6. Read the text. Ferro-cement

T he term ferro-cement implies the combination of ferrous product with cement. Generally this combination is in the form of steel wires placed in a Portland cement mortar. Wire is usually of 0.8 to 1.00 m diameter at 5 mm to 50 mm between them and cement sand ratio of 1:2 or 1:3.

Ferro-cement reinforcement is assembled into its final desired shape and plastered directly. There is no need for form work. Minimum two layers of reinforcing steel meshes are required. According to American Concrete Institute “Ferro cement is a thin walled reinforced concrete construction where usually a hydraulic cement is reinforced with layers of continuous and relatively small diameter mesh. The mesh used may be metallic or any other suitable material.”

Ferro-cement is fast emerging as an alternate material for timber. It is relatively cheap, strong and durable, and the basic technique is easily acquired. It has the capacity to resist shock load. It can be given attractive finish like that of teak and rose wood. It can be used for walls window frames, door and window shutters, domestic water tanks and others.

(по материалам сайта www.civilengineerblog.com)

Words you may need:

mesh	сетка из стальной проволоки
hydraulic cement	гидравлическое вяжущее вещество
window shutters	оконные ставни

Are the statements true or false?

1. Ferro-cement is widely used instead of wood.

2. Ferro-cement combines iron product and concrete.

3. Ferro-cement can be used as a finishing material.

4. Ferro-cement can be shaped directly.

5. Portland cement is used in ferro-cement.

6. Ferro-cement structure requires three reinforcing steel mashes.

Text 2 types of construction

Construction is a method that consists of assembling or building infrastructure. Usually, this work is managed by a project manager and supervised by a construction engineer, construction manager, project architect or design engineer. Building construction is a process of adding small or big structures to land or real property. There are several types of construction projects such as residential housing construction, institutional and commercial building construction, infrastructure and heavy construction, industrial construction.

R esidential Housing Construction includes single-family houses, multi-family dwellings, and high-rise apartments. Residential housing designs are usually performed by architects and engineers, and the construction executed by builders who hire subcontractors for the structural, mechanical, electrical and other specialty work. An exception to this pattern is for single-family houses which may be designed by the builders as well.

The residential housing market is heavily affected by general economic conditions, tax laws, and the monetary and fiscal policies of the government. Often, a slight increase in total demand will cause a substantial investment in construction, since many housing projects can be started at different locations by different individuals and developers at the same time.

Institutional and Commercial Building Construction encompasses a great variety of project types and sizes, such as schools and universities, medical clinics and hospitals, recreational facilities and sports stadiums and others. Specialty architects and engineers are often engaged for designing a specific type of building, while the builders or general contractors undertaking such projects may also be specialized in only that type of building.

Because of the higher costs and greater complexity of institutional and commercial buildings in comparison with residential housing, this sphere is shared by fewer competitors. Since the construction of some of these buildings is a long process which once started will take some time to proceed until completion, the demand is less sensitive to general economic conditions than that for housing.

I nfrastructure and heavy construction includes projects such as highways, bridges, pipelines, drainage systems and sewage treatment plants. Most of these projects are publicly owned and therefore financed either through bonds or taxes. This category of construction is characterized by a high degree of mechanization, which has gradually replaced some labour intensive operations.

The engineers and builders engaged in infrastructure construction are usually highly specialized and have different types of skills. However, demands for different segments of infrastructure and heavy construction may shift with saturation in some segments. For example, as the available highway construction projects are declining, some heavy construction contractors quickly move their work force and equipment into the field of mining where jobs are available.

Specialized industrial construction usually involves very large scale projects with a high degree of technological complexity, such as oil refineries, chemical processing plants and others. The owners usually are deeply involved in the development of a project and pick a team of designers and builders with whom the owner has developed good working relations over the years.

Although the initiation of such projects is also affected by the state of the economy, long range demand forecasting is the most important factor since such projects are capital intensive and require considerable amount of planning and construction time.

(по материалам сайтов www. scribd.com; www. ru.savefrom.net)

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