Some call it blocks while others call it 'sandcrete', this is an
important building material which we get by mixing powdered cement,
sharp sand and water in a ratio made to suit the job it was produced
for. You might wonder why I used the phrase 'in a ratio made to suit the
job it was produced for'? Okay, there are many uses for blocks apart
from using it to raise the walls in homes and fences. Blocks could be
used for a variety of works, including
1. Walling of a house
2. Making a fence
3. Building a generator house or any other house that have vibrating machines inside it.
4. Toilet pits or soak away tanks.
Because
of the various uses for blocks, the mixing ratio cannot be the same, we
tend to reduce the ratio of sand to a bag of cement if we want a more
solid mix or a block product which can do more than covering the walls
in a house. I will like to mention here that most houses, especially
those built with reinforced concrete columns and metal rods, blocks
don't bear any loads, this is why you see houses built without blocks at
first, the builder will first raise the columns and deck the first
floor, then continue with another set of columns which will bear the
next floor, and up and up we go.
There are many different types of blocks in modern building, these include
1. 9" hollow blocks
2. 6" hollow blocks
3. 6" solid blocks
4. 5" solid blocks
These
blocks could be used according to the specifications of the building
plan you are using. Most houses with more than one floors uses the 9"
blocks on the ground floor and maybe the next few floors, but as a house
rises in height, it is recommended that the weight of the blocks on the
top floors be reduced, ie. If you use 9" blocks to do a ground floor,
use 6" to do the top floors to ease the weight on the columns, beams and
foundation.
There are two major ways of producing blocks, the first is the older
method of using manual labour. Skilled block makers using a metal
contraption called a mold, they use this mold to compress mixed
cement/sand/water to form blocks and leave them on the ground to set.
The
second method was a product of industrialization and the need for
increased output to meet builders demand. A machine was invented to help
compress mixed sand and produce blocks. This is the type we call the
machine made blocks. This machine uses vibration method to compress
blocks as against the manual method.
Which one is the stronger?
Well, it still depends on the mixing ratio, because it is what you mix
that the machine will vibrate. I have seen many breakages among machine
made blocks as well with hand made blocks.
More pictures and updates about block making, you can also call us on 08033350750