PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH BUILDING

Since time immemorial, man has always had the desire to protect  himself and all that is his thus the need to build houses. Putting up houses by man to protect himself and all that is his, is a wise move by all account as the importance of shelter in man’s strive for protection cannot be over emphasized.

However, it is said that there are two sides of a coin and in this case I couldn't agree more. Apart from the fact that houses or shelters provide protection for man against the adverse weather conditions, it also stores properties and goods worth fortunes to man. Houses contain our businesses and schools and so many other life activities. The housing industry provides employment for quite a good number of the Ghanaian populace both formal and informal.  But everything that has good a side will equally have a negative side effect if care is not taken in handling it. That is the issue surrounding the housing industry in Ghana.

Putting up a house involves many procedures and stages. These procedures and steps sometimes bring about undesirable side effects to the environment and the people in the environment.
         We all need shelter

1. when putting to put up a building, the land needs to be cleared.  Cleared of trees, weeds and other living creature such as rats, snakes and grasscutters as well as human inhabitants at times. Of course, one might argued that shelter for man is and will always be paramount to shelter for any other creature but hey, these trees and animals also have their uses even if these usefulness is not realized directly. After all, it is said that last man dies when the last tree dies.
2. Land degradation is also a major problem associated with building. For a building to last long it needs a strong foundation. At the foundation level of building, depending on what type of building or whether you it's just a storey high or skyscraper, you might dig just a few feet deep or sometime several thousand deep. If the next stage of the project is carried on right after the completion of the foundation stage, then there won't be a problem. The problem arises when the foundation is dug and left with no idea as to when the actual building project will begin. In this case if it should rain heavily or continuously, it will cause severe soil erosion, a situation all stakeholders are fighting to prevent.  
3. Caution should be taken  Again, if the foundation is very deep like the ones for skyscrapers, where the foundations are usually   pit-like in nature, it might breed mosquitoes and other harmful organisms.  Kids and other unknowing people might even fall in and get hurt or die if it is not fenced or sign-posted.  
4. Environmental PollutionBuilding construction sites are usually noisy. The human, sound from machines, metals, construction cars can create very loud noise which can be and are harmful and disturbing to both the workers on site and people in the locality.    
5. Noise pollution is not the only problem associated with building. The kind of smoke emitted into the atmosphere by construction gadgets and machines can cause serious health problems for both construction workers and the people in the environment.