[Tgo]

Light Gauge Steel Frame - Prefabricated House Options

We are planning to build 2 identical houses on adjacent plots that we have lying vacant. We plan to rent these houses out for the upcoming 10-15 year period. The plot size is more than adequate for a G+1 3BHK house with a drive -in garage and a garden.

Over the years we've been acquainted to constructing, living-in and maintaining brick and mortar houses which involve labour and time intensive construction but the skilled manpower to carry out repairs is readily available in the open market.

Source

I have recently come across Pre-fab home construction which is done using Light Gauge Steel Frames (LGSF) for the structure and drywall boards, roof tiles and floor tiles to finish it off. The turnaround time from plinth slab laying to handover is claimed to be about a month for a studio unit.

I like the idea for the following merits:

• Optimized construction material used
• No need to source material from black market (sand, stone, grit etc.)
• Insulated walls and roof
• Easier housekeeping during construction
• Negates hiring unskilled manpower and dealing with holidays

You can check out some of the designs and the philosophy at TATA Steel's Website for their product Nest-in. i have also attached a bit of material I could get from their Gurgaon Office. They currently do not have any sites here in Jaipur which can be visited to have a look and feel of the place.

I am not so sure about:

• Weather sealing of all the dry wall joints (wall to floor specially for exterior , wall to roof and with each other)
• Empty space in the false ceiling (attracts pests??)
• Overhead water tank / concealed roof tank (ease of access for maintenance)
• How the corrosion prevention is ensured in places where self tapping screws are used as fasteners
• How are tiles laid down on the 1st floor and how do they make it water proof
• Availability of skilled manpower to carry out repairs with unconventional items like (roof shingles, dry walls, insulation etc.)
• Availability of repair hardware in the open market
• Security from breaking-in / theft through dry-walls

It would be great to hear from someone who has lived-in or has experience of building and maintaining such houses. What are the pros and cons over conventional construction and what all needs to be sorted out before finalizing the order.

[amitk26]

I have seen few restaurants and
Commercial buildings with this kind of construction.
I can click a photo for you of a half constructed place near my place.
Instead of drywall on exterior they have filled it with lightweight 6 inch blocks. The good part of this is that all the steel is 100% usable material and if every you want to remodel or even demolish and construct something else 30 years later steel will give you appreciated value and rest everything will be a waste to dispose.

In my opinion it is a great idea and as long as you are getting a reliable and trained contactor to execute this.

Buying material and explaining it to normal welders/masons etc is a herculean task in our country.

I always wanted to construct using GFRG or alternative eco-friendly technology but main problem was established players were not willing to take up single 2 story house.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, Tgo! Moving your post to a new thread.

[Sutripta]

Talk to people who put up both factories and buildings.

Sutripta

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by amitk26

I can click a photo for you of a half constructed place near my place.
Instead of drywall on exterior they have filled it with lightweight 6 inch blocks. The good part of this is that all the steel is 100% usable material.

In my opinion it is a great idea and as long as you are getting a reliable and trained contractor to execute this. Buying material and explaining it to normal welders/masons etc is a herculean task in our country.

Some pictures would do a world of good for me and others to understand how it is done. They might answer some of my queries. I am collecting queries so that I can take them up with their representative.

I believe it depends how skillfully you dismantle the house and its structure. The option I shared is of Galvanized iron structure. Sections are pre-formed in a CNC machine which marks dimples and holes for fasteners and the sections are coded to understand their placement in the whole structure. At site they just bolt the sections together. I don't think any welding is required. In case of TATA, they say that the contractor and execution is in their scope.

Framecad CNC machine for making the sections of the frame | Source

I also wanted to mention that the layouts mentioned in the brochure are flexible. The finishing can be customized based on the owner's preferences. You can give them your layout and they will get the pre-fab material ready accordingly.

[viXit]

Originally Posted by Tgo

I don't think any welding is required. In case of TATA, they say that the contractor and execution is in their scope.

Lightweight bricks made from cement are gaining reaal popularity.Use this kind for the outer wall.

The kind of construction you're talking about here is pretty common in the states.

I for one, love it. The kind of modularity and flexibility it offers is unmatchable.
We have beem facing wiring issues with the telephone lines and electrical cables in the walls(cement) but there is no way we can repair them.

BUt in a modular drywall construction like this, its just popping open a panel and getting behind it,
Also allows for the wires for your TVs etc. to go behind the wall for a floating wireless look.

Designs like these include drop ceilings are crawl spaces in attics, makes wiring 1000x easier.
False roofing and plastering work is not very difficult to do nowadays.
Just got the PoP roof re done in one of our houses and he(the painter) did it effortlessly.
Our labour guys are totally capable of handling it. Just don't expect the best noise insulation. It's nowhere near our traditional cement and brick walls.

My aunt in the US tells me about how there are noise complaints every two days because anything and everything you do can be heard through drywall and wood structures.

Do keep us updated, would be very interested to know how it goes.
And if it's tata, I would invest my trust+money blindly.

[MMV]

Offsite manufacturing / Prefab construction is slowly gaining traction. Initial adoption is more in commercial segment. Though they also offer customized home options, currently its limited only to HNIs and I am not aware of any retail home product by such companies (though they have plans for end to end solutions)

In India Katerra (softbank backed) is into this segment in a big way (factories in TN-KA border and in Lucknow). It was infact a part of KEF group (prior to merger with Katerra USA).

You can check their portal for more information, they have not yet launched a customized home product.

[ZenMaster]

The biggest headache with these kind of houses will be pests and rodents, if the spaces/openings between walls and the roof etc and not sealed properly.

We had done something in this line. Not steel frame, but using cement pillars and non-load bearing walls. The roof(sloping tiled roof) was made on steel truss and we did false ceiling to make it all good looking. There's nothing wrong with either the roof or the walls or pillars and everything looks great. The mistake we made was improper sealing (GAPS) between the walls and the roofing truss.

The contractor said there was nothing to worry about but 2 months later it has become a zoo. Inditially it was pigeons. But after some scaring they left. Then it was rats that came through our roof water harvesting channels. They left too and then came the worst. CIVETS. They set up their shop their and "MARKED THEIR TERRITORY " and Oh my GOD the entire floor reaked of their urine. We had to leave the windows open all the time to allow air circulation to keep our upper floor stink free.
And our outer walls were decorated by their footprints.

We tried scaring them with sound and pounding to no avail. Months passed until we figured that they hated LIGHT and loves to live in dark places.
So we installed a bulb inside the roof above the false ceiling, and gradually the "family" left.

But my father had to move to another district for his job and they come back only once in two weeks. And guess who has come back while they were away?

So whatever you do, take care that you don't leave any space for them to get in. Make no mistake, if you leave out even the tiniest gap, they will find it and they will use it to come into your home.

Do not employ contractors with a "Chalta hai" attitude.

[neerajsharma48]

Originally Posted by Tgo

We are planning to build 2 identical houses on adjacent plots that we have lying vacant. We plan to rent these houses out for the upcoming 10-15 year period. The plot size is more than adequate for a G+1 3BHK house with a drive -in garage and a garden.

Over the years we've been acquainted to constructing, living-in and maintaining brick and mortar houses which involve labour and time intensive construction but the skilled manpower to carry out repairs is readily available in the open market.

Please look at the following website

Indiawww.loomcraftsprefab.com

They are very good at your kind of requirement, and offer you a wide range of designs, and also customise to meet your requirement.

Hope this helps

[streetfighter]

Originally Posted by ZenMaster

But my father had to move to another district for his job and they come back only once in two weeks. And guess who has come back while they were away?

Snakes?

I've been thinking of constructing a small house, basically a farmhouse with water harvesting, solar power etc and I am fascinated by those wooden houses. This thread is quite helpful and eye opener. Pests, rodents, even lizards are a strict no no for me as well as my family. I'd also be interested to know how to take care of the harsh weather, monsoon, weather sealing the wall, etc. An online search landed me to a company called Woodbarn (https://woodbarnindia.com/), anyone used them or any experience?

[ZenMaster]

I mean't the Civet
Inserting pictures from google for reference. They come out only at night and get into their "homes" during the day.

Fortunately they don't eat animals. They are more interested in fruits.

[SmartCat]

An ex-colleague of mine runs a pre-fabricated house manufacturing company called the The Out Factory. However, these are small tent-like structures (up to 800 sq ft) made out of wood/fabric and suitable only for farm houses or small resorts.

Website: www.theoutfactory.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nXcxqpIx3w

[SuperSuri]

We have the pre-fabricated rooms constructed on our terrace. I don't know if it was the fault of the team building it or if it's the way it is, the roof leaks during rains. Also these rooms get very hot compared to the rooms with regular construction and the ACs are not very effective. Do check these points with the construction team before finalising.

[WhiteKnight]

Thank you for stating the thread. I've heard gypsum boards are used extensively for house construction in Australia.

Do check http://www.frbl.co.in/. These folks make boards based on the design provided. The same can then be integrated to construct house.

[NPV]

I've seen an entire commercial building, a convention center being built with wall boards/PUF panels both for interior and exterior walls. The work involves good amount of initial design to identify the routing of electrical conduits, plumbing lines etc and the supporting steel pillars and roofing sheets. I don't know if there's a specific name for this type of construction but I'm told there's a company in Coimbatore that specialises in these. A ballpark number the architect mentioned was that it costs 40% lesser to construct such a building as compared to the regular RCC and brick/solid block construction. And this gives big savings on time as well, no plastering work too.