After the devastating 2015 earthquakes (measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale) in my country, Nepal, I decided to build an Earthquake-Resistant Home Office Building in my garden space.
The build
To construct the Earthquake-Resistant Home Office Building, we first dug 3 feet deep holes into the ground (four each on two sides and six each on the other two) to fix the 4/4 inches square pipes. We further reinforced these with concrete. Then, we built two feet brick and cement walls from the ground-up surrounding the steel pipes, further strengthening the structure.
After that, we went about welding these vertical pipes horizontally with other support pipes to build a sturdy frame. Finally, we proceeded to weld the truss-structure for the roof. After completing the steel frame structure, we put up the UPVC fibre-mess roofing.
Lastly, we screwed-in the inner and outer MGO flex boards for the walls. For the floor of this Earthquake-Resistant Home Office building, we have used PCC-concrete plaster to prevent the moisture seeping into the room once it’s complete.
Construction Materials Used
For the Earthquake-Resistant Home Office Building project, I have chosen lightweight, yet sturdy and weatherproof materials such as UPVC roofing & waterproof/fire resistant MGO flex-boards for the outer & inner walls with the heat insulation in between. I have further used 4/4 inches square steel pipes for the skeletal structure of this 14ft×12ft room for strength & rigidity.
Earthquake-Resistant Home Office Exterior
Power Backup
This Earthquake-Resistant Home Office Building is powered by two 200 Watt Solar panels (400 Watts total) that are charging two 150 Amps batteries (300 Amps total). These batteries connect to a 1000 Watt Su-Kam Solar Hybrid UPS System. The power generated is sufficient for a couple of desktops, few laptops, all the LEDs in the room as well as a 100 Watt Air Cooler & a wall-mounted fan.
Earthquake-Resistant Home Office Interior
The system can operate Off-grid during the day as well as night, thanks to the Solar panels and batteries. This project can serve as an ideal model for much larger future projects.
Project Cost: $ 7,000 – $ 8,000
Author: Anup Narsingh Amatya