Prefabricated Panel and Brick-Concrete Structure Houses
There are significant differences between prefabricated panel houses and brick-concrete structure houses in terms of structural form, performance characteristics, and renovation difficulty.
Different structural forms: Brick-concrete structure houses are a composite structural system. The vertical load-bearing components are constructed using bricks or blocks, while the horizontal components are made of reinforced concrete. The load is jointly borne by brick walls and reinforced concrete beams and floor slabs. On the other hand, prefabricated panels are building materials for constructing houses. Prefabricated panel houses may adopt a frame structure or other structural forms. The prefabricated panels are assembled like building blocks, lacking firm connections between them, resulting in relatively poor overall integrity.
Different performance characteristics: Brick-concrete structure houses are easy to construct and offer good sound insulation and thermal insulation properties. However, their seismic resistance is relatively weak, and the height is usually limited to below six floors. Nevertheless, the overall integrity and seismic resistance can be improved by setting up structural columns and ring beams. In brick-concrete structure houses, most of the block walls are load-bearing walls. The structural columns and ring beams can restrain the walls from maintaining integrity during earthquakes. Prefabricated panel houses have a higher damage rate during earthquakes, especially old-style prefabricated panel houses. Due to the numerous joints and poor overall integrity, they are prone to damage during earthquakes. This is because the connections between the prefabricated panels are not firm, and during earthquakes, they are prone to displacement and separation, leading to structural damage to the house.
Different renovation difficulties: For brick-concrete structure houses, under reasonable design and construction conditions, some local renovations are relatively feasible, but issues such as load-bearing walls still need to be handled with caution. For prefabricated panel houses, when adding elevators or making other renovations, due to the lack of firm connections between the prefabricated panels, the renovation may damage the overall structural integrity and pose safety hazards. For example, when adding an elevator, operations such as making openings in the house structure and increasing the load are required. This may make the originally unfirm connections between the prefabricated panels even more fragile, affecting the safety and stability of the house.
