(photos by Onaiza Shaikh)
This is the first of two posts which show the stages of house construction in Dhofar. I am very grateful to Onaiza Shaikh for taking such clear and helpful photos of several houses to show the basic steps:
1 – prepare the plot by smoothing the ground and outlining the shape in white chalk
2 – excavating the footprint
3 – building a series of cement block squares that are painted with water-proof paint, then a rebar metal frame in placed inside and the inside is filled with liquid cement, then the surrounding space is re-filled with dirt
4 – creating the sub-base (plinth) and foundation slab by packing earth over the filled-in cement squares, then building up a low cement exterior wall (the outline of the house) and low cement block walls (the interior load-bearing walls), each of these sections are filled in packed earth then covered with a layer of cement – rebar is set into this foundation and sticks up from the smoothed cement base – the result is a base about one meter off the ground with smooth cement walls and a surface which is marked by the tops of cement blocks (6″ or more high) which show the outline of the interior walls
5 – building walls of cement block reinforced with columns of steel and cement (created from liquid cement that is poured into wooden forms constructed around the rebar)
6 – the house begins to take shape
(in second posting)
7 – poles are set up to support wooden forms for the ceilings/ roof/ floors of upper stories
8 – the second story is constructed
9 – the roof is poured using a stretch pumper and the roof wall is built
10 – the major construction is now finished and the house can stay in this unfinished state for months
11 – exterior finishing is added: plaster/ paint, windows and doors
12 – the boundary wall is built
Images for steps 1 – 3
Images for steps 4 – 6
Come From Away 
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