Appraising the Use of Sorghum Stalk as Soffit Formwork for a Suspended Concrete Slab Construction in Semi-Arid and Tropic Regions

The sorghum stalk can be used as sustainable building material. It has high tensile strength of up to 280 Mpa at the middle region, high LEED rating on environmental friendliness, low embodied energy, this will eliminate the underutilization due to traditional usage, stalk is generally left to decompose, or burnt, despite high annual production of sorghum. It can be produced in all semi-arid and tropic areas of the world notably Sub- Saharan African regions. Africa produce 20 million out of 60 million metric tons world annual sorghum production. There is need to make use of sorghum stalk as traditional building material in formwork construction. This research appraises the use of sorghum stalk as soffit in suspended slab as possible alternative to timber planks or plywood in construction. The research adopted quantitative research approach involving experimental and comparative analysis. This research shows the advantages of sorghum stalk to include; availability, affordability, reusability and biodegradability, renewable with little environmental impact among others. The sorghum stalk should be adopted for use as soffit in suspended slab formwork in building construction. This research would contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of sustainable building materials. It is recommended that there should be improvement on the method of usage