prevent moisture from passing through the
walls into interior spaces.

4.1.1 A Damp-Proof Course (often abbreviated to DPC)

Is a horizontal barrier in a wall designed to resist moisture rising through

the structure by capillary action - a phenomenon known as rising damp.
It is also described as a thick plastic strip bedded into the mortar
between two courses of bricks or blocks. It can often be seen as a thin
plastic line in the mortar near ground level.

4.1.2 Damp-Proof Membrane (DPM)

DPM performs a similar function for a solid floor. Moisture resistance is

not necessarily absolute: it is usually defined by a specific test method,
limits, and engineering tolerances. In simpler words, DPC is used to stop
dampness in buildings. In theory, due to capillary movement of water,
water rises from earth to the building. Passing through foundation it
rises higher to reach walls. Reaching water to walls may damage them
by creating cracks, breaking cement-paint bonds and creating dark-spots
on wall etc. So, to avoid water from reaching to walls, we lay DPC layer
at plinth level (the joint level of walls and foundations). DPC layer is
usually laid below all the walls unaffected from the issue that the
respective wall is a load bearing wall or a partition wall. Usually, DPC

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membrane is 4" to 9" wide. A DPM is usually a thick polythene sheet
laid under the floor slab, to allow the slab to dry out and keep out
groundwater. It is often laid on a bed of sand, to prevent the sharp edges
of the hardcore damaging it.

To create a continuous barrier, pieces of DPC or DPM are welded

together. In addition, the DPC is welded to the DPM around the outside
edges of the ground floor, completely sealing the inside of the building
from the damp ground under it.

In a cavity wall, there is usually a DPC in both the outer and inner wall.
In the outer wall it is normally 150-200mm above ground level (the
height of two-three brick courses). This allows rain to form puddles and
splash up off the ground, without saturating the wall above DPC level.
The wall below the DPC may become saturated in rainy weather. The
DPC in the inner wall is usually below floor level, (under a suspended
timber floor structure), or, with a solid concrete floor, it is usually found
immediately above the floor slab so that it can be linked to the DPM
under the floor slab. This enables installation of skirting boards above
floor level without fear of puncturing it. Alternatively, instead of fitting
separate inner and outer DPCs, it is common in commercial house
building to use a one-piece length of rigid plastic, (albeit an angled
section), which fits neatly across the cavity and slots into both walls (a
cavity tray). This method requires the need for weep vents to enable
rainwater ingress to drain from the cavities otherwise rising dampness
could occur from above the DPC.

4.1.3 Rising Damp

In practice, almost never occurs. Nearly every occurrence of so called

'Rising Damp' can be properly diagnosed as related to condensation,
penetrating damp, or the improper use of impermeable materials. For
example, the widespread use of impervious gypsum plasters in solid
wall, lime mortar constructed houses traps condensation and creates
damp problems which are incorrectly interpreted by chemical salesmen
and 'damp surveyors' as rising damp. Similarly, cement render applied to
the outside of walls built in this way will create the same symptoms. It is
vital to correctly diagnose causes of damp problems - many older, solid
wall construction houses now have several useless injection damp
proofing courses as a result of incorrect diagnosis. Rising damp in
theory can occur for various reasons - the failure of an existing damp
proof course, bridging due to the raising of external ground or internal
floor levels, or in older buildings, the complete absence of a damp proof
course.

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Brick, stone and mortar are porous allowing damp from the ground to
rise by capillary action, carrying with it ground salts including chlorides
and nitrates. These salts from the ground can absorb moisture from the
atmosphere leading to wall dampness in conditions of high relative
humidity. Also they can ruin decorations and break down internal
plaster. In older days, stone-slab was mostly used as DPC material.
Building standards in many countries require most new buildings to
incorporate a DPC/DPM at the time of construction. This may consist of
a thin strip of plastic, a course of engineering brick or slate, or a layer of
bitumen.

Barry (1999) in his book (Construction of buildings volume 1) had in

details discussed DPC and its associated remedies and is produced for
you below.

3.1.4 Damp-Proof Membrane

Concrete is spread over site as a solid base for floors and as a barrier to
moisture rising from the ground. Concrete is to some degree permeable
to water and will absorb moisture from the ground; a damp over site
concrete slab will be cold and draw appreciable heat from rooms.

A requirement of the building regulations is that floors shall adequately

resist the passage of moisture to the inside of the building. As concrete
is permeable to moisture, it is generally necessary to use a damp-proof
membrane under, in or on top of ground supported floor slabs as an
effective barrier to moisture rising from the ground. The membrane
should be continuous with the damp-proof course in walls, as a barrier
to moisture rising between the edges of the concrete slab and walls.

A damp-proof membrane should be impermeable to water in either

liquid or vapour form and be tough enough to withstand possible
damage during the laying of screeds, concrete or floor finishes. The
damp-proof membrane may be on top, sandwiched in or under the
concrete slab.

Being impermeable to water the membrane will delay the drying out of
wet concrete to ground if it is under the concrete, and of screeds to
concrete if it is on top of the concrete.

3.1.5 Dam-Proof Membrane below Site Concrete

The obvious place to use a continuous damp-proof membrane is under

the over site concrete. The membrane is spread on a layer of
comparatively dry concrete, clinker or ash which is spread and levelled
over the hardcore. The edges of the membrane are turned up the face of

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external and internal walls ready for concrete laying so that it may unite
and overlap the DPC in walls. The membrane should be spread with
some care to ensure that thin membranes are not punctured by sharp,
upstanding particles in the blinding and that the edge up stands are kept
in place as the concrete is laid.

The advantage of a damp-proof membrane under the site concrete is that

it will be protected from damage during subsequent building operations.
A disadvantage is that the membrane will delay the drying out of the
over site concrete that can only lose moisture by upwards evaporation to
air.

Where under floor heating is used the membrane should be under the
concrete.

3.1.6 Surface Damp-Proof Membrane

Floor finishes such as pitch mastic and mastic asphalt that are
impermeable to water can serve as a combined damp-proof membrane
and floor finish. These floor finishes should be laid to overlap the damp-
proof course in the wall to seal the joint between the concrete and the
wall.

Where hot soft bitumen or coal tar pitch are used as an adhesive for
wood block floor finishes the continuous layer of the impervious
adhesive can serve as a waterproof membrane.

The disadvantage of impervious floor finishes and impervious adhesives

for floor finishes as a damp-proof membrane are that the concrete under
the floor finish and the floor finish itself will be cold underfoot and
make calls on the heating system and if the old floor finish is replaced
with another there may be no damp-proof membrane.

3.1.7 Damp-Proof Courses in Cavity Wall

A cavity wall built as two leaves separated by a cavity. The purpose of

the cavity is to act as a barrier to the penetration of rainwater to the
inside of buildings. It is practice to build a cavity wall directly off the
foundation so that the cavity extends below ground. A requirement of
the Building Regulations is that the cavity should be carded down at
least 150mm below the level of the lowest DPC.

A DPC in external walls should ideally be at the same level as the DPM
in the concrete over site for the convenience of overlapping the two
materials to make a damp-proof joint.

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Where the DPCs in both leaves of a cavity wall are at least 150mm
above outside ground level and the floor level is at, or just above,
ground level, it is necessary to dress the DPM up the wall and into the
level of the DPC. This is a laborious operation which makes it difficult
to make a moisture tight joint at angles and intersections. The solution is
to lay the DPC in the inner leaf of the cavity wall, level with the DPM in
the floor.

Where the level of the foundation is near the surface, as with trench fill
systems, it may be convenient to build two courses of solid brickwork
up to ground level on which the cavity wall is raised. As little vegetable
top soil has been removed the floor level finishes some way above
ground and the DPM in the floor can be united with the DPC at the same
level. The cavity insulation is taken down to the base of the cavity to
continue wall insulation down to serve in part as edge insulation to the
floor construction.

It is accepted practice to finish the cavity in external walling at the level

of the DPC, at least 150mm above ground, where the wall is built as a
solid wall up to the DPC. This form of construction may be used where
the inner leaf of the cavity wall was built with light weight concrete
blocks, used for their insulating property. These blocks fairly readily
absorb moisture, expand when wet and might be affected by frost and
deteriorate, whereas solid brickwork below ground will provide a stable
base.

With this arrangement the requirements of the building regulations

recommend the use of a cavity tray at the bottom of the cavity. This tray
takes the form of a sheet of a flexible, impermeable material such as one
of the flexible DPC materials which is laid across the cavity from a level
higher in the inner leaf so that it falls towards the outer leaf to catch and
drain any snow or moisture that might enter the cavity. The cavity thus
acts as both tray and DPC to the cavity wall leaves.

In this detail of construction the under concrete insulation is below the

lowest level of the cavity and should be turned up against the outer walls
as edge insulation. A wall is a continuous, usually vertical structure, thin
in proportion to its length and height, built to provide shelter as an
external wall or divide buildings into rooms or compartments as an
internal wall.

3.1.8 Prime Functions

The prime function of an external wall is to provide shelter against

wind, rain and the daily and seasonal variations of outside temperature
normal to its location, for reasonable indoor comfort. The basic function

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of shelter may be served by crude systems of interlaced branches of
trees covered with dried mud, the more permanent protection of a brick
wall or a screen of sheets of glass fixed to or hung from a structural
frame.

 Strength and stability

To provide adequate shelter a wall should have sufficient strength and

stability to be self-supporting and to support roofs and upper floors. To
differentiate the structural requirements of those walls that carry the
loads from roofs and upper floors in addition to their own weight from
those that are freestanding and only carry their own weight, the terms
load bearing and non-load bearing are used. In practice non load
bearing, internal walls are often described as partitions.

 Thermal resistance

For reasonable indoor comfort a wall should provide resistance to

excessive transfer of heat both from inside to outside and from outside
to inside during periods of cold or hot, seasonal, outside temperature

The materials that are most effective in resisting heat transfer are of a
fibrous or cellular nature in which very many small pockets of air are
trapped to act as insulation against the transfer of heat.

Because of their lightweight nature these materials do not have

sufficient strength to serve as part of the structure of a wall by
themselves. Lightweight insulating materials are either sandwiched
between materials that have strength or behind those that resist
penetration of wind and rain, or serve as internal wall finishes.

The majorities of walls for traditional small buildings, such as houses,

are constructed with solid blocks such as brick or are framed from small
sections of timber. Which one of the two types of wall is used will
generally depend on the availability of materials, such as clay for
making bricks, stone for making blocks or timber for frames.

Walls may be classified as solid or framed. A solid wall (sometimes

called a masonry wall) is constructed of either brick, or blocks of stone,
or concrete laid in mortar with the blocks laid to overlap in some form
of what is called bonding or as a monolith, that is, one solid
uninterrupted material such as concrete which is poured wet and hardens
into a solid monolith (one piece of stone). A solid wall of bricks or
blocks may be termed a block (or masonry) wall, and a continuous solid
wall of concrete, a monolithic wall.

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A frame wall is constructed from a frame of small sections of timber,

concrete or metal joined together to provide strength and rigidity, over
both faces of which, or between the members of the frame, are fixed thin
panels of some material to fulfill the functional requirements of the
particular wall.

Each of the two types of wall may serve as internal or external wall and
as a load bearing or non-load bearing wall. Each of the two types of wall
has different characteristics in fulfilling the functional requirements of a
wall so that one type may have good resistance to fire but be a poor
insulator against transfer of heat. There is no one material or type of
wall that will fulfill all the functional requirements of a wall with
maximum efficiency.

Traditional small buildings, such as houses, are commonly built as a

square or rectangular box of enclosing walls as the most economical
means of enclosing space. The walls of a single detached building are
exposed on all sides to wind, rain and the variations of outside
temperature.

Two buildings constructed on each side of a common separating wall,

usually described as semi-detached, enjoy the advantage of a shared
internal dividing wall and only three external walls exposed to wind and
rain, as illustrated in Figure 2.1. A disadvantage of the shared dividing
wall is that it may not serve as an effective sound barrier.

A continuous terrace of houses enjoys the benefit of shared, common

dividing walls, reduction in exposure to wind and rain and the likely
disadvantage of the poor sound insulation through two common dividing
walls.

Fig. 2.1: Detail in this figure showing some of the causes of damp
penetration
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3.2 Materials Used for Damp roofing

Materials widely used for damp proofing include:

 flexible materials like hot bitumen, plastic sheets, bituminous

felts, sheets of lead, copper, etc.
 semi-rigid materials like mastic asphalt
 rigid materials like impervious bricks, stones, slates, cement
mortar or cement concrete painted with bitumen, etc.
 stones
 mortar with waterproofing compounds
 coarse sand layers under floors
 continuous plastic sheets under floors.

3.3 Remedial DPC

In old buildings there may be a DPC made from lead. The DPM may be
non-existent, leading to damp problems, mold health issues or generally
a poor indoor air quality, or it may rely on an impermeable floor finish
such as ceramic tiles to keep most of the damp out.

Where a DPC is absent or inadequate, there are various means of

retrofitting one. A common method in masonry walls is to drill holes
into the wall at regular intervals and inject a penetrating liquid (e.g.
silicone) into the holes. The chemical is absorbed into the masonry,
where it cures to form a waterproof barrier. More recently, damp-
proofing creams have been introduced which are faster to install and do
not require specialised pumping equipment. Whether in liquid or cream
form, the effectiveness of chemical damp-proofing products depends on
a number of factors including product strength, the types of active
ingredients in the formulation, the delivery system (e.g. solvents and
surfactants), and the suitability of the system for the substrate that it is
being injected into. Some forms of the chemical are odour-free; others
have a strong odour.

Damp proofing remedies include:

 Silane diffusion: Utilising a concentrated thixotropic silane /

silicone ‘cream’
 Siliconate transfusion: A gravity fed system with no wastage via
hidden voids
 Siliconate injection: Recommended occasionally for single brick
walls

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Some DPC materials may contain asbestos fibers. This was more
commonly found in the older, grey sealants as well as flexible tar
boards. Other possibly hazardous materials include the use of lead
sheets as a DPC material.

3.4 Enumerate Three (3) Types of Dampness

3.4.1 Structural Dampness

This refers to the presence of unwanted moisture in the structure of a

building, either the result of intrusion from outside or condensation from
within the structure.

A high proportion of damp problems in buildings are caused by the "big

three"; condensation, rain penetration, and rising damp, although other
causes of dampness such as pipe leakage and construction moisture
should not be overlooked.

Dampness tends to cause secondary damage to a building. The

unwanted moisture enables the growth of various fungi in wood, causing
rot or mold health issues and may eventually lead to sick building
syndrome. Plaster and paint deteriorate and wallpaper loosens. Stains,
from the water, salts and from mold, mar surfaces. The highest airborne
mold concentrations are found in buildings where significant mold
infestation has occurred, usually as a result of severe water intrusion or
flood damage Molds can grow on almost any surface and occurs where
there is a lot of moisture from structural problems such as leaky roofs or
high humidity levels. Airborne mold concentrations have the potential to
be inhaled and cause serious health effects in humans.

Externally, mortar may crumble and salt stains may appear on the walls.
Steel & iron fasteners rust. It may also cause a poor indoor air quality
and respiratory illness in occupants. In extreme cases, mortar or plaster
may fall away from the affected wall.

3.4.2 Health Effects of Structural Damp

Asthma is one of the most common health effects associated with

structural dampness. Asthma is heightened due to condensation,
moisture, humidity, and water intrusion, which all contribute to indoor
moisture. Mold infestation is a major trigger for asthma. Aside asthma,
other health concerns of mold are infections, allergenic or
immunological illness, and nonallergic illness. Asthma is also triggered
by the sensitisation of dust mites accruing humid, wet regions of a
structure. Another health effect associated with structural dampness is
the presence of bacteria in an indoor environment. Bacteria require

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water to grow and multiply. Bacteria are source for the transmission of
diseases, therefore putting occupants’ health at risk by water intrusion
into the indoor environment. Water removal and drying of wet building
materials within 2 days will likely prevent mold and bacteria growth,
therefore reducing occupants’ vulnerability to disease.

A 2009 World Health Organisation report entitled "Children Living in

Homes with Problems of Damp" stated that:

Excess moisture leads – on almost all indoor

materials – to growth of microbes such as
moulds, fungi and bacteria, which subsequently
emit spores, cells, fragments and volatile
organic compounds into the indoor air.
Moreover, dampness initiates chemical and/or
biological degradation of materials, which also
causes pollution of the indoor air. Exposure to
microbial contaminants is clinically associated
with respiratory symptoms, allergies, asthma
and immunological reactions. Dampness has
therefore been suggested to be a strong and
consistent indicator of risk for asthma and
respiratory symptoms such as cough and
wheeze.

3.4.3 Identification, Prevention and Treatment

A wide range of instruments and techniques can be used to investigate

the causes of moisture in building materials. When used correctly, they
can provide a valuable aid to investigation. The competence and
experience of the person undertaking the damp investigations is of
greater importance than the kit he or she carries.

Most forms of dampness can be prevented by thoughtful building design

and careful construction. In the UK, well built modern houses include
damp proofing in the form of a synthetic damp-proof course (DPC),
about 15 cm above ground level, to act as a barrier through which water
cannot pass. Slate or "engineering bricks" with a low porosity were
often used for the first few courses above ground level, and these can in
theory help minimise the problem.

There are many approaches to the treatment of dampness in existing

buildings. Key to the selection of an appropriate treatment is a correct
diagnosis of the types of dampness affecting a building. Details of
possible treatments for specific types of dampness are covered in the
sections below.

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The cause of the dampness must first be eliminated, by providing better

drainage or fixing leaking pipes. Some processes describe several
methods of treating rising damp, including the use of land-drains and the
insertion of physical and chemical DPCs. Then, any affected plaster or
mortar must be removed, and the wall treated, before replacing the
plaster and repainting.

3.4.4 Humidity

Humidity occurs in indoor environments due to building related causes.

Porous walls, rising damp, and leaks in the building are determinants for
structural dampness due to elevated humidity levels. The construction of
the building can also lead to humidity and unwanted moisture in the
indoor environment Wet materials, such as lumber stored unprotected
outdoors before construction, can lead to increased humidity indoors for
up to the second year of occupancy in the building. Most commonly in
residences, elevated relative humidity is produced by poor drainage
systems. This leads to dampness in substructures such as crawlspaces
and basements. The dampness results in vaporisation where water vapor
is transmitted into the building's interiors. Water vapor may enter the
building through supply air ducts in building slabs and circulated by
warm forced air. Water vapor can also enter a building through leaky
return air ducts in homes with crawlspaces.

Human occupancy adds a significant amount of humidity to the indoor

environment. Personal activity as basic as breathing and perspiration are
they add moisture to an indoor space. Cooking and showering raise
humidity levels in the indoor environment, which directly affects the
structural dampness of a home. Aspects of the home can also increase
the humidity of a space. Items such as aquariums, indoor swimming
pools, hot tubs, and even indoor plants add to the humidity of an indoor
space. All of these attributes can increase the humidity of a home
beyond its recommended thirty to fifty per cent.

Humidity levels in an indoor environment need to be accounted for

based upon season and temperature. If humidity levels do not agree with
the time of the year and the temperature during seasons, mold infestation
and deterioration of the building will occur due to moisture. An
acceptable humidity level in indoor spaces ranges from twenty to sixty
per cent year round. However, levels less than twenty per cent in the
winter and levels higher than sixty per cent in the summer are deemed
unacceptable for indoor air quality. Structural dampness is likely to
occur as well as an increase of health risks associated with moisture
damage.

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3.4.5 Prevention and Treatment

There are strategies to prevent water infiltration due to humidity into

structures, as well as ways to treat human occupancy practices regarding
humidity. Vapor retarders are materials that can be used to restrain
uncontrolled airflow and water vapor into an indoor space. Vapor
retarders are used to decrease the rate and amount of water vapor
diffusion through ceilings, walls, and floors caused by humidity. It is
made of thin, flexible materials and its coatings can be installed by
trowels or brushes. Utilising vapor retarders in a building prevent
structural dampness from occurring or continuing if it already exists. A
strategy for reducing humidity levels in an indoor environment is by
altering occupant activity and indoor mechanics. Kitchens and
bathrooms need to have their own vents. Additionally, washing
machines need to be vented outdoors. Both of these are important in
order to decrease indoor moisture due to humidity caused by the
activities occurring in these indoor spaces. Moisture sources, such as hot
tubs or indoor swimming pools, should be covered by airtight lids when
not in use, thus humidity levels stay low in the indoor environment.

3.4.6 Condensation

Condensation comes from water vapour within the building. Common

sources may include cooking, bathing etc. The moisture in the air
condenses on cold surfaces. Buildings with poorly insulated walls are
very prone to this problem. It often causes damage similar to damp in a
building and often appears in similar places. This is because it occurs in
the "dead air" pockets that accumulate in both horizontal and vertical
corners (i.e. out of circulating air patterns).

Moisture condenses on the interiors of buildings due to specific

interactions between the roof and wall. Leaks most commonly occur on
flat-roofed buildings. Certain building materials and mechanisms can be
used to prevent condensation from occurring in these areas, therefore
reducing structural dampness and potential mold infestation. In many
cases, the insulation between the roof and wall is compressed, leading to
a decrease in thermal resistance. Due to the lack of thermal resistance,
condensation occurs, which leads to water damage in the indoor
environment. In most cases where moisture is not addressed quickly
enough, mold and mildew develop. Another issue is that wind washing
up into the crevice where the roof and wall intersect reduces the
efficiency of the insulation. These results in condensation and risk for
mold growth. In the United Kingdom, condensation problems are
particularly common between October and March - to the extent that
this period is often referred to as the "condensation season."

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 Identification of condensation

If it is suspected that the problem is condensation, then a room should be

sealed off with a left running for the recommended time and then further
instrument tests made. If the dampness has disappeared, then
condensation is very likely the problem. Alternatively Humiditect cards
or dataloggers (measuring air humidity, air temperature, and surface
temperature) can be used as tools for diagnosing a condensation
problem.

 Treatment

Typical remedies for condensation include increasing background heat

and ventilation, improving the insulation of cold surfaces and reducing
moisture generation (e.g. by avoiding the drying of clothes indoors).

 Rain penetration

Rain penetration (also known as "penetrating damp") is a common form

of dampness in buildings. It can occur through walls, roofs, or through
openings (e.g. window reveals).

Water will often penetrate the outer envelope of a building and appear
inside. Common defects include:

 roof defects such as faulty flashing, cracked or missing slates or

tiles
 faults in the brickwork or masonry such as missing or cracked
pointing. Porous bricks or stones
 missing or defective mastic around windows and doors
 blocked weep holes
 missing or defective trays in cavity walls.

3.4.7 Walls

Rain penetration is most often associated with single-skin walls, but can
also occur through cavity walls - e.g. by tracking across wall ties.

The most common sources of indoor moisture at the base of walls in

buildings is from defective ground and surface drainage. This is due to
rising ground levels and the failure of ground drainage systems. These
defects are common nation-wide. Additionally, plumbing leaks and
flooding from defective drainage and plumbing are also sources of
moisture occurring on the base of walls in buildings.

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 Diagnosis of rising damp

The first step in assessing damp is to check for standing water.

Removing water with good drainage will remove any form of dampness.
Once done, and dampness remains, the next step is to look for the
presence of a damp-proof course. If a damp-proof course is present, it is
likely to be functioning, as the materials from which damp proof courses
are manufactured tend to have a long lifespan. However, it should be
acknowledged that there are cases where existing damp proof courses
fail for one reason or another.

One method that is often used to determine if the source of dampness is

rising damp (rather than other forms of dampness) is to look for the
presence of salts - in particular a tell tale "salt band" or "tide mark" at
the peak of the damp's rise. Although this is a useful indicator, it is not
completely reliable as salts can enter the fabric of the wall in other ways
- e.g. unwashed sea sand or gravel used in the construction of the wall.

If there is no damp-proof course and rising damp is suspected (tide

mark, moisture confined to lower section of wall etc...) then a number of
diagnostic techniques can be used to determine the source of dampness.
BRE Digest 245 states that the most satisfactory approach is to obtain
samples of mortar in the affected wall using a drill and then analysing
these samples to determine their moisture and salt content. The fact that
this technique is destructive to the wall finish often makes it
unacceptable to homeowners. It is for this reason that electrical moisture
meters are often used when surveying for rising damp. These
instruments are unable to accurately measure the moisture content of
masonry (they were developed for use on timber), however the reading
patterns that are achieved can provide useful indicators of the source of
dampness.

3.4 Prevention and Treatment

Many experts in building constructions have argued many ways of

treating dampness in building some of them are as follows.

3.5.1 Treatment of Rising Damp

In many cases, damp is caused by "bridging" of a damp-proof course

that is otherwise working effectively. For example a flower bed next to
an affected wall might result in soil being piled up against the wall
above the level of the DPC. In this example, moisture from the ground
would be able to ingress through the wall from the soil. Such a damp
problem could be rectified by simply lowering the flower bed to below
DPC level.

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Where a rising damp problem is caused by a lack of a damp-proof

course (common in buildings over approximately 100 years old) or by a
failed damp-proof course (comparatively rare) there are a wide range of
possible solutions available. These include:

 replacement physical damp proof course

 injection of a liquid or cream chemical damp proof course (DPC
Injection)
 porous tubes
 electrical-osmotic systems
 land drainage.

BRE Digest 245 suggests that with the exception of replacement

physical DPCs, only methods of treatment with third party accreditation
(E.g. British Board of Agreement Certificate) should be considered. It
then goes on to state that the only method of currently satisfying this
requirement is DPC injection (liquid or cream) and that "this is the only
method which BRE considers suitable where insertion of a physical
DPC is not possible. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveryors
(RICS) publication "Remedying Damp" is more cautious about reliance
on third party accreditation, casting doubt upon the validity of the test
methods employed, arguing that trials are usually conducted using
"specially built masonry panels - which do not match up in many
respects to walls found in real properties," and that "if a DPC were
proved to not work in a specially built masonry panel, this would be the
more significant result. The MOAT No 39 test employed by the British
Board of Agrément (BBA) in the UK is dismissed as "quite a clever test
idea but in the author's opinion not actually replicating a real wall.
Furthermore, the point is made that "BBA testing is paid for by
manufacturers, and the results are not thought to be publicly
available."[30]

In his book, Dampness in Buildings, Alan Oliver refers to research

carried out in Belgium regarding the effectiveness of different types of
rising damp treatments:

In Belgium, at the Centre Scientifique et

Technique de la Construction (CTSC, 1985),
research was carried out on the effectiveness of
the main retrofit DPCs found in Europe. It was
generally found that physical DPCs performed
best, followed by the various chemical DPCs,
with electro osmosis and atmospheric syphons
being the least effective.31

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3.5.2 Replastering

Replastering will often be carried out as part of a rising damp treatment.

Where plaster has become severely damaged by ground salts there is
little argument about the need to replaster. However there is
considerable debate about:

1. the extent of replastering required

2. the use of hard sand: cement renders to replaster as part of a
rising damp treatment

BS6576:2005 states that "the function of the new plaster is to prevent

hygroscopic salts that might be present in the wall from migrating
through to its surface, while still allowing the wall to dry." However,
writing in the RICS publication "Remedying Damp", Ralph Burkin
shaw claims that, "the plaster is really there for two main reasons." He
accepts the need for replastering when significant amounts of ground
salts have built up in the existing plaster, however he then goes on to say
that replastering is often carried out to make up for an unreliable
chemical DPC. He also suggests that damp-proofers have an incentive to
carry out more replastering than is strictly necessary as it allows them to
finish the job without having to wait for walls to dry out, resulting in
faster payment.

Although the sand:cement renders typically installed as part of a rising

damp treatment are very effective at holding back damp and ground
salts, they have a number of disadvantages. These include an
incompatibility with the soft bricks and mortars encountered in older
buildings and a lack of insulation properties compared with more
traditional plasters, resulting in an increased risk of condensation.
Replastering is also one of the most expensive parts of a rising damp
treatment.

Porous renders to German WTA specification 2-2-91 can be used as an

alternative to dense sand-cement renders. These have a minimum
porosity of 40per cent of total volume. Salts crystallise in these pores
rather than on the plaster surface, avoiding decorative spoiling. Such
plasters offer a better solution than dense sand-cement renders when
used on moderately salt-contaminated walls as their porous nature gives
them insulation properties, resulting in a warmer surface temperature
and making condensation problems less likely to occur. However, when
used on heavily salt contaminated walls they may need to be replaced
frequently as they lose effectiveness once all the pores have become
filled with crystallised salt.

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Replastering may not be necessary where salt contamination is not

severe. BS6576:2005 states that: Where the plaster appears to be in
sound condition, the extent of plaster to be removed may be minimised
by delaying any decision to replaster until the drying period is complete.
Avoiding the need to replaster in this way can reduce disruption and
mess and has the advantage of allowing the original lime or gypsum-
based plaster to be maintained. However it should be noted that the
deficiencies of any remedial damp-proof course will be more apparent if
the wall is not covered with a waterproof render. For this reason it is
important to check the BBA certificate of the damp-proofing system to
ensure that it is valid for use where replastering is not being carried out.

5.0 CONCLUSION

Damp proofing in any building is very important for the longevity of the
physical structure, the health of the occupants, the quality of the material
kept in the house. The ability of moisture to raise and penetrate floors
and affect the structure, ability of moisture to penetrate the walls of the
house or moisture to infiltrate from the roof to the inner part of the
house has a damaging effect to the house. It distorts the aesthetics of the
house; create a poor impression of maintenance in the house to people.
The effect is creating an enabling environment disease conditions such
as cold, rheumatism etc including providing opportunity for vectors and
vermin to procreate. It is assuring for all sanitarians to know that
remedies exist and is necessary for all to use appropriate materials
during the construction of the DPC, the quality and quantity of the DPC
materials must be safe guided.

6.0 SUMMARY

In this unit we have discussed damp proofing in building, its

importance, how it is constructed, the various materials that can be used
for it and its uses. The types of dampness i.e. Condensation, infiltration
and capillary attractions were discussed and the various remedies also
discussed. The health effects of each was mentioned and discussed. The
treatment of the effects of dampness depends on the causes and the
materials used in the construction of the DPC. The first step in assessing
damp is to check for standing water or moisture. Removing water with
good drainage will remove any form of dampness. Once done, and
dampness remains, the next step is to look for the presence of a damp-
proof course in the building as enumerated in the unit. It is needless to
say that any building without a standard and appropriate DPC renders
the foundation liable to moisture or water settling down on or from it.
Replastering, improved drainage, cutting down of hanging tree branches
etc. are some of the remedies to dampness.

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7.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Define the following:

a) damp proofing
b) damp proof course
c) damp-proof membrane
d) rising damp
e) structural dampness
2. List the health effects of dampness.
3. Explain the prevention and treatment of dampness.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Owerri: Readon

Publishers Ltd, in Collaboration with Ugooma Printing and
Publishing Co.

Barry, R. (1999). The Construction of Buildings. Vol. 1. (7th ed.).

London: Blackwell Science Ltd.

Children Living in Homes With Problems of Damp. World Health

Organisation.
[Link]
_factsheet09_3_5.pdf.

Trotman, Peter; Chris, Sanders & Harry Harrison.(n.d.). “Understanding

Dampness.” BRE Digest, 245.

Trotman, P. (n.d). “Rising Damp in Walls, Diagnosis and Treatment.”

BRE Digest , 245.

WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality : Dampness and Mould. World
Health Organisation.

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

UNIT 3 BUILDING PLAN PROCESSING, APPROVAL

AND CERTIFICATION OF OCCUPANCY

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Requirements in Building Plan
3.2 Approaches to Plan Approvals:
3.2 Methods of Approvals
3.4 Criteria for Building Approval
3.5 Certificate of Occupancy
3.5.1 Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO)
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
8.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the previous unit we have discussed damp proofing in building, its

importance, how it is constructed, the various materials that can be used
for it and its uses. The types of dampness i.e. condensation, infiltration
and capillary attractions were discussed and the various remedies also
discussed. We have also seen some of the remedial actions that can be
done in case damp proofing failed such as replastering in case of the
wall, improved drainage in case of dampness by attraction and cutting
down of hanging tree branches in case the roofing problem etc. In this
unit we will discuss approval of building plan and issuance of certificate
of occupancy to owners of building to enable them move into their
newly or renovated structure.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of the unit, you should be able to:

 describe the requirement in the building plan

 explain approaches to plan approvals
 list methods of approvals
 define certificate of occupancy
 discuss criteria for issuance of certificate of occupancy.

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3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Requirements in Building Plan

You have seen what a building plan is in the previous units. It was
described to you as a basic requirement for all new buildings to ensure
that they conform to regulations of the environmental sanitation laws or
codes and regulations as to suitability of the site and for human
habitation. It is important to emphasie that the plan is a drawing of the
structure of a proposal, building made to scale on a piece of paper
showing the site elevations and cross section of the building. This is
submitted to the Sanitation Authority in charge of the area for approval
before the construction of the building can go on, this could be in the
Local Government, Environmental Protection bodies or Planning
authorities as the case may be. The Environmental Health Officer
(EHO) working in any of these offices visits the building site to check
whether what is on the plan conform to what is on site. It is also the duty
of the health officer to visit the site during the construction; it is also the
duty of the health officer to see that the available building regulations
enacted at either the local government or state level are not contravened
by the builders (WAHEB, 1991).

3.2 Approaches to Plan Approvals

The EHO should pick the plan move out of his office to the site to
determine the approach of the structure. It is advisable for the EHO to
invite other relevant professionals to accompany him/her during the visit
for proper interpretation of the plan.

The approach here refers to the access to the building site and includes
the setback, building line and drainage systems.

 Setback this is the distance between the building line and

frontage fence wall which should not be less than six (6) meters.
 Building Line is the distance between the building and the sides
(right and left lane) and back (rear) of the building or the
adjoining plot which shall be equal to at least three (3) metres.
 Drainage The distance between any public drainage (external
drainage) and the house is to be thoroughly checked during the
vetting of the building plan by the health officer.

Area built upon

This is the area of the plot which the building occupies (including out
houses) and which should not exceed 50per cent of the total area of the

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site for residential building and 75per cent for non-residential houses
(commercial or industrial).

Type and structure of the building

The type of buildings and materials used for construction, as well as the
facilities to provide, are also important requirements, which the EHO
must examine during plan vetting. Such materials should be durable to
withstand adverse environmental conditions and health hazards.

Room dimensions

Living rooms shall be at least 1 2m2 of the total floor area, an average
height of not less than 2.7 metres and a minimum width of 2.4 metres,
which should be well lit.

The position and areas of windows and doors should be adequate to

ensure the house is properly wired and ventilated. At least each room
should have a window on one wall opening directly to the outside, plus a
second window or large ventilator in one of the outer dimension or area
of the windows, excluding the frames should not be less one-eighth (1/8)
of the total floor space.

The availability and adequacy of sanitary facilities within the building

should be checked in the plan to ensure they conform to regulatory
standards, e.g., kitchen, toilet, bathroom and store. The position of these,
especially toilets, in relation to the living room, bedrooms and
dimensions of the facilities are aspects that require serious security.

Water supply

The position of water supply for the occupants in the town in quality and
quantity must be made available. The source should be located at least
30 metres away from possible contamination especially if it is a hand
dug well or stream.

Excreta disposal

Every house or building whether for residential or other purposes should

have sanitary conveniences to serve the occupants and visitors. The
minimum number, according to the regulation, should be as follows:

1 toilet for 1 – persons

2 toilets for 11 - 20 persons
3 toilets for 21 - 40 persons
4 toilets for 50 - 75persons

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5 toilets for 100 persons.

One additional toilet for 30 persons extra when the number of occupants
exceeds 100 persons (FMENV, 2005; WAHEB, 1991).

It is important to note that owners of property can now use mobile

toilets structures in case of events that are temporary in premises to
reduce pressure on the facilities in the structure which may not
necessarily be reflected in the plan.

Refuse (solid waste) disposal

The provision of a sanitary waste bin with tight filling lid for collection
and storage of household waste, including sheltered shed is a
prerequisite and necessary condition during plan vetting and building
appraisal (FMENV, 2005; WAHEB, 1991).

The above is not exhaustive in the course of the inspection some issues
unique to the structure or the environment may be noticed and act upon
in consultation with other relevant professionals.

xi. Drainage and waste disposal

Requirement for adequate drainage systems must be available and also

deals with pollution prevention, sewage infrastructure issues, and
maintenance and adoption regimes for sewers. Technical design
standards included in this covers the following: internal sanitary pipe
work, foul drainage, rainwater drainage and final disposal, wastewater
treatment and discharges, cesspools, building over or close to 'public'
and 'private' sewers and refuse storage. Consider provision and
adequacy for foul water drainage, waste water treatment systems and
cesspools, rainwater drainage, building over sewers (public & private),
separate systems of drainage (Foul water and Surface water), solid waste
storage ("Bins" & "Recycling").

Special Consideration

According to the International Building occupancy classifications there

some requirement that must be looked into depending on the uniqueness
of the buildings, the Code book itself (2000 edition) totals over 700
pages and chapters include:

 Building heights and areas

 Interior finishes
 Foundation, wall, and roof construction

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 Fire protection systems (sprinkler system requirements and

design)
 Materials used in construction
 Elevators and escalators
 Already existing structures
 Means of egress see below.

Means of Egress

The phrase "means of egress" refers to the ability to exit the structure,
primarily in the event of an emergency, such as a fire. Specifically, a
means of egress is broken into three parts: the path of travel to an exit,
the exit itself, and the exit discharge (the path to a safe area outside).
The code also address the number of exits required for a structure based
on its intended occupancy use and the number of people who could be in
the place at one time as well as their relative locations. It also deals with
special needs, such as hospitals, nursing homes, and prisons where
evacuating people may have special requirements. In some instances,
requirements are made based on possible hazards (such as in industries)
where flammable or toxic chemicals will be in use.

3.3 Methods of Approvals

Depending on the country of your location, to comply with the building

Act in the UK and the subsequent statutory instruments known as the
building regulations, its approval can usually be obtained in 1 of 3
ways:-

1. By the full plans method where drawings are deposited with a

Building Control Body such as an Approved Inspector or the
Local Authority and are subsequently checked for compliance
with the Building Regulations.
The various stages of the work are also inspected and checked for
compliance with the relevant technical requirements of the
Building Regulations; by a Building Control Surveyor employed
by either the Building Control Body (BCB).
Unlike planning permission, work may start before approval has
been granted. It is also quite usual for the final building to differ
in some respects to that which received full plans approval, in
which case amended "as built" plans are often required to be
submitted to the appropriate Building Control Body.
2. By the building notice method where notice of commencement
of (minor) building work is given to the Local Authority at least 2
days prior to the commencement of work. The various stages of
the work are then inspected and approved by the L.A but no plans

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 are checked. Note that this method may not be used if the
premises contain a workplace, or creates new flats.
3. Approved inspectors must issue their Initial Notice (stating that
that particular approved inspector is the building control body for
the specified work project, at a specific address and/or building
site) to the relevant local authority before any controlled building
work starts on site.

Generally Fees are paid to the building control body, with each
application, will vary depending on the size and value of the project and
between different Local authorities across the country and each
approved inspector is free to set their own levels of charges. Some types
of work may be exempt fees, e.g. adaptations or alterations for disabled
persons.

Some work such as Electrical and Heating installations can be carried

out by persons who can certify work as being Building Regulation
compliant, without further inspection by either the Local Authority or an
Approved Inspector. Any work certified in this way must however be
registered with the Local Authority in the geographical area in which the
work has been carried out.

A Building Control Body should issue a "Completion Certificate" or

"Final Certificate" upon the practical completion of each building
project, to state that the work meets the technical requirements of the
building regulations.

If an Approved Inspector cannot do this due to omissions and/or known

failures of the building work to show compliance with the relevant
technical requirements of the Building Regulations, then the relevant
local authority should investigate and consider the need to take
appropriate enforcement action.

Building Regulation 'Enforcement Action' and/or 'incomplete work

status' is normally recorded in the Local Lands Charges Register, held as
a 'public record' by the relevant local authority. Solicitors must search
these records prior to any purchase of any building.

In case your local authority or agency does not have a well developed
regulation like the one described above, you may wish to use the above
approach to do your work.

3.4 Criteria for Building Approval

For the purpose of appraisal, human settlements (housing) are classified

into four (4) types:

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Type 1- Housing - Areas in which buildings are in all round satisfactory

conditions, but still requires protection.

Type 2 Housing -Areas that show incipient blight or are prone to

adverse effects from external forces or environmental conditions or
having in-built defects predisposing to blight and, therefore, require
protection or corrective actions.

Type 3- Housing (substandard Housing)-Areas with structures at

moderately advanced stages of deterioration that requires remedial
action to bring them to an acceptable standard.

Type 4 Housing -Areas in which their present conditions are unsuitable

for countries use and cannot be upgraded to an acceptable standard
owing to the poor state of deterioration or disrepair, their poor sanitary
neighbourhood environment beyond restoration or correction, which
requires demolition or development.

3.5 Certificate of Occupancy

In describing Certificate of occupancy you need to know that each Local

Authority might have some little variations in its description, methods
and requirements but generally A certificate of occupancy is a document
issued by a local government agency or building department certifying a
building's compliance with applicable building codes and other laws,
and indicating it to be in a condition suitable for occupancy.

The procedure and requirements for the certificate vary widely from
jurisdiction to jurisdiction and on the type of structure. In the United
States, obtaining a certificate is generally required whenever:

 a new building is constructed

 a building built for one use is to be used for another (e.g. an
industrial building converted for residential use)
 occupancy of a commercial or industrial building changes, or
ownership of a commercial, industrial, or multiple-family
residential building changes

The purpose of obtaining a certificate of occupancy is to prove that,

according to the law, the house or building is in livable condition.
Generally, such a certificate is necessary to be able to occupy the
structure for everyday use, as well as to be able to sign a contract to sell
the space and close on a mortgage for the space.

A certificate of occupancy is evidence that the building complies

substantially with the plans and specifications that have been submitted

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to, and approved by, the local authority. It complements a building
permit—a document that must be filed by the applicant with the local
authority before construction to indicate that the proposed construction
will adhere to ordinances, codes and laws.

To share our experiences with the international communities, In New

York City, in order for a building to obtain a certificate of occupancy,
the structure must pass a series of inspections, as well as a walk-through
from the Department of Buildings. In most cases, the inspections
include, but are not limited to, plumbing inspections, sprinkler
inspections, fire alarm inspections, electrical inspections, fire pump
pressure tests, architectural inspections (where inspector checks if
building was built in accordance with an architect's stamped and
approved drawings), elevator inspections, completion of lobby, and an
inspection to see if the building complies with the proper number of
entrances required for its size. After all inspections are passed, the last
step is generally to have a walk-through by a member of the Department
of Buildings, who sees that there is no major construction remaining on
the job site, that there are no obstructions to the entrances, that there are
no safety hazards in the building, and that everything in the building was
built according to plan. If the inspector approves his walk-through, a
Certificate of Occupancy is usually granted.

3.5.1 Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO)

A temporary certificate of occupancy grants residents and building

owners all of the same rights as a certificate of occupancy, however it is
only for a temporary period of time. In New York City, TCOs are
usually active for 90 days from the date of issue, after which they
expire. It is perfectly legal, and not uncommon in the given situation, for
a building owner to re-apply for a TCO, following all the steps and
inspections required originally, in order to hypothetically extend their
TCO for another period of time. Temporary certificate of occupancies
are generally sought after and acquired when a building is still under
minor construction, but there is certain section or number of floors that
are deemed to be habitable and, upon issuance of TCO, can legally be
occupied or sold. This is not impossible also in our situation and
circumstances.

4.0 CONCLUSION

The reason for building plan approval is to ensure that developers of

property do not over build or build according to specifications but
congest the structure during utilisation. The use of approved building
materials and choice of land that support a healthy structure that can
withstand the agents of denudations to a reasonable extent is important.

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EHO must ensure that their approvals of building plans is for them to
confirm that the health and sanitary requirements in the building
conform with the health regulations and the issuance of certificate of
occupancy to confirm to the owner and all relevant stakeholders that the
building is safe for human habitation. These must be done with the
highest professional skills and respect to all people that might be
interested in the exercise.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this unit the health requirements in building plan were enumerated as

that relating to water supply, sanitary conveniences, ventilation
openings either natural or the use of artificial ones, drainages, source
and adequacy of light etc. The criteria for approvals of the building plan
must take cognisance of the culture of the people therefore when
enacting local regulations in buildings many cultural issues that are very
sensitive must be addressed to avoid a clash between communities and
the regulating bodies. While certificate of occupancy is giving assurance
to occupants that the premises are safe, it is free from any nuisance that
is of public health concern. While issuing this certificate care must be
taken to ensure the right people allowed to occupy the premises are the
only ones legally occupy it. Means of escape in case of hazards is a
consideration that should not be compromised.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Explain the following:

1. Health requirement in building plan

2. The approaches to plan approvals
3. Discuss criteria for issuance of certificate of occupancy.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Arokoyo, S. B. & Adeyemo, A. M. (Eds).(2002). Perspective on Urban

Development Planning and Management. Lagos: Amethyst &
Colleagues Publishers, p.243

Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Owerri: Readon

Publishers Ltd, in Collaboration with Ugooma Printing and
Publishing Co.

Barry, R. (1999). The Construction of Buildings. Vol. 1. (7th ed.).

London: Blackwell Science Ltd.

295
El Rufa’i, N. A. (2006). “Elimination of Slum/Squatter Settlements -The
FCT Experience.” Journal of Environmental Health, 3(2); p. 56

FMENV (2005), Policy Guidelines on Sanitary Inspection of Premises,

Abuja.

FRN (2007), National Environmental Health Practice Regulations,

Official Gazette No. 21, Vol.94, Lagos.

SCHAEFER, M. (1987). Health Principles of Housing. World Health,

WHO July pp.18-19. ‘

WHO (1967). “Appraisal of the Hygienic Quality of Housing and its

Environment.” Tech. Report Series No. 353; Genera.

WHO (1989). “Health Principles of Housing, Report of a WHO

Consultation on Housing Implications for Health.” Genera, pp.44

WAHEB (1965). Water and Building Sanitation.

Wilkie, W. (1965). Jordan’s Tropical Hygiene and Sanitation. (4th ed.).

London: Bailher Jindall and Lox. pp. 87-160.

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

MODULE 4

Unit 1 Housing codes, Edicts, Ordinances, Laws and Legislation

of the Local, State, Federal Governments and International
Levels.
Unit 2 Enforcement of Housing and Building Laws and
Regulations
Unit 3 Role of Environmental Health Professionals in Building
Approval and Registration.

UNIT 1 INTRODUCTION TO HOUSING (BUILDING)

CODES, EDICTS OR ORDINANCES, LAWS
AND REGULATIONS OF LOCAL, STATE,
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND
INTERNATIONAL LEVELS

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Definitions of Ordinance
3.2 History of Housing Codes and Ordinances
3.2.1 The Township Ordinance of 1917
3.2.2 The Town and Country Planning Ordinance of
1946
3.2.3 Public Health Laws, Rep.103, 1963
3.2.4 Public Land Acquisition Ordinance, 1917
3.3 Housing Laws and Regulations of Federal, State and Local
Government
3.4 The Nigeria Urban and Regional Planning Decree No. 18,
1999 as Amended (NURPL)
3.5 Public Health Laws Cap. 109 and 103, Laws of Northern
and Eastern Nigeria Respectively
3.5.1 Roles of the Federal Government
3.5.2 Roles of State Government
3.5.3 Roles of Local Government
3.6 International Housing Regulation
3.7 Some ICC Building or Housing Codes
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the previous module (Module 3) we have discussed issues relating to

preliminaries involved in the construction of various types of building,
general principle of selecting and preparing sites to receive various types
of foundations, the principles of damp-proofing in building, Criteria for
building approval and certification for occupancy and health, safety and
sanitary requirements in buildings. In this unit we will discuss the
various codes, laws and regulation in forms of edicts or ordinances that
will provide an enabling environment for professionals to discharge the
above listed functions effectively. There will be no enforcement of any
law if the profession do not have the relevant instruments that will
provide the professionals with the authority to act. Therefore there is the
need for you to understand the various laws and its provisions in
handling building and housing issues at all levels.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 define Ordinance
 state the brief history of housing codes or ordinances
 explain Housing laws and regulations of federal, state and local
government
 discuss briefly the Nigeria Urban and Regional Planning Decree
No. 18, 1999
 list some International building codes.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Definitions of Ordinance

Ordinances: laws passed by the Nigerian Central Legislature before

October 1, 1954.

a). Ordinances is defined as laws passed by the Nigerian Central

Legislature before October 1, 1954. (Rotimi, A MCEP, 2011). Or
“Decree or law promulgated by a state or national government
without the consent of the legislature, such as for raising revenue
through new taxes or mobilisation of resources during an
emergency or threat” or “Local law such as a zoning ordinance
enacted by the governing body of a city or municipality which
applies only within its boundaries. To have full force and effect
of law, an ordinance must not be in conflict with any higher law
such as state or national law or constitutional provisions”

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b). This is a list of Ordinances and Acts of the Parliament of England

from 1642 to 1660, during the English Civil War and the
Interregnum. As King Charles I of England would not assent to
Bills from a Parliament at war with him, decrees of Parliament
before the Third English Civil War were styled ordinances. The
Rump Parliament reverted to using the term "Act" on 6 January
1649 when it passed the Act erecting a High Court of Justice for
the trial of the King (when any possibility of reconciliation
between King and Parliament was over). All but one subsequent
decree were termed Acts through to the end of the interregnum.
All of these Ordinances and Acts were considered void after the
English Restoration due to their lack of Royal Assent. The
Ordinances of 1311 were a series of regulations imposed upon
King Edward II by the peerage and clergy of the Kingdom of
England to restrict the power of the king. The twenty-one
signatories of the Ordinances are referred to as the Lords
Ordainers, or simply the Ordainers. Acts: an enactment made by
the Federal Legislature before January 16, 1966 and at the onset
of this current democratic dispensation effective 29th May 1999.

c. Laws: any enactment made by the Legislature of a region

or of a State House of Assembly having effect as if made
by that Legislature, or any subordinate legislation.
d. Decrees: an enactment made by the Federal Military
Government.
e. Edicts: enactment made by a military governor, or by the
administrator of a state.
f. Bye-laws: any enactment made by the Councillors or the
Legislature of a Local Government in Nigeria having
effect as if made by that Legislature with a jurisdictional
scope limited to the Local Government enacting the bye-
law.
g. Subsidiary Legislation: laws enacted in the exercise of
powers given by a statute. It consists of words (spoken or
published) or acts outside the court which are intended or
likely to interfere with or obstruct the fair administration
of justice. (Rotimi A, MCEP, 2011)

3.2 History of Housing Codes and Ordinances

The history of housing codes or ordinances dates back to the era of

British Colonial Government in Nigeria when public health laws, as
well as town and country planning law were introduced. The system of
housing development control or town and country planning then were
based on health improvement to safe guard the health of the residents in
the Lagos colony only. Later, these health improvement measures were

299
changed due to changing situations and circumstances. Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia describe the code for sustainable homes as “an
environmental impact rating system for housing in England and Wales,
setting new standards for energy efficiency (above those in current
building regulations) and sustainability which are not mandatory under
current building regulations but represent important developments
towards limiting the environmental impact of housing” In Nigeria, we
are yet to develop these types of codes due to many factors including
challenges in institutionalisation of the housing laws.

The development of these ordinances was as follows:

1. Town Improvement Ordinance of 1863

2. Township Ordinance of 1917
3. Town Planning Ordinance of 1929
4. Town and Country Planning Ordinance of 1946.
5. Public Health Laws cap 103, Laws of Eastern Nigeria, Vol.6,
1963.

Apart from the Town Improvement Ordinance of 1863 that was made
for the colony of Lagos, the other laws were applicable to the whole
country.

(i) The Township Ordinance of 1917;

(ii) The Town and Country Planning Ordinance of 1946;
(iii) Public Health Laws cap 103, Laws of Eastern Nigeria 1963
(Nnah, 2002)

3.2.1 The Township Ordinance of 1917

The aim of township ordinances 1917, during pre-independence, was to

create a broad principle of municipal authority for effective service
delivery. The objectives include:

 Classification of townships;
 Controls of offensive trades;
 Regulation of the construction of buildings streets and bridges.

3.2.2 The Town and Country Planning Ordinance of 1946

This was one of the laws enacted by the British Government to re-plan,
improve and develop various parts of Nigeria. Planning authorities were,
therefore, established throughout the country for the preparation and
execution of planning schemes or layout.

The objectives of the town and country planning ordinance were:

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(i) To control the development and use of land;

(ii) To ensure proper sanitation and provision of sanitary
conveniences, including amenity;
(iii) To preserve buildings and other architectural, historical, artistic
objects and places of natural interest or beauty;
(iv) To protect existing amenities in both urban and rural settlements
within the planning area.

Furthermore, following the establishment of the Federal System of

government in 1950 each of the 4 regions of Nigeria adapted and
modified the Town and Country Planning Ordinance of 1946.
Consequently, the following ordinances were created:

1. The Federal Capital, Lagos Town and Country Planning

Ordinance of 1958;
2. The Western Region Town Planning Ordinance 1959;
3. The Eastern Region Ordinance 1963;
4. The Northern Region Ordinance 1963.

The Eastern Region ordinance was known as the Town and Country
Planning Law cap. 1/26 of 1963.

3.2.3 Public Health Laws, Rep.103, 1963

This law was made specifically for eastern Nigeria, while the western
and northern regions had similar laws or ordinances to protect public
health (Nnah, 2002; Ogu, 1996; FRG). It was derived from the
Township Ordinance Cap. 183 of the Laws of Nigeria, 1948. This law is
still in force in the states in the country to date.

3.2.4 Public Land Acquisition Ordinance, 1917

Under this law, the Governor is empowered to acquire land

compulsorily for public purposes or by agreement for public use. The
law later became the land use Act Cap. 202 in 1978 and today it is
known as the land use Decree of 1999, as amended
(Nnah, 2002; Ogu, 1996).

These activities are being carried out by the Environmental Health and
Sanitation Officers, Works Departments of the local government
councils in Nigeria, under the present dispensation. Besides, the state
ministries of Land (urban and regional planning), housing and urban
development and the city development authorities are also involved in
the promotion of adequate housing standard. In most states, the practice
has resulted to duplication of functions and role conflicts, among the
various departments or ministries, thus paralysing the implementation

301
and enforcement of housing regulation of the laws (Arokoyo &
Adeyemo, 2002).

3.3 Housing Laws and Regulations of Federal, State and

Local Government

The functions of housing and building regulations and control are shared
by the three tiers of the government, viz Federal, State and Local
Government. The legal instruments put in place for the regulation and
control housing sanitation includes:

i. The Nigeria Urban and Regional planning decree No. 18, 1999 as
amended;
ii. Public Health Law Cap. 103, Laws of Eastern Nigeria, vol. 6,
1963;
iii. National Environmental Health Practice Regulations, 2007;
iv. National Policy guidelines on sanitary inspection of premises,
2005;
v. National, Environmental Sanitation policy, 2005;
vi. State Environmental Sanitation Edicts;
vii. Local Government Laws and Bye Laws, etc.

3.4 The Nigeria Urban and Regional Planning Decree No. 18,
1999 as Amended (NURPL)

This law was promulgated by General Ibrahim Babangida on 15

December1992, as Decree No. 18 and later amended as Decree No. 16
on 23rd March 1999 by General Abdusalami Abubakar.

It is the most comprehensive physical planning law in Nigeria which

clearly defines the roles of Federal, State and Local Governments. The
law is divided into six parts, but the most important part to this subject
matter concerns part 1 on plan preparation and part 2, on development
control.

Part I Plan Preparation: The law states as follows:

 The Federal Government shall be responsible for preparation of

national physical development plan, regional plan, sub-regional
plans, urban plans, subject plans;
 The States are to prepare regional plans, sub-regional plans,
urban plans, local plans and subject plans;
 The Local Governments are to prepare town plans, area plans,
local plans and subject plans.

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Part II Development Control

In section’ 27 of this law, development is defined as the carrying out of

any building, engineering, mining, or other operations in, on, over, or
under any land, other making of any environmentally significant
changes in the use of any land. It also includes demolition of buildings,
the falling of trees and placing of the free standing erection used for the
display of advertisement on the land. The regulation of these activities
constitutes development controls and it is carried out by the
development control department (DCD). Its major responsibility is to
grant planning permits to prospective land developers (both private and
public), in accordance with sections 30 subsection 1,2 and 3 of the urban
and Regional Planning Law. The issuance of permits to land developers
is based on an application which is normally accompanied with plans,
designs, drawing or any other information, as prescribed in the
regulation. The law further states in section 30 (2) that no government or
its agencies shall carry out any development activity without prior
approval by the relevant development control department, (Commission,
Board, or Authority).

All proposed development building plans shall be prepared by a

registered architect or town planner or engineer.

However, it is sad to note that this law has not been fully implemented,
since its inception, as there is no established commission at the national
level. So far, Lagos, Sokoto, Oyo, Ekiti, Edo, Enugu, Rivers and Abia
states have adopted the law, but yet to implement it. In the meantime,
Lagos and Sokoto are the only states in the country that have
successfully implemented the law (Nnah, 2002). However, from the
time this assessment was made to this point in time (in 2012), it seems
all states of the federation have development control boards or agencies
in place. Perhaps it is functionality or otherwise remained a different
matter.

3.5 Public Health Laws Cap. 109 and 103, Laws of Northern
and Eastern Nigeria Respectively

These laws are still being used at national, state, and local government
levels to enforce sanitary standards in housing. The following provisions
are particularly relevant:

Section 7 (an) contains housing characteristics that constitute hazards to

human health and well-being (dampness, poor -ventilation, dilapidated
structures, etc.). However various state edicts have been enacted by the
various state assemblies to work in parallel with the national or regional
ones.

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Part III (Urban Subsidiary Legislation)

Sections 42 52 stipulates the basic requirement for building approval.

For example, section 48 (1-2) and 51 states that proposed plans for
residential and nonresidential buildings should be approved by Medical
Officers of Health (MOH) or the Environmental Health Officers (EHOs)
The plan should have facilities for adequate ventilation and lighting,
toilets, water supply, washing and general cleaning, etc

(iii) The National Environmental Health Practice Regulation J07

This is the most recent legislation on housing and sanitation in Nigeria.

It defines some of the basic requirements of healthy residential
environment (housing), which include plan approval, certificate of
fitness of new buildings and other aspects of housing and sanitation are
to be dealt with by Environmental Health Practitioners.

(iv) National Policy Guidelines on Sanitary Inspection of

Premises, 2005

The guidelines on sanitary inspection of premises are made for the

proper conduct of inspection and appraisal of housing conditions. For
this to be achieved, standards and procedures are provided for inspectors
use. Also, the roles of various government institutions, (Federal and
State Ministries of environment, health and the Local Government) have
been included (FMENV, 2005).

(v) State Sanitation Laws and Edicts

Various states have enacted sanitation law and edicts which are
modified from the Public Health Laws and other legislations to suit their
local circumstances. Like the Public Health Laws and National
Environmental Health Practice Regulations, they are all used to enforce
sanitary standards in housing, including building regulation. The
Bayelsa State Public Health Laws Cap. P16, 2006, Rivers State
Environmental Sanitation Authority Edict 2004, among other state laws
and guidelines are typical examples.

vi) Local Government Laws and By-Laws

The Local Government Law, 1950, empowers Local Government

Councils or authorities to carry out public health functions such as
housing sanitation, including building regulation (building approval) in
their domain. These laws or by-laws are enforced by the environmental
health officers who are professionally trained for such assignments.
Furthermore, the local councils carry out town planning and

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development under the Town Planning By-laws adapted from the

National Urban and Regional planning law No.18 1999 (as amended),
(Nnah, 2002; FMENV, 2005).

Institutional roles on building regulations

3.5.1 Roles of the Federal Government

 Development, periodic review and updating of policy guidelines,

regulations and laws on housing sanitation and sanitary
inspection of premises;
 Provision of technical assistance to state on housing sanitation
and building regulation;
 Promotion of research on modern appraisal techniques or
strategies;
 Provision of logistic support for effective implementation of
housing and sanitation programmes;
 Encourage states to ensure compliance with policy guidelines and
standards on housing and sanitation;
 Co-ordination of reports on sanitary inspection and building
regulation from the states;
 Collaboration with relevant stakeholders and government
agencies on effective implementation of planning, housing
development and regulations (e.g., town planners, architects,
engineers).

3.5.2 Roles of State Government

 Support the implementation of policy guidelines on sanitary

inspection of premises and sanitation policy;
 Provide technical and logistic support to Local Governments;
 Enforce house-to-house inspection by environmental health
officers;
 Promote public education and enlightenment on sanitary
inspection of premises;
 Monitor the Local Governments to ensure compliance with the
policy guidelines and regulatory standards;
 Co-ordinate reports on sanitary inspection of premises from the
LGAs;
 Submit quarterly repairs on sanitary inspection of premises to the
Federal Ministry of Environment.

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3.5.3 Roles of Local Government

 implement the sanitary inspection of premises programmes in the

area of jurisdiction;
 Provide logistic support for implementation of house-to-house
inspection by EHOs;
 Assist in training environmental health practitioners and
retraining of serving officers to update their knowledge;
 Enforce the building regulations, (building by-laws) and
sanitation laws;
 Carry out public education and enlightenment to create awareness
on housing sanitation and re-introduction of sanitary inspection
of premises in the communities;
 Submit monthly reports on sanitary inspection of premises to the
state (FMENV, 2005).

3.6 International Housing Regulations

At the global level, there are several governmental agencies that have
shown considerable interest in the problem of housing in relation to
health. The United Nation Bureau of Social Affair, Housing, Building
and Planning have done so much work on housing and planning through
research and seminars, with a view to improving living conditions.
Others include the WHO, LO, FAQ, the American Public Health
Association, etc.

But despite these efforts, the states of housing have continued to

deteriorate, resulting in increased disease burden, poverty and low
productivity. However, the world community, under the auspices of the
United Nations, has realised the need for promoting healthy housing to
reduce the suffering of millions without adequate shelter through the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), target 11, a significant
improvement in housing conditions, especially for slum dwellers by
2020. Also, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-
HABITAT,2005) has developed standards or criteria for healthy
housing. These have been modified by most countries for use, while
others do not have any regulatory framework. Even in countries where
minimum standards exist, they are not enforced.

To deal with the problems of living conditions in the human settlements,

the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(1996 -2007) established International Standards on adequate housing as
a component of the human right consistent with adequate standards of
living.

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The following are some of the relevant provisions of the International

Human rights for member nations to enforce or implement.

1. Universal Article 25.1 states that everyone has right to adequate

housing for the protection and maintenance of health and well-
being, including security of life and property, International
Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (1966).
Article 5(e)
2. also affirms the right of everyone to adequate housing, stating
that state parties have the obligation to ensure the realisation of
this right;
3. Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities. Article 2
provides that persons with disabilities should have right to
“Reasonable Accommodation” that is adapted to the conditions
and needs of the individual without imposing a disproportionate
or undue burden in a particular case. hou1d ensure to the person
enjoyment or exercise on e Ja1bs Articles5.3, 9.1(a); 19(a),
22.1,28.1, &28. (a) Are also related to the above;
4. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples (2007). Article
21.1 states that indigenous peoples have the right to improved
economic and social conditions of living which include inter alia
adequate, housing and sanitation, health, education, security,
employment, etc.
5. ILO convention No.161 on Standards of Social Policy (1962).
Article 2 states that improvements of living standards shall be the
principal objectives in economic planning and development;
Article 2 of this convention further provides that in ensuring the
attainment of minimum standards of living, consideration should
be given to essential family needs of the workers such as
adequate food supply, housing, clothing, healthcare and
education;
6. ILO convention No. 110, on conditions of Employment of
Plantation Workers (1958). Articles 88.1 states that the housing
standards for plantation workers entitled to occupancy should be
adequate in line with the national standards or national legislation
of the country concerned;
7. Geneva Convention Relative to the protection of Civilian Persons
in time of war (1949) Article 85 of this provision states that it is
the statutory responsibility of the “Detaining Power” or country
to ensure protected persons from the outset of their interment are
given adequate accommodation or shelter against adverse climate
conditions, health hazards and other hostile forces. The pressure
should be protected from dampness, properly ventilated and
illuminated with adequate sleeping room sanitary toilets, water
supply, washing facilities for personal and domestic hygiene.

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 Separate sleeping rooms or apartments should be provided for
women.

In addition to the above regulations, the general conference of the

International Labour Organisation (ILO) at its 45th meeting further
adopted proposals on workers’ Housing, which is contained in ILO
Recommendations No. 115 concerning Workers’ Housing (1961). The
ILO committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights interpreted the
content of human rights under this provision to mean the “Right to
adequate housing” (see general comment in article 11 [I]).
Aside from these International Conventions of the United Nations, the
WHO has been in the forefront of the struggle for the promotion of
hygienic housing over the decades. Through the effort of various expert
committee on housing basic requirements or criteria for human needs in
the residential environment were produced based on epidemiological
studies. They are internationally accepted standards used in housing
appraisal include the followings:

(1) Safe and structurally sound adequate dwelling unit for each
household consisting of:

 adequate living and sleeping rooms with sufficient space

for the family and individual that are not overcrowded;
 a minimum degree of privacy for separate sexes within the
household;
 separate rooms for adolescent and adult persons of
opposite sex,
except husband and wife;
 separate accommodation for domestic animals;
 adequate supply of potable water;
 adequate latrine/toilet within the dwelling unit;
 adequate facilities for preparation and storage of food and
separate
storage for personal belonging;
 adequate ventilation and lighting.

(2) A neighbourhood (allowed district) around the dwelling that

conforms to good town, country and regional planning practice
comprising: Community source of water supply, sewage
treatment plant, solid waste management services and drainage of
surface water:

 police security and fire services;

 availability of industrial, commercial, cultural, education,
religious, recreational health and other social services and
facilities;
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 facilities for prevention/control of natural hazards

(flooding,
earthquakes, landslides, cyclones, etc.) (WHO, 1961;V)

3.7 Some ICC Building or Housing Codes

A large portion of the International Building Code deals with fire

prevention. It differs from the related International Fire Code in that the
IBC addresses fire prevention in regard to construction and design and
the fire code addresses fire prevention in regard to the operation of a
completed and occupied building. For example, the building code sets
criteria for the number, size and location of exits in the design of a
building while the fire code requires the exits of a completed and
occupied building to be unblocked. The building code also deals with
access for the disabled and structural stability (including earthquakes).
The International Building Code applies to all structures in areas where
it is adopted, except for one and two family dwellings (see International
Residential Code).

Parts of the code reference other codes including the International

Plumbing Code, the International Mechanical Code, the National
Electric Code, and various National Fire Protection Association
standards. Therefore, if a municipality adopts the International Building
Code, it also adopts those parts of other codes referenced by the IBC.
Often, the plumbing, mechanical, and electric codes are adopted along
with the building code.

Some of the codes are:

 International Building Code

 International Residential Code
 International Fire Code
 International Plumbing Code
 International Mechanical Code
 International Fuel Gas Code
 International Energy Conservation Code
 ICC Performance Code
 International Wild land Urban Interface Code
 International Existing Building Code
 International Property Maintenance Code
 International Private Sewage Disposal Code
 International Zoning Code
 International Green Construction Code

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4.0 CONCLUSION

The development and availability of the various laws and regulations at

both local and national level is a positive development to the building
and housing sector not only in the country but the citizenry. It is also
anticipated that the development of building and housing regulations as
well as the development of some minimum mandatory Code level at
local, State and national level will definitely improve the nation’s
quality of buildings, with improved education and awareness the nation
should target 'net zero CO2 emissions' per annum standard. Relevant
guidance should be made available via the code through adequate
publicity. Simply explained published document by relevant agencies
and authorities will definitely demystify the difficult technical
requirements. Some codes have been listed here to enable you have idea
on its nature and form.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this unit you were made to realized that we inherited the word
ordinances from our British colonial masters and it means series of
regulations imposed upon King Edward II by the peerage and clergy of
the Kingdom of England to restrict the power of the king. The twenty-
one signatories of the Ordinances are referred to as the Lords Ordainers,
or simply the Ordainers. We continued to use the word or phrase in
Nigeria before and after independence in building and housing laws.
Until in the 60s and after independence we started using laws, edicts and
acts. The contents of these ordinances and later laws provided an
opportunity for the nation to use its indigenous instruments to manage
its building and housing issues.

The laws are available at local, state and national levels and each is very
specific in its expectations and provisions. The major issues covered by
these laws relates to considerations of availability, adequacy or
otherwise of water, drainage, ventilation, light, appropriate use of land,
air and any available space in the environment. Adequate measures to
prevent disease spread at state and national, including international
level. The law that has to do with the international community was
attended to at forum where conventions and protocols were developed
for the good of all stakeholders.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. State the brief history of housing codes or ordinances.

2. Explain the developments of:
a) The Town Improvement Ordinance of 1863
b) Township Ordinance of 1917

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c) Town Planning Ordinance of 1929

d) Town and Country Planning Ordinance of 1946.
e) Public Health Laws cap 103, Laws of Eastern Nigeria,
Vol.6, 1963.
3. Explain Housing laws and regulations of federal, state and local
government.
4. Discuss briefly the Nigeria Urban and Regional Planning Decree
No. 18, 1999.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Owerri: Readon

Publishers Ltd, in collaboration with Ugooma Printing and
Publishing Co.

Barry, R. (1999). The Construction of Buildings. Vol. 1. (7th ed.).

London: Blackwell Science Ltd.

Childs, W.R. (Ed.) (2005). Vita Edwardi Secundi. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

OCLC56650502
[Link]
zz26aIxQTHe

Rothwell, H. (Ed.) (1975). English Historical Documents III, 1189–

1327. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. pp. 527–539.

311
UNIT 2 ENFORCEMENT OF BUILDING AND
HOUSING LAWS AND REGULATIONS

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Meaning of Enforcement
3.2 Purposes of Enforcement of Building and Housing Codes
are:
3.3 Historical Over View of Enforcement Status of Laws and
Regulations
3.4 The Code Enforcement Process
3.5 Authority to Conduct Inspections
3.5.1 Abatement Notices of Violation
3.5.2 Procedure under Section 7 of the Public Health
Law.
3.5.3 Procedure Under Section 70 Public Health Law
3.5.4 Abatement of Nuisance Under s.92 of the Practice
Regulations
3.5.5 Failure to Comply with Abatement Notice Under
Public Health Law, Section 8
3.5.6 Emergency and Corrective Actions
3.6 Condemnation
3.7 The Effects of Violating Environmental Laws and
Regulations
3.8 The Court as an Instrument of Enforcing Housing and
Building Laws
3.8.1 Categories of Courts in Nigeria
3.9 Factors Militating Against Effective Enforcement of Laws
and Regulations
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the previous unit we have seen how we inherited the word ordinances
from our British colonial masters and it means series of regulations
imposed upon King Edward II by the peerage and clergy of the
Kingdom of England to restrict the power of the king. The twenty-one
signatories of the Ordinances are referred to as the Lords Ordainers, or
simply the Ordainers. We have also seen that the major issues covered
by these laws relates to considerations of availability, adequacy or

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otherwise of water, drainage, ventilation, light, appropriate use of land,

air and any available space in the environment. This unit will
concentrate on the enforcement of the Building and housing laws and
regulations. Providing the laws is one thing that can easily be done and
its application is another. Any law that cannot be enforced has rendered
itself useless.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to:

 define enforcement
 state the purpose of enforcement of codes and regulations
 state the historical over view and enforcement status of laws and
regulations
 enumerate the enforcement process.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Meaning of Enforcement

Enforcement has been defined as the application of a set of legal tools

both formal and informal, designed to impose legal sanctions or
penalties to ensure that a defined set of requirement is complied with.
Compliance is therefore the ultimate goal of any enforcement
programme.

Every Town or regional planning department, Local government works

and health departments or any environmental protection board or agency
should have a strong and well equipped enforcement section that will be
responsible for administering all available building regulations, housing
and building maintenance standards and other relevant regulations that
might be enacted from time to time. These codes and regulations must
define how properties are to be maintained in the local government, state
or country.

3.2 Purposes of Enforcement of Building and Housing Codes

are:

 to improve the quality of life for Montgomery County citizens;

 to stabilise neighbourhoods;
 to provide safe, decent, and clean dwelling units;
 to maintain and enhance property values; and
 to prevent blight.

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We accomplish these goals by investigating complaints, performing
legally required incidental and non incidental inspections and educating
citizens regarding their rights and responsibilities in the area of property
maintenance. The education and awareness messages must be addressed
to all stakeholders including property owners, managers, landlords,
tenants, and civic associations, private estate owners and managers as
together we strive to realise our mutual goal of maintaining the high
quality of life in the local government, state or country at large.

3.3 Historical Overview of Enforcement Status of Laws and

Regulations

Every law or regulation has a history. It must have being enacted

formally or informally out of necessities or guided by international or
national convention, protocols and policies. We are taking Kaduna State
as an example to look at its historical perspectives or sequence of
authorities responsible for enforcement of regulations on buildings and
housing. The enforcement of environmental laws, including that of
housing and building regulations, in Kaduna state is as old as the state
itself. Shortly after independence, the Ministry of health and the defunct
Kaduna Capital Development Board were responsible for enforcing
public health laws and the boards’ edicts.

After the Dasuki reforms of the local government service in 1976, the
Nigerian constitution vested the responsibility of refuse collections and
sanitation with the local government, hence, they began to enforce the
public health laws of northern Nigeria cap 107 of 1963 through the
health departments.

From 1984-1985 Environmental Sanitation Task Force was established

to enforce edict No.4 of 1984.

Environmental sanitation edict No.5 of 1991 was enacted to repeal the

above.

From 1994 to date, the following organisations are involved in the

enforcement of the existing environmental laws in the state, though
some were reviewed along the line.

i. Kaduna State Ministry of Health.

ii. Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority
(KASUPDA)
iii. Kaduna State Environmental Protection Authority (KEPA)
iv. Local Government Health and works Departments
v. Kaduna State Ministries of Works and Environment And Natural
Resources

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vi. Development Area Health and Works Departments.

vii. Kaduna State Primary Health Care Agency.

3.4 The Code Enforcement Process

An inspection is triggered by a complaint, referral, required inspection,

or as part of an overall departmental strategy in particular
neighborhoods (target neighborhoods). If violations are observed, a
violation notice is prepared and the owner has a stated period of time to
correct the violations. After the stated time period has elapsed, the
property will be re-inspected. In some countries (e.g. USA) if the owner
has made the required repairs, the case is closed. Environmental health
inspectors can grant for good cause an extension of time to correct
violations. If the owner is not responsive, the inspector takes legal action
by issuing civil citations to the owner. These citations carry fines of
varying amount depending on the severity of the violation. In addition to
the fine, the inspector requests an order from the court requiring that the
violations be corrected (an Abatement Order). If the owner fails to
correct the problem within the timeframe set by the Judge, this order
allows the department to enter the property, make the repairs and charge
the owner. If the owner fails to pay for the repairs, the department places
a lien against the property and initiates legal actions to collect this lien.

3.5 Authority to Conduct Inspections

The relevant authority, using the appropriate Environmental Health

Officer may inspect dwellings, non-residential structures and premises
in order to safeguard the health and safety of the occupants and the
general public. The Environmental Health regulations have stated that
the relevant officer may apply for a warrant if an owner, owner’s agent
or occupant refuses to consent to an inspection.

Occupants must give the owner access to a dwelling or premises at all

reasonable times to make repairs, conduct inspections, or to comply with
the available regulations.

3.5.1 Abatement Notices of Violation

Any violation of the regulation that is observed or reported there must

be communication to notify the owner of the violation and order that
corrective action be taken. The notice must:

 be in writing;
 describe the corrective action that needs to be taken;
 provide reasonable time for performance of action;
 be served on or mailed to the owner/agent; or

315
 be posted on or near the property affected by the notice. See the
sample of abatement notice.

What is Abate notice?

Abatement is the act of eliminating or nullifying, and when applied to

nuisances, abatement signifies removal of the cause. A notice regarding
abatement of a nuisance is a form of communication to a person whose
act, default or sufferance has caused the existence of the nuisance giving
him warning or notification for the removal of the nuisance usually
within a specified time.

3.5.2 Procedure Under Section 7 of the Public Health Law

In Ondo State, public health laws of 2006 states that. ‘A health officer
shall, if, satisfied of the existence of a nuisance, serve a notice,
hereinafter called the abatement notice, on the person by whose act,
default or sufferance the nuisance arises or continues, or if, such person
cannot be found, on the occupier or owner of the premises on which the
nuisance arises, requiring him to abate the same within the time
specified in the notice, and to execute such works, and to do such things
as may be necessary for that purpose, and, if the health officer thinks it
desirable (but not otherwise), specifying any works to be executed. The
health officer may also by the same or another notice served on such
person, occupier or owner require him to do what is necessary for
preventing the recurrence of the nuisance, and, if he thinks it desirable,
specify any works to be executed for that purpose, and may serve that
notice notwithstanding that the nuisance may for the time being have
been abated if the health officer considers that it is likely to recur on the
same premises. Where the nuisance arises from any want or defect of a
structural character, or where the premises are unoccupied, the notice
shall be served on the owner.

3.5.3 Procedure under Section 70 Public Health Law

A notice, order or document required or authorised by this law to be

served on the owner or occupier of any premises shall be deemed to be
properly addressed if addressed by the description of the “Owner” or
“Occupier” of such premises without further description, and shall be
deemed to be properly served if it is delivered to some adult person on
the premises to whom the same can with reasonable diligence be
delivered, or by fixing the notice on some conspicuous part of the
premises. A notice, order or document required on authorised by this
law to be served on any person (including an owner or occupier) may be
served:

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

(a) By delivering the same to such person;

(b) By delivering the same, at the usual or last known place of abode
of such person, to some adult member or servant of his family.

3.5.4 Abatement of Nuisance under Section 92 of the Practice

Regulations

There is a similarity in what obtains under Section 92 of the Regulation

and Section 7 of the Public Health Law. Both have the same goal –
abatement of nuisances. However, there is a slight difference in the
procedure to be adopted with regards to sealing up of premises either
found unfit for human habitation or poses great danger to the public
health.

 By the provision of Section 92 (1), an Environmental Health

Officer shall if satisfied of the existence of a nuisance, serve a
notice, hereinafter called an abatement notice. (Schedule xv)

(a) On the person who causes or continues to cause the

nuisance or,
(b) If such person cannot be found on the premises, occupier
or owner or developer of the premises on which the
nuisance was caused shall be served with notice
requiring him to abate the nuisance within the time
specified in the notice and to execute such works, and
to do such things as may be necessary for that purpose and
if the Environmental Health Officer thinks it
desirable, may specify any work to be executed.

3.5.5 Failure to Comply with Abatement Notice under Public

Health Law, Section 8

 The health officer shall cause him to be arraigned before a

Magistrate’s court for prosecution and if found guilty the court
has the power to punish the offender according to law.
 Punishment of the offender according to law by the court may be
by way of sentencing the offender to a prison term or by the
imposition of a fine
 The court may also make a Nuisance Order which may be (i) an
abatement order or (ii) a prohibition order or (iii) a closing order
or a combination of such orders

(1) Where an abatement notice has been served on a premises

or industry and action is not taken within twenty four
hours or as stated in such notice and if the Environmental
Health Officer believes such a premises poses great danger
317
 to the public health, then, the industry or the premises
shall be sealed;
(2) A notice to seal any premises shall be signed by either the
Head of the Local Government Environmental Authority,
the head of the State Environmental Authority or the
representative of the Minister and posted in a conspicuous
place in the premises. The notice to seal the premises shall
be issued in the appropriate form as contained in schedule
XIII to this Regulation;
3) A notice to seal premises shall be deemed to have been
served properly if it is served on an adult person in the
premises, fixed in a conspicuous place in the premises or
at the registered office of the company;
(4) A premises sealed under this section shall remain sealed
until such a time when the reason for sealing of the
premises has been rectified and the premises or any part
thereof is no more a threat to public health or public
safety.

3.5.6 Emergency and Corrective Actions

If at any time, the code enforcement staff determines that a situation

requires immediate action to protect the public health and safety, the
staff may order the owner, agent or operator to take action to correct the
condition immediately. If possible, the order is to be hand delivered to
the owner, agent or operator. If the order cannot be hand delivered, the
order must be posted on the property in a conspicuous location. If the
owner does not take action to correct the condition within 24 hours after
the posting or delivery of the order, the staff may enter into a contract to
have corrective action taken. The owner is liable to the county for all
reasonable and necessary costs that are incurred. These costs constitute a
debt owed by the owner to the county and may be placed upon the tax
bill as a lien on the property and be collected in the manner in which
ordinary taxes are collected.

3.6 Condemnation

Any dwelling, dwelling unit, or non-residential structure may be

condemned as unfit for human habitation or unsafe for human
occupancy if it:

1. lacks electricity, water supply, sanitation facilities, adequate light,

ventilation, or a heating system;
2. is entirely or in part, so damaged, decayed, dilapidated,
unsanitary, unsafe, or vermin-infested that it creates a serious
hazard to the health or safety of the occupants or the public.

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3. one which, because of its general condition, is entirely or in part,

unsanitary or otherwise dangerous to the health or safety of the
occupants or public;
4. contains unsafe equipment, including any boiler, heating
equipment, elevator, moving stairway, electrical wiring or device,
flammable liquid containers or other equipment, on the premises
or in the structure that presents a hazard to the life, health,
property or safety of the occupants or the public;
5. is vacant and unoccupied for the purpose for which it was built;
has remained substantially in that condition for at least one year;
and has been cited for five (5) or more violations of chapter 26,
none of which has resulted in a “not guilty” finding by a court; or
6. is a public nuisance.

If any of these conditions are found, the Code Enforcement Staff notifies
the owner of the condemned property and posts a Condemnation sign on
the property. This sign must not be removed until the Code Enforcement
Staff authorises its removal.

The owner of the property must notify any occupants that they must
vacate the property. The owner then must secure all windows and doors
that are accessible from the ground or by the reasonably foreseeable use
of a ladder, and must keep all doors and windows secure from
unauthorised entry.

Repair or Removal of Condemned Structures: When a property is

condemned, the owner must repair or remove the condemned structure
within the time period allowed by the Inspector. If the owner does not
comply with the Inspector’s order, the structure will be demolished after
giving the owner a 30-day written notice. The cost of the demolition will
be charged to the property owner. If the owner fails to reimburse the
County for the demolition cost, the County will collect it as taxes on real
property. Any such charge is a lien on the property.

3.7 The Effects of Violating Environmental Laws and

Regulations

The environment plays more import role on man’s health than all type of
diseases one can think of. One doesn’t need to be a philosopher to
agree with this view, bearing in mind that apart from the direct
effects the physical environment has on health, there are several
diseases and other conditions which are largely determined by the
nature of the environment. Laws and regulations are made to checkmate
human manipulations of the environment which are detrimental to
health and the ecosystem. Whenever such laws are poorly enforced or

319
rather violated all or some of the following health consequences will
manifest.

3.8 The Court as an Instrument of Enforcing Housing and

Building Laws

The Nigerian legal system consist of practical and dawn to the earth sets
of procedures and rules designed to provide resolution to ordinary
problems, further the course of trades and commerce, and for the
regulation of conduct in the society. The court is the custodian of the
law and the wheel on which the rule of law resolves.

The court will continue to serve as the last hope of citizens due to the
following reasons:

1. The independence and impartiality of the judges ensure that

proceedings are free from bias and extraneous consideration.
2. The openness of court procedure and proceedings ensure that
decision will be as fair as possible.
3. There is certainly in the court process, as justice is done
according to the law.
4. Court decisions are based on material facts, which are clearly
stated.
5. No person can be punished by court except according to a written
law of the land.
6. Rule of fair hearing and natural justice are employed by court in
it adjudication of matters.
7. Court system ensures the supremacy of the rule and balance of
power is therefore achieved.
8. Court engaged in review of the act of administrative and
legislative bodies.

3.8.1 Categories of Courts in Nigeria

1. Supreme Court
2. Court of Appeal
3. Federal High Court
4. High Court of the Federal Capital Territory
5. High Court of a State
6. Sharia and Customary Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital
Territory
7. Sharia and Customary Court of Appeal of a State

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3.9 Factors Militating against Effective Enforcement of Laws

and Regulations

Non-compliance with environmental including housing and building

regulations is a common phenomenon in the world and the presence of
this problem in Nigeria cannot be over emphasised. Some of the factors
associated with this are:

1. general ignorance
2. inadequate qualified personal to enforce the laws
3. corruption and bribery
4. lack of political will from the government in power
5. poor enforcement mechanism
6. lack of effective monitoring and supervision
7. economic considerations on the part of the people and
government
8. death of environmental pressure groups
9. cultural beliefs
10. inconsistent policies on environmental management due to
political instability, therefore there should be some steps that will
help in changing the situation, these steps are:

i. Standards, regulations and guidelines should be flexible in

order to stand the taste of time.
ii. Education of the citizens through a powerful public
enlightenment strategy is important.
iii. Modern equipment should be made available for
environmental monitoring and nuisance detection.
iv. Increase research funding on environmental management
issues.
v. Competence based services delivery should be advocated,
adopted and emphasised at all times and levels. Such that
people with technical knowledge and competence only
will be allowed to handle legal issues commensurate to
their backgrounds.
vi. Inter-sectoral collaboration. All stake holder agencies
operating in the state should work in partnership with one
another, and or team up to enforce the existing
legislations.
vii. Community empowerment and education should be
invigorated to equip people with knowledge, skills and the
means of complying with the provisions of environmental
regulations.
viii. Involvement of NGs, CBOs etc. in law enforcement.
Example, formation of environmental sanitation

321
 “marshals”, “vanguards” as they may be called should be
encouraged at both state and LGAs levels.
ix. Establishment of environmental courts/mobile courts to
invoke relevant sections of the law as may be needed.
x. Adequate funding and equipping of establishments
saddled with the responsibility of enforcing environmental
legislations in the state.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In order to make the enforcement of sanitary standards and regulations

of buildings more effective and result oriented, the Federal Ministry of
Environment should encourage and support states and local
governments to implement the national policy guidelines on sanitary
inspection of premises and housing and building maintenance, there is
the need for the states to enforce the implementation of national policy
guidelines on sanitary inspection of premises. Government should
encourage Environmental Health Practitioners to carry out research on
the promotion of housing standard. The Government should create a
common platform for effective collaboration and cross fertilisation of
ideas on ways of improving housing sanitation, especially in the area of
building approval. This will prevent role conflict and duplication of
functions and further help check the proliferation of building collapse in
the country.

5.0 SUMMARY

This unit has looked at some environmental standards, regulations and

guidelines that govern the maintenance of the housing. It is clear that
enforcement of environmental standards, regulations and guidelines are
meant to direct and guide people and organisations on how to perform
environmentally friendly activities, production processes and general
development, with the aim of protecting, preserving and conserving the
environment for the present and future generations. Some
recommendations have been offered for the development of good
mechanism for implementing such policies through co-operation and
collaboration. The need for education and public enlightenment amongst
the citizens has been highlighted. This is crucial because the average
man on the street may not know the impact of his/her actions on the
environment, and is probably not aware of the existence of regulations
and guidelines.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. What is the purpose of enforcement of codes and regulations?

2. Enumerate the enforcement process.

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

3. How would you file a complaint in court?

4. What are the effects of violating environmental laws and
regulations?
5. What factors are known to militate against effective enforcement
of environmental laws?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Amadi, A. N. (2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Owerri Readon

Publishers Ltd, in Collaboration with Ugooma Printing and
Publishing Co.

Barry, R. (1999), The Construction of Buildings. Vol. 1. (7th ed.).

London: Blackwell Science Ltd.

WAHEB (1965). Water and Building Sanitation (Ed.). Lagos: West

Africa Health Examination Board, pp. 95-153.

Wilkie, W. (1965). Jordan’s Tropical Hygiene and Sanitation. (4th ed.).

London: Bailher Jindall and Lox, pp.87-160

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QUESTIONS
CASE 1

Adebanke Ajiloro, a food vendor at No 14, Ilelabola Street, Oke Town

in Ondo State was selling food in her canteen at the above named
address. She had in her possession rice and stew together with goat
meat. The goat meat was already decaying and not suitable for human
consumption. She was selling the food to her patrons on 06/02/2008.
You as a public officer in charge of the area visited the canteen at 2.00
p.m and found these facts. You confiscated the food items and
interrogated her. Draft a charge under section 34 of Ondo State Public
Health Law Cap 124 Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria. Before a
Magistrate’s having jurisdiction in the area.

Schedule xv (Abatement Notice)

ABATEMENT NOTICE
To…………………………………………………………………………
Of…………………………………………………………………………
You are required to abate within…………..days the nuisance
at…………………………….Consisting of..……………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
And for that purpose to ….……………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
and to prevent the recurrence of the nuisance.

DATED this……….day of………20……… Time…………a.m./p.m.

………………………
Environmental Health Officer
I hereby certify that a copy of the above notice was served by me on
the………….day of…………20….......at………a.m/p.m by being
(State how served)……..………… In the presence of
(Mr/Mrs/Chief/Miss)……………………………..as witness
Environmental Health Officer

Name of Witness

National Environmental Health Practice Regulation, 2007

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

ANSWER TO CASE 1
SPECIMEN DRAFT – CASE 1

IN THE MAGISTRATE COURT OF …………… STATE

IN THE …………….. MAGISTERIAL DIVISION
HOLDEN/HOLDING AT ……………….

CHARGE NO…………………..
BETWEEN
THE STATE
…………COMPLANINAT/APPLACANT
AND
ADEBANKE AJILORO
……………ACCUSED/DEFENDANT

COUNT 1
That you, Adebanke Ajiro on 6th day of Febuary 2008 at about 2.00pm
at No 14, Ilelabola Street, in the Oke Magisterial Division has in your
possession cooked rice and stew and decaying goat meat that was unfit
for human consumption, selling same for consumption and thereby
committed an offence, contrary to Section 34, subsection 1 and
punishable under Section 34, subsection 2 of Public Health law cap 124
of Ondo State of Nigeria.

….………………………………..
Environmental Health Officer

Date of Arraignment: ………………………

Plea:…………………………………………………
Date of Adjournment: ……………………..
Sentence:………………………………………….
Name of Prosecutor:…………………………
Name of Magistrate:…………………………

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CASE 2
Ade Bajide and Olu Kiloku on 26/06/2009 at about 6:30am jointly
prevented a Public Health Officer, Tade Bayide from inspecting the
abattoir at No. 4 Ileileri Street in Odede town within the Odede
Magisterial District of Ondo state. Tade had gone to the abattoir upon
receiving information that some cows that were unfit for human
consumption had been slaughtered there and were being sold to
members of the public by Samiu Odole, a cow dealer. The incident
happened at about 6.30 am.

ANSWER to Case 2
SPECIMEN DRAFT – CASE 2

IN THE MAGISTRATE COURT OF …………… STATE

IN THE …………….. MAGISTERIAL DIVISION
HOLDEN/HOLDING AT ……………….

CHARGE NO…………………..
BETWEEN
THE STATE
…………COMPLANINAT/APPLACANT
AND
1. ADE BAJIDE
……………ACCUSED/DEFENDANT
2. OLU KILOKU
COUNT 1
That you, Adebanke Ajiro on 26th day of June 2009 at about 6.30am at
No 4, Ileileri Street, in the Odede Magisterial Division of Ondo state
jointly prevented Environmental health Officer by name Tade Bayide
from inspecting the abattoir where cows that were unfit for human
consumption were being slaughtered for human consumption and
thereby committed an offence, contrary to Section 68 and punishable
under Section 68 of Public Health law cap 124 of Ondo State of Nigeria.

……….…………………………………………..
Environmental Health Officer
Date of Arraignment: ………………………
Plea:…………………………………………………
Date of Adjournment: ……………………..
Sentence:………………………………………….
Name of Prosecutor:…………………………
Name of Magistrate:………………………..

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Arokoyo, S. B. & Adeyemo, A. M. (Eds). (2002). Perspective on Urban

Development Planning and Management. Lagos: Amethyst &
Colleagues Publishers. p,243.

Bayelsa State Government (2006), Public Health Laws Cap. P.16, Vol.4,
Laws of Bayelsa State, Federal Republic of Nigeria (Part Il
Sanitation).

COUSIN, N. (2004). “Where the Dream of Owning a Home Begin”,

House Quest, Nigeria Ltd.

El Rufa’i, N. A. (2006). “Elimination of Slum/Squatter Settlements -The

FCT experience.” Journal of Environmental Health. 3(2); p. 56.

FMENV (2005). Policy Guidelines on Sanitary Inspection of Premises,

Abuja.

FR xi (1977) Local Government Laws of Nigeria (as amended) 1950

FRN (1963), Public Health Laws cap.103, Laws of Eastern Nigeria, (wk
6 Sect of (a-n) (Subsidiary Legislation part Ill Sanitation) sect.
42-63).

FRN (2007), National Environmental Health Practice Regulations,

Official Gazette No. 21, Vol.94, Lagos.

Mahmoud, S. (2012). “Enforcement of Premises Inspection Regulations

in Kaduna State, Prospects and Problems.” Being A Paper
Delivered at a 3 day Workshop on Premises Inspection for
Environmental Health Practitioners, organised by Forward
Resources Nigeria Ltd in Collaboration with Kaduna State Local
Government Service Commission held between 18TH – 20th
September, 2012.

Nnah, W. W. (2002). “Urban Planning Laws in Nigeria.” In: Arokoyo,

S. B. & Adeyemo, A. M. (Eds). Lagos: Amethyst Colleagues
Publishers. pp.131-147.

Novic, R. E. (1987). “Shelter and Health.” In: World Health Magazine,

July, P6-9. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights (2007), International Housing Standard,
htt./[Link]/enghiish/issues/
housing/standards. htm.

327
Okorodudu, S. A. (2002). “Public Sector Housing Crisis in Nigerian
Cities, Implications for Planning.” In: Arokoyo S. B. &
Adeyemo, A. M. 2002; (Eds). Lagos: Amethyst Colleagues
Publishers, pp.219 -226.

Ogu, B. C. (1991). Environmental Management in Nigeria: Issues,

Concepts & Laws. Okigwe, Nigeria:FASMEN Communications.
pp. 76-80.

PARK, K. (2007). Parts Textbook on Preventive & Social Medicine.

India: M/S Banarsides Bharrot Publisher Jabaipar, , pp. 606- 609.

Schaefer, M. (1987). Health Principles of Housing. World Health, WHO

July P.18-19. ‘

S. O. Abiloro Barr. (2012). “Intensive Training Workshop on

Environmental Health Laws/Orders/Guidelines, Prosecution and
Court Processes for Environmental Health Officers in Nigeria.”
Being a paper presented 20th April 2012, Abuja, Nigeria.

Sridhar, M. K. C. (2008). “The Role of Environmental Health in

Achieving the Millenum Development Goals in Health.” 5(2);
p.94- 102.

WHO (1967). “Appraisal of the Hygienic Quality of Housing and its

environment.” Tech. Report Series No. 353; Genera.

WHO (2001). “Core Questions on Drinking Water & Sanitation for

Household Survey.”

WHO (2004). “Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Links to Health (WSH)

Facts and Figures updated.”

WHO (1991). “Environmental Health in Urban Development.” Tech.

Report Series No. 807, Genera.

WHO (1989). “Health Principles of Housing, Report of a WHO

Consultation on Housing Implications for Health.” Genera, 44pp.

WHO (1981). “The Public Health Aspects of Housing.” Tech. Report

Series No. 225, Genera, pp.60

WAHEB (1965). Water and Building Sanitation (Ed.). West Africa

Health Examination Board, Lagos P.4; 95-153.

Wilkie, W. (1965). Jordan’s Tropical Hygiene and Sanitation. (4th ed.).

London: Bailher Jindall and Lox, pp.87-160:

328
EHS 312 MODULE 4

UNIT 3 ROLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

PRACTITIONERS IN BUILDING APPROVAL
AND REGISTRATION
CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Environmental Health Officer or Practitioner (EHO)
3.2 Roles of Environmental Health Practitioners in Building
Approval
3.3 General Guide for Inspection of Existing Premises
3.4 Importance of Sub Professionals
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION
In the previous unit you have learnt the various enforcement
mechanisms necessary for the building and housing sector to be
supervised and monitored. In other previous Units you have also learnt
the various professional groups involved in one function or the other in
the building and housing industry. You may also refer back to Unit 5
and see the most important stakeholders in maintaining standards in
building and housing including an EHO. You have learnt that all of
them work as a team to ensure that our buildings during construction
and our houses are properly and sanitarily maintained. This unit will
specifically discuss the unique role of an Environmental health Officer
as a stakeholder in the processing of building documents, ensure that the
house when newly completed is fit for human habitation and/or during
his/her course of routine inspection, he/she ensure that the house is
sanitarily maintained for the health benefit of its dwellers and their
neighbours.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 describe an environmental health practitioner (ehp)

 discuss the roles of an eh practitioner in new building project and
housing maintenance
 list general guide for inspection of existing premises.
 state the importance of sub professionals in new building project
and housing maintenance.
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3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Environmental Health Officer or Practitioner (EHO)

according to the specification in the Environmental Health
Officers Registration Council Act, 2002. Section 10 (5) in the
third schedule specify who is qualified to be registered in the
register of the Council and perform the functions of an EHO. The
person must have attended a course of training in a recognised
and approved health training institution and passed any of the
following exterminations as follows:

Royal Society of Health Diploma for Environmental Health Officers in

West Africa or West African Health Examinations Board Diploma for
Environmental Health Officers; or

[Link]. Environmental Health Science plus West African Health

Examinations Board Diploma for Environmental Health Officers or
Royal Society of Health Diploma for Environmental Health Officers in
West Africa ; or

HND Environmental Health Science plus West African Health

Examination Board Diploma for Environmental Health Officers or
Royal Society of Health Diploma for Environmental Health Officers ; or

Master of Public Health (MPH) plus West Africa Health Examination

Board Diploma for Environmental Health Officers or Royal Society of
Health Diploma for Environmental Health Officers in West Africa.

Fig.3.1: Trained EHO in his complete uniform ready to perform his

duties

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

3.2 Roles of Environmental Health Practitioners in Building

Approval

The WHO Expert Committee on the Public Health Aspects of Housing

(1961) states clearly that Environmental Health Practitioners have a
leading role to play among the key actors in building regulations and
town planning. The reason is that, as part of their statutory duties in the
field of preventive medicine, they have a legal and moral obligation to
ensure clean environment consistent with national health objectives.
Therefore, they must focus attention on problems of housing
deficiencies that pose the greatest health risks to majority of the human
populations. Firstly, they must assess the sanitary quality of housing;
secondly, they establish abatement programme to remove hazards; and
thirdly, they evaluate or measure the effectiveness of the remedial
actions.

Based on the above and in line with the National Environmental Health
Practice Regulations (2007) and National Policy Guidelines on house-
to-house inspection (2005), an Environmental Health practitioners
perform the following functions:

1. Sanitary inspection of building and other premises to detect and

abate nuisances (hazardous conditions) that may endanger the
health and lives of the residents;
2. Enforcement of sanitary (environmental health) standards in
buildings (not new and existing buildings), as provided in the
laws and regulations;
3. The vetting of building plans for proposed buildings for
necessary approval, including the continuous checks visit to
buildings under construction to ensure compliance with stipulated
standards;
4. Assistance in physical planning/development of plans for new
buildings or existing building;
5. Ensuring that housing after construction is adequately, safely and
hygienically maintained and used by the occupants in accordance
with the legal requirements;
6. Education and enlightenment of both private and public land
developers on the importance of hygienic housing and the need to
adhere strictly to regulatory standards;
7. Advice to government agencies and policy makers on their role in
enforcing housing laws, building regulations and standards;
8. Organise seminars and workshop for stakeholders on ways to
promote housing and building sanitation;
9. Collaborate with town planners, architects, engineers, builders,
land developers and other relevant stakeholders on ways of
promoting better housing standards and building practices;

331
10. Conducting research on modern methods of housing appraisal
and education of the public in the promotion and maintenance of
healthy housing standards (WHO, 1961; WHO, 1967, Nnah,
2002; Zacchaeus, 2008; WHO, 1991; WAHEB, 1991).

3.3 General Guide for Inspection of Existing Premises

i. Carry out formal introduction

ii. Explain purpose of inspection visit
iii. Demand for owner, representative or occupier
iv. Consider the approach to the building
v. Confirm whether there are unauthorised attachment to the house
vi. Demand for approved plan of the premises or building
vii. Consider the distance between of the building to the main road
viii. Consider whether the building is located in a swampy,
waterlogged area or an area prone to flooding
ix. Walk through the inside and consider the conditions of floors,
wall and ceilings
x. Consider whether the building conforms with the approved
building plan
xi. Confirm cases of overcrowding in some or all the rooms opened
as at the time of inspection
xii. Consider whether an offensive trade is being practised in the
premises
xiii. Consider the source of water supply and condition of the kitchen
xiv. Consider availability and conditions of sanitary conveniences
xv. Consider the methods of temporary disposal of waste

Fig.3. 2: Trained EHO in her complete uniform ready to perform

her duties

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EHS 312 MODULE 4

3.4 Importance of Sub Professionals

The above listed functions cannot be performed as at when due by the

qualified EHP under any circumstance due to many factors such as fast
growing population in both urban and rural areas hence many people
need to develop and build their house, unavailability of skilled personnel
at all levels, other equally demanding services either in the office or
within the community etc. Therefore, there is the need for the skilled
personnel to utilise the availability of the environmental health
technicians and assistants in one way or the other. This will enable you
build their capacity to do some of the functions and duties that they are
doing without over stepping their bounds.

4.0 CONCLUSION

The EHP should ensure that this responsibility of ensuring that all
sanitary equipments are properly designed in the building plan and fixed
during construction accordingly. Quality materials must be procured and
be put in place. Many domestic accidents that occurred at homes
especially in the toilet or fire outbreak etc. were traced to use of
substandard sanitary and other equipments.

5.0 SUMMARY

In today Nigeria Environmental Health Practitioners have an important

role to play among the key stakeholders in enforcing sanitary building
regulations and town planning provision. The reason is that, as part of
their statutory duties in the field of preventive medicine, they have a
legal and moral obligation to ensure clean environment consistent with
national health objectives. Therefore, they must focus attention on
problems of poor housing practices, poor maintenance of premises
through indiscriminate building of structures, building above the
permissible plot area, deficiencies in lightening and ventilating sources
that pose the greatest health risks to majority of the dwellers and users
of premises. Many employers of labour including governments at
federal, state and local levels, private organisations, uniform and non-
uniform institutions are massively employing EHP to help them
maintain the required standard in building and housing requirement.
Therefore, EHP must be up and doing in discharging this important
responsibility. The quality of the services to be rendered by EHP
depends solely on their competence, seriousness, attitude and level of
training. Due to ever increasing emerging challenges in our environment
there is the need for increasing continuing education programme that
will keep the practitioners abreast of developments.

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6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Describe an Environmental Health Practitioner (EHP).

2. List the roles expected of an environmental health practitioner in
the process of approving a building plan.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Amadi, A. N.(2011). ABC of Environmental Health. Owerri: Readon

Publishers Ltd, in Collaboration with Ugooma Printing and
Publishing Co.

Barry, R. (1999). The Construction of Buildings. Vol. 1. (7th ed.).

London: Blackwell Science Ltd.

Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria Act

2002.

Harmonised Practice Guide for the Environmental Health Officers in the

Ecowas Sub Region by WAHO (Draft) 2011.

WAHEB (1965). Water and Building Sanitation (Ed.). West Africa

Health Examination Board, Lagos. pp. 95-153.

Wilkie, W. (1965). Jordan’s Tropical Hygiene and Sanitation. (4th ed.).

London: Bailher Jindall & Lox, pp.87-160.

334