Bamboo Hut

REPORT ON BAMBOO HUT INSTALLED AT IAO, HANLE. 1. INTRODUCTION: Indian Astronomical Observatory is a filed station of Indian Institute of Astrophysics, a premier research institute in the field of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Indian Astronomical Observatory is located in Hanle which is 270 KM from Leh town and its at an altitude of 4500 M. The weather in Hanle is quite warm in summer but the winter is very harsh with the temperature falling upto -25 deg. 2. INSTALLATION OF BAMBOO HUT: The Bamboo Hut was installed at Hanle in summer of 2007 by the people of the company who supplied the HUT. The Bamboo Hut consist of 2 rooms of size 16’x10 feet each. Each room has one bathroom of size 5’x3.5’ and one closet/store of same size as bathroom. In the main entrance side in front, there is a varanda of 3 feet width. The roof is also projected out by 3 feet in front.At Hanle the Hut is installed with the main entrance door facing south. After the installation of the hut, the electrification and laying of Network cables and Telephone cables were done by the Techincal staff of the Observatory. The bathroom fitting were also done by engaging local labours and plumbers. 3. USE OF THE HUT: After the Hut was installed, it was given to some staff of the Observatory to stay in it. The hut is comfortable to stay during the summers when the weather is warm, however during winter mainly from December to Febrauary, it was difficult to stay in the Hut as it was too cold. Use of Bukharee for heating was also not effective as there were lots of gaps in walls and roof which was taking the heat away. The planks of bamboo used in floor also started to bend due to the moisture below it and as a consequence, the floor became uneven with time. 4. IMPROVEMENT DONE IN HUT: In the summer of 2008, we did some improvement in the HUT to make it more conducive to use it throughout the year. In the front (South facing), the glass glazing was done to utilize solar energy to warm up the hut during day time. Also all the gaps in the walls and roofs were filled using sealent. The floor planks which were bent due to moistuer were taken out and dried in the sun for some days. After drying the planks we could straighten the planks. Some layers of soil were removed from the floor so

as to keep some gap between the soil and the floor planks. Then a mesh of wooden planks were layed on the floor on top of which the bamboo planks for floor were fixed with nails. After doing all these improvisation, the rooms were able to retain the heat generated by the bukhari and we were able to stay in it through out the winter. Though the size of the room is good enough to accommodate 2 people, but the bathroom size is bit small. 5. MORE IMPROVEMENT NEEDED: 5.1

In Hanle, as the winter is very harsh where temperature falls below -25 deg so some more improvement in the insulation in the walls and roof is needed. As most of the heat loss is thorugh the roof, so more insulation is needed in the roof. At present the roof has only a false ceiling of bamboo planks which is not sufficient to retain the heat.

5.2

In the front ( south facing side ) a double glazing window is needed. At present it has only single glass glazing.

5.3

As the bathroom is in the North side where no sun light is falling at all, as a consequence the water gets freeze in the pipes and sinks, which makes the bathroom unusable in winter. A solarised bathroom of size 6’ x 6’ is needed to be constructed adjacent to one of the room, so that the bathroom remains warm which will avoid the freezing of water in the bathroom.