19 Dec

On Tuesday we took a walk around the buildings that are under construction. Have you ever wondered how they make the flat roofs that you see / hear about in this part of the world - if you want the answer read on. Here in Iraq, and I imagine the rest of the Middle East, they make their ceilings out of cement, just like the rest of the building. First they frame out the roof, put a couple of I-beams across the roof and build a ceiling with 2x4's packed tightly together - imagine a pergo/wood floor on the ceiling. Each piece of wood ceiling is held in place by another wood cross beam which is held in place by another 2x4 that extends from the floor to the ceiling - for those 2x4's not long enough to reach the ceiling, a can, brick, or barrel is used like a wedge or spacer to make up the difference. Once the ceiling is in place they pour cement on the wood and use re bar to help tie-in the ceiling to the existing walls. It takes about 6 days for the 10 inch thick cement to fully dry before they put down a layer of tar and then 80 lb slate tiles (about 2x2 foot) to finish off the roof. Each tile is carried on the back of the workers up a makeshift ladder onto the roof - and I thought a bag of shingles was heavy! I wonder if this would pass Mike C's inspection - Mike is a neighbor to my parents and he is a building inspector for the county - Hey Mike I think these roofs would give my dad's deck a run for its money. Anyway, I am sure the EPA would not approve of the burning barrel of tar used in this process. There is a lot of effort that goes into the interior of the buildings as well.
Some of the workers are very skilled - all the floors in the buildings are tile which has been hand laid with precision - there are no lasers here to help with accuracy. Additionally, all the bathrooms and showers have 12x12 tile throughout - not an easy job but the end product will last for centuries to come. As a matter of fact one could say we - the US - are actually paying for the damage we caused...kind of ironic. These buildings have sustained bomb damage and other then a few holes in the walls and roofs the buildings have stood the ultimate test...I wonder how they would do in a CA earthquake? I hope this little construction class was entertaining.