Effect of Prefabricated Panel Houses

The effect of prefabricated panel houses has both advantages and disadvantages, which are detailed as follows:

Advantages

• High construction efficiency: Prefabricated panels are made in advance in the factory according to the specific dimensions of the house. After the wall construction is completed, they can be directly lifted up for assembly. Typically, the floor slab of a house can be installed within one or two days, significantly shortening the construction period. Compared to the traditional method of on-site pouring of floor slabs, the efficiency is greatly improved.
• Simple construction process: Even if the constructor does not have the ability to make prefabricated panels themselves, they can entrust the factory to do so and then transport the finished panels to the construction site for installation. Moreover, the construction process is relatively easy to understand. Even those without relevant experience can grasp the operation process after simple guidance, reducing the technical threshold for construction.
• Cost savings: Using prefabricated panels to build houses avoids the need to purchase a large amount of building materials such as steel bars, cement, and building formwork at the construction site. It also reduces the demand for a large number of personnel to carry out on-site pouring operations. This not only saves the cost of purchasing building materials but also reduces labor costs, making the overall project cost more economical.
• Thermal and sound insulation effects: Prefabricated panels usually have a hollow structure, which gives them more outstanding performance in thermal and sound insulation compared to cast-in-place floor slabs. In summer, they can effectively block external heat from entering the room, keeping the interior relatively cool; in winter, they can reduce the loss of indoor heat, providing a certain degree of thermal insulation. At the same time, the hollow structure can also block the transmission of sound to a certain extent, reducing the impact of external noise on the interior.
• Economical and practical: Building prefabricated panel houses does not require complex processes such as large-scale formwork erection and steel bar binding. After the load-bearing walls are built, the floor slab of one floor can basically be laid within a day. Under the technical and economic conditions at that time, this construction method was a relatively optimized choice in terms of project cost.

Disadvantages

• Poor sound and thermal insulation: Since prefabricated panels are assembled from cement components, there are gaps at the joints, which cause the sound in the room to easily spread to the adjacent rooms. People in the adjacent rooms can clearly hear loud conversations. Moreover, there are also deficiencies in thermal insulation. The indoor temperature is relatively high in summer and relatively cold in winter, seriously affecting the living comfort.
• Poor waterproof performance: After being exposed to wind and rain for a long time, prefabricated panel houses are prone to cracks, especially at the joints and the parts connected to the walls. Once cracks appear, rainwater will seep into the room during rain, not only affecting the living comfort but also causing damage to the interior decoration aesthetics.
• Short service life: The service life of prefabricated panel houses is generally only 30 - 40 years. Nowadays, many prefabricated panel buildings built early have exceeded their service lives. As time goes by, the structural safety of the houses decreases, and there are more and more potential safety hazards.
• Easy cracking and water leakage at the middle joints: When installing prefabricated panels, both sides are placed on the walls. Even if a ring beam is poured, the middle joints are still particularly prone to cracking and water leakage, causing many troubles for the occupants.