Cement Floor Building: Team 1
Day 2 of the NC State journey was spent in building cement floors for families that have small children and dirt floors. The dirt floors are a health hazard, particularly to young children who pick up lots of parasites. A cement floor can be kept clean and dry.
The group divided up into teams of 3 to 5 students, and each group worked to build a 12 sq. meter cement floor. The first house is the one-room lamina structure on the left side of this photo. The young family have one small child. The room built of sticks on the right side is the kitchen for the houses on this property, and the house in front of the kitchen (you can see the lamina roof) is where the second cement floor was built by another team.
This house was so small and poorly constructed that they were able to take out the back wall (you can see it resting up against the fence out back) in order to get some air inside for the work. The floor has already been levelled, and is ready for the cement.
The students took turns shovelling sand and gravel into buckets and carrying it to the house where it was readied to mix in the cement.
The cement has been added, and the students are carrying in the last of the gravel before the addition of the water, and the mixing, by shovel, of the pile. Watching from the back is the home owner with his young child.
The cement is spread by trowel. Each cement floor project is overseen by a local albañil (a man who works with cement) … on the left in this photo is Edgar Mejia.
There is lots of shovelling and mixing involved.
Bucket by bucket, the cement is poured over the floor.
Everyone has a chance to work at all the different facets of laying a cement floor in an area where there is no technology to make it easier.
And the finished floor … unfortunately, there was not quite enough cement to finish to the door, but the child will have a clean, dry place to play and learn to crawl and walk.