Latest Blogs

Building low-cost housing is the need of the hour today! It has become critical to find ways of cutting building construction costs with affordable materials like interlocking bricks in Cochin. Soil & concrete interlocking bricks are being extensively used in construction nowadays instead of the costly traditional burnt clay bricks.

The use of locally sourced materials like laterite soil for making interlocking bricks highly reduces the costs of construction. The interlocking bricks increase the structural stability of the wall and reduce the amount of cement needed as mortar.

Planning the production of Interlocking soil blocks starts with the site and the soil properties there. Different types of tests are conducted to find the quality of the soil.

Here’re a few:

Sedimentation Test

1. Fill a bottle with 1/4 soil & 3/4 water & shake it vigorously.
2. Wait 30 minutes for the soil to settle.
3. The heaviest particles, gravels, will settle at the bottom followed by sands, silts, and clay at the top.
4. This will give you an idea of the proportions of each particle in the soil.

Shrinkage Test

1. Make or buy a wooden box with the dimension 60 X 4 X 4 cm. and grease the interior.
2. Fill the greased box with the sieved and moist soil to be tested. Compact the soil into the mold & leave it to dry in a shaded area for a week.
3. Note the shrinkage and record after the soil has dried completely.
4. Compared with the full length of the mold & this ratio will decide the amount of stabilizer to be added into the mix.
5. Once the cement-soil ratio is determined mixing can start.
6. Sand and gravel can be introduced into soils with too much clay content to increase their density.

Laboratory testing

Send the soil sample to a laboratory to run tests & find its durability.

Soil that is found at sub-levels after removing the topsoil is recommended for the making of cement-stabilized blocks. The sieving process is important in order to achieve good compaction and a smooth finish.

Contact us at Toughie Engineering, a prime supplier of interlocking bricks in Kerala to know more.