Interviewer instructions
4. Material of the Walls
Here you describe the materials used for the exterior walls of the dwelling. [If] the dwelling itself is composed of one or several buildings, you will need to decide which building to describe. There are two possibilities:
a. The household's dwelling is a single building, in which case this is the building to describe.
b. The household's dwelling is composed of several independent buildings. In this case choose the building which you judge to be the principal building, basing your decision on, for example, the criterion of durability. However, the building must be used for housing to be thus chosen. Once you have chosen the building, try to determine the materials which make up the exterior walls, or ask the head of household. The options are: hard, semi-hard, adobe ; wood or straw; other. The definitions are as follows:
- Hard: The walls are considered hard when they are made of brick or stone or cement, or if they are made of concrete (a mix or cement and gravel or stone) whether or not they are covered with cement.
- Semi-hard: The walls are considered semi-hard when they are made of adobe bricks which have been well-covered with cement.
- Adobe: The walls are considered to be of adobe when they are made of adobe bricks, whether or not they are covered/plastered with adobe.
- Wood or straw: These walls are made of straw, wood, bamboo, leaves, palm leaves, braided plants, etc..., covered or not by adobe or cement.
- Other Walls which do not have the above characteristics fall into this category.
Refer to the above definitions to ask the head of household the following question: "What are your walls made of?" Check off the corresponding box:
Example 1: The head of household says the walls in question are made of a mixture of cement and gravel. The walls are covered in cement and whitewashed.
Question 4 is then filled out as follows:
Question 4 - Wall material
[x] Hard
[] Semi-hard
[] Adobe
[] Wood or Straw
[] Other
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Example 2: The building to be documented is a tent:
Question 4 - Wall material
[] Hard
[] Semi-hard
[] Adobe
[] Wood or Straw
[x] Other
Example 3: The building in question has adobe brick walls covered in adobe.
Question 4 - Wall material
[] Hard
[] Semi-hard
[x] Adobe
[] Wood or Straw
[] Other
NB: The question on wall materials also pertains to institutional households. However, the dwellings of ordinary households situated on the same grounds as institutions should be documented separately on an ordinary Housing Form.
