School renovation for 1,700 children in Nigeria

In July 2021 we started renovating the 4300 sqft. “U-Block”. It will be the largest single construction project in the entire ten-building school complex. We expect total costs of approx. USD 42,000 for building renovation, roof, doors and windows, plastering, painting and tiling the floors.

What has been achieved so far?

The masonry work required for the basic renovation of the building has now been almost completely done, such as

• the dismantling of the broken roofs
• a partial excavation and creation of a new foundation
• the dismantling of the walls with strong cracks, exterior and interior walls partially rebuild or renovate
• the creation and pouring of the columns with steel containers
• creation of the connections of the pillars with a concreted ledge as part of the foundation
• concreting of the roof parapet

What about the costs?

We will have some additional costs of around USD 3,200 for various good reasons for the masonry work:

• During the construction phase, we decided that we would be concreting a parapet on the walls above as a much better stabilization for the roof.
• We have additional costs for reinforcing iron for two reasons: Increased prices (global price increase in the steel sector) and our decision to build more stable pillars. At the beginning of the construction work we could see on another building after a storm (in which parts of a roof were destroyed) how important these two measures are (parapet and stronger pillars for support).
• We will have higher expenses in terms of labor costs because of additional work for the reasons mentioned above.

What’s coming up soon?

The new roof is then erected on the relevant parts of the building; windows and doors are produced in parallel. The walls are then plastered. If all goes well, the work should be completed in the 1st or 2nd quarter of 2022.

The completion of this school building will be a significant relief for the high number of students as we can provide several additional classrooms. Today, due to lack of space, up to 300 students from several classes are taught in one classroom.

Thank you so much for your support.You can make it happen.

Please watch a 10 minute video what we accomplished so far. See LINK below.

Links:

• 10-minute Video of our achievements so far in Nigeria

After completing all construction activities on the well and the water supply on the school area for the students, teachers and the kitchen, we concentrated on the planning and financing of the renovation of the first dilapidated school building (the so called U-Block) with approx. 4,000 square feet of floor space.

The condition of the building is very bad, and a lot of construction work is required. The implementation of the measures began on July 10, 2021, and will proceed as follows:

• Purchase of the essential materials for the first phase: sand, stones, cement, iron rods, wood for the construction of the doors and windows.
• Selection of the construction company and workers and start of construction.
• Dismantling of the roof, digging the foundation, demolishing all dilapidated walls, laying of the new foundation, pouring the columns and pillars, connecting the foundation with suspended concrete beams, as the nature of the soil causes cracks in the walls. Most of the concreting and masonry work will then be done.
• At the same time, the doors and windows will be built.
• The second phase mainly consists of the work on the roof and the ceilings. Before plastering, the wiring of the electrical system follows. There is currently no electricity, but preparations are already being made for future use. The last step is tiling the floors, installing doors and windows, painting and completing the electrical installations.

Wind and rain damaged the roof of another building, which was repaired at short notice. In the first phase of the renovation, the roof and the dilapidated walls will be dismantled. A solid foundation is then created so that the walls do not burst again. The foundation is the big problem of all buildings because of the soft soil and the simple old buildings.

The soil texture at the school is very poor for construction work. The soil is not stable. When it rains, the soil increases in volume and expands. During the dry season it contracts and shrinks. The instability of the terrain causes the walls of the buildings in the school to crack.

The site engineer now concretes the pillars first and then creates concrete beams from the ground level that will chain the pillars together. On these concrete beams, the blocks are raised up to the lintel level and then another beam is created at roof level. The structure is supported on the floor beams and are filled with laterite down to the foundation. The hardened laterite is a typical construction material in this area.

The costs for the renovation of the U-block amount to approx. USD 40,000. Completion of the work is planned for the end of 2021.