[vijay kasliwal]

Cost-effective construction technologies in India

Rat-trap bond in wall construction 
Brick arches
Filler slab in roof
Compressed earth block

[vijay kasliwal]

Brick arches: The traditional RCC lintels which are costly, can be replaced by brick arches for small spans and save construction cost up to 30–40% over the traditional method of construction. By adopting arches of different shapes blended with brick corbelling, a good architecturally pleasing appearance can be given to the external wall surfaces of the brick masonry.

[vijay kasliwal]

This is a normal RCC slab where the bottom half (tension) concrete portions are replaced by filler materials such as bricks, tiles, cellular concrete blocks, etc. These filler materials are so placed as not to
compromise the structural strength, result in replacing unwanted and non-functional tension concrete, thus resulting in economy.

The main features of the filler slab in roof are:
• Consumes less concrete and steel due to reduced weight of slab by the introduction of a less heavy, low cost filler material like two layers of burnt clay tiles. Slab thickness minimum 112.5 mm.
• Enhances thermal comfort inside the building due to heat-resistant qualities of filler materials and the gap between two burnt clay tiles.
• Makes saving on cost of this slab compared to the traditional slab by about 23%.
• Reduces use of concrete and saves cement and steel by about 40%.

http://environmentportal.in/files/USE.pdf