Standard Practices for Prefabricated Housing
The standard practices for prefabricated housing cover steps such as factory prefabrication, modular packaging and transportation, ocean transportation and logistics, and on-site assembly. The construction of prefabricated rural houses also needs to adhere to principles and specifications regarding structural systems, materials, design, and construction. Details are as follows:
Factory Prefabrication: The house is divided into independent standard modules, such as bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms, and corridors. All processes, including welding of the steel structure main body, wall laying, pre-embedding of water and electricity pipelines, installation of doors and windows, full-house fine decoration, waterproof and fireproof testing, and safety quality inspections, are completed 100% in the factory, achieving a 'finished product upon leaving the factory'. This approach ensures the quality and precision of the house, reducing uncertainties and errors in on-site construction.
Modular Packaging and Transportation: Modules are custom-produced according to the needs of overseas customers, uniformly coded, classified, and inspected. Waterproof, anti-corrosion, and shock-proof protections are implemented to adapt to the ocean shipping environment. Finished modules are transferred to domestic ports via dedicated flatbed trucks, with dimensions suitable for international standard shipping containers, thereby reducing transportation costs.
Ocean Transportation and Logistics: Packaged house modules are shipped to destinations worldwide on ocean-going cargo vessels. The transportation time varies depending on the destination, such as one week to Southeast Asia, over 20 days to the Middle East, and about a month to Europe and the Americas. The entire logistics process is traceable to ensure the safety and timely arrival of the modules.
On-site Assembly: After arriving at overseas ports, the modules are directly transported to the construction site. Through crane lifting and interface connection, they are positioned, locked, and connected to water and electricity like assembling Lego blocks to complete the assembly. For example, the 63 sets of prefabricated elderly care apartments purchased by the UK from China were fully assembled in just 14 days after landing, demonstrating the efficiency of on-site assembly of prefabricated houses.
Principles and Specifications for the Construction of Prefabricated Rural Houses: It is necessary to clearly adopt structural systems such as prefabricated concrete shear wall structures, EPS module cast-in-place concrete structures, and light steel frame structures, and provide detailed design and construction specifications. Regarding materials, it is advisable to adapt to local conditions and use locally available materials, selecting green and economical building materials or recyclable building materials, and prohibiting the use of high-energy-consuming and excessively polluting materials. In terms of design, it should respect the housing needs of farmers, reflect regional characteristics, and appropriately consider aging-friendly design. For construction, it is advisable to organize construction by professional construction teams or trained rural individual builders with house-building capabilities, and formulate construction organization designs and construction plans.
