spyder880:

^^^ you have a very good knowledge of block making bros,

ogogo24:

My guess, the white ones are made from pretty white sharp sand and the brown blocks from brown sharp sand. Correct?

ogogo24:

I doubt if that will work the magic. Another thing that might affect the color of the finished product will be d water used in molding. Using muddy water could affect the color too, I suppose.

Favour_me:

Hi spyder880,
As you suggested, I am here.

I have read thru and understand your stated fact that weight of building is usually on the concrete pillars (like what I intend to do for a one storey building) but not on the block. From this, I think it will be ok for me to use 6 inches block. But I don't know if hollow will be suitable. Please, what is your professional advice?

On block making, it seems you suggested its better to buy from machine block makers(which I prefer personally). But do machine block makes make solid blocks?

And here is my worst fear: I believe that most block makers in Nigeria will definitely make more blocks per bag of cement in order to make more profit. How do I make sure I buy quality blocks. Or do you suggest I employ moulders at site?

Sorry for the many questions but will appreciate it if you can anwser all of them. a

spyder880:

It just occurred to me that most duplexes will be built with an average of 5000 blocks, with the foregoing in mind and with a price differential of N20, we are only talking about a savings of N100k for the choice between using 9'' or 6'' hollow.

I also have it at the back of my mind that you cannot save as much as same N100K if you want to make your own blocks owing to the stress of monitoring the whole process and following up on the moulders.

If the above figure is significant, especially when you weigh it against the other negatives of making your own blocks, then go ahead and call in block makers to your site, at least the money saved could be used somewhere else in the building.

X-2-X:

Spyder880,

I am wondering about the relationship between block type and house/room temperature.

I think air in the "hollow" of hollow blocks would reduce the effective conductivity of the walls. I believe this may have two consequences:

[list]
[li]During the day when the sun is hot outdoors, less heat is transmitted through the hollow block walls into the building, hence the hollow block house will be relatively cooler compared to the solid block house.[/li]


[li] During the night, when it is cool outdoors, the hollow block house will retain more heat within the rooms due to the poorer conductivity of the walls such that the hollow block house will be relatively warmer at night  compared to the solid block house.[/li]

[/list]

Moreover, solid blocks will have more mass, and therefore greater heat storage capacity. This will most likely result in relatively higher room temperatures during the day.

In your experience, do you think the block type actually has any impact on the temperature of the building (rooms, etc)?

Also, given that, as you have said, the beams/columns are what actually bear the weight of the building, I wonder why 5" blocks for ground floor and 4" for first floor is practically not used (instead you typically see 9" ground and 6" first floor)??

Kip on rockin!

sixtus4:

I have being following your lecture on NL,concerning block issue,you didn't state the advantage of hollow block over solid block.Am also in the same profesion is just for your fans to be educated on that.

sixtus4:

please,how do you source for properties for sale as an agent?

2dmax:

reporting late o! we were occupying 9ja, teacher/oga syder no vex o.

spyder880:

. . . your user name sounds familiar, maybe from my former base on SMN?

spyder880:

On your second point about why 5'' and 4'' blocks are not frequently used, I think it has something to do with the pillar size, diameter. The bigger the width of the blocks you use, the thicker your column, beam sizes as the columns take same size with the blocks it supports. People always feel safer using bigger columns, especially upstairs buildings.