HOUSING REPORT
Stonework building with wooden timber roof

Stonework buildings are a common type of rural construction in many parts of Iran (Figure 32). It is widely used in the mountainous areas because of the ease of attaining the building material. More than 71,000 stonework buildings were built in 1968-1972 in comparison to 54,000 brick masonry buildings in these years [1]. Unfortunately these buildings are often found in highly seismic parts of Iran (see maps on WHE webpage for Iran). Buildings of this type are up to two stories high, with height/width aspect ratio on the order of 0.3-0.5. The building materials consists of stone, wood, mud mortar and straw. The major elements of these systems are stonewalls which carry both gravity and lateral loads. These walls consist of stone or stone ballast with mud mortar and straw. For reasons of thermal insulation the thickness of these walls is not less than 50 centimetres (usually 70 centimetres). Details of wall are shown in Figures 11 to 20. The roof includes wooden joists and a set of secondary joists which are plastered with a thick layer of mud (Figures 21 and 22). Different views of this kind of building are shown in Figures 1 to 3. Also a typical building view, plan and layout are shown in Figures 4 to 10. Weak points of this construction type are: the presence of a heavy roof; inadequate behaviour of the walls under out-of-plain forces (Figures 23 and 24); poor shear capacity of the mortar; inadequate connection between roof and walls; inadequate connection between intersecting walls; and lack of diaphragm action in floors and roof where the roof elements (wooden beams) do not work together in earthquakes and may collapse (Figures 25 and 27). In general, this kind of structure is frequently used as a house and stable in mountainous villages, but its earthquake performance is not acceptable. Any proper rehabilitation techniques may save many people's lives.
 

Buildings of this construction type can be found in In most village buildings in the mountain regions of Alborz and Zagros (Figure 32).  This type of housing construction is commonly found in rural areas.  

This kind of building is not practiced in major cities but only in rural cities and mountainous villages. The major reason for the popularity of this form of construction is that in mountainous regions, stone mines are easily accessible. Two kind of stones are used in these stonework buildings: 1-Rubble stone, a by-product of the mining industry (Figure 12). 2-Carcass stone, which comes from riverbeds (Figure 11).  

This construction type has been in practice for more than 200 years ago.

Currently, this type of construction is being practiced.  .  

Figure 1a: Typical Building View [3]	Figure 1b: Typical Building View [3]	Figure 2a: Typical Building Wall View [3]
Figure 2b: Typical Building Wall View [3]	Figure 3: Typical Building Roof View [3]	Figure 4: View of common stone masonry house type
Figure 5: Elevation and a Plan of a Typical Building [7]	Figure 6: Elevation and a Plan of a Typical Building [7]	Figure 7: Elevation of a Typical Building [7]
Figure 8: View and Plan of a Typical Building [7]	Figure 9: View and a Plan of a Typical Building [7]	Figure 10: Two story stone masonry house on a slope
Figure 11: Carcass Stone [1]	Figure 12: Rubble Stone [1]	Figure 13: Stone Walls Foundation
Figure 14: Walls with Rubble Stone [1]	Figure 15: Seismic Behavior of Rubble Stone [9]	Figure 16: Seismic Behavior of Carcass Stone [9]
Figure 17: Stone Settlement [1]	Figure 18: Vulnerable Walls (Buckling of outer stones) [1]	Figure 19: Adequate walls [1]
Figure 20: Stone Units Arrangements [1]	Figure 21: Typical Detail of Connection between Wall and Roof	Figure 22: Roof Details (using secondary wood joists)
Figure 23a: Typical external walls damage in Firoozabad-Kagoor earthquakes [3]	Figure 23b: Typical external walls damage in Firoozabad-Kagoor earthquakes [3]	Figure 24a: Typical internal walls damage in Firoozabad-Kagoor earthquakes [3]
Figure 24b: Typical internal walls damage in Firoozabad-Kagoor earthquakes [3]	Figure 25: Typical roof damage in Firoozabad-Kagoor earthquakes [3]	Figure 26a: Typical roof damage in Firoozabad-Kagoor earthquakes [3]
Figure 26b: Typical roof damage in Firoozabad-Kagoor earthquakes [3]	Figure 27: Total collapse of stonework building in Firoozabad-Kagoor earthquakes [3]	Figure 28: Retrofitting components
Figure 29: R.C. Band bellow Roof Beams	Figure 30: Providing R.C.	Figure 31: Polythene sheet placements
Figure 32: Distribution of Stonework Buildings in Iran

2.1 Siting 
These buildings are typically found in flat, sloped and hilly terrains.  They have common walls with adjacent buildings.  Usually they are constructed side by side and there is no distance between them 

2.2 Building Configuration 
A typical plan of this kind of building is shown in figure 3.  Most windows are about 120X120 centemetres and doors are 200X100 centemetres.  

2.3 Functional Planning 
The main function of this building typology is single-family house.  Usually this kind of building is used for living but sometimes when the building is located at the foot of a slop, the ground storey has less surface area than the top one and is used for depot reservoir or as a stable.  In a typical building of this type, there are no elevators and 1-2 fire-protected exit staircases.  In one-story buildings there is just one door and in two-story buildings there is one door in front of building and another one behind the building.  

2.4 Modification to Building 
Usually there is no modification.