An Analysis of Plastic Barrels as a Platforms Material of Floating House in Coastal Areas

Abstract

Housing is a very basic necessity for human life, so it is needed by considering its comfort of the environment and constituent materials. For people who live on the coastal areas which have narrow land and low environmental arrangement, a floating house can be the solution. The floating house is a building that stands or floats on water by relying on the weight and area of the field that is submerged as load parameters that are able to be borne by the structure. The house can float and be placed on the edge of the beach and above the sea water front. There are various materials that can be utilized as the footing of this floating house; one of which is plastic barrels. This research aims at analyzing the level of buoyancy, the amount of materials and the cost needed for the construction of a simple floating house unit using plastic barrels as the platforms. The results showed that the buoyancy level (Fa) of plastic barrels as the platforms material is 549.814 Newton, the number of plastic barrels needed as platforms materials is 232 pieces costing for IDR 358,270, 000.