Have you ever wondered how concrete blocks are made?

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Concrete blocks made the large portion of our houses today. But how they are made by your supplier of construction materials Philippines? Got any idea? Then, here’s how they came into the form.

A bit of History

The very first concrete block was designed by Harmon S. Palmer in the US in 1890. It took him to experiment for ten years before patented the design in 1900. The dimensions of his block were 8 inches by 10 inches by 30 inches and they are so heavy that you need a small crane to lift them up.

By 1905, there are about 1,500 companies manufacturing concrete blocks in the US. These blocks are casted by hand, and the average output was about ten blocks per person per hour.

Materials used

The primary raw material that is commonly used to make concrete block is the concrete. The concrete is a mixture of powdered Portland cement, sand, gravel and water. The product of this mixture is a light gray block with a fine surface texture and a high comprehensive strength.

The sand and gravel can be replaced by granulated coal or volcanic cinders, which will produce on what we commonly called cinder block. It is a dark grey colored block, good strength and higher thermal insulating value than the concrete block.

If you replaced the sand and gravel with expanded clay, shale or slate, it will produce a lightweight concrete block. This is used to build a non-load-bearing partitions and walls.

The process

It is known that there are four stages or processes in the production of concrete blocks. These are the mixing, molding, curing and cubing.

1. Mixing - It is the process where-in the sand and gravel, together with Portland cement are mixed together. Nowadays this process is done using the modern technology equipment which made the process better and faster.

2. Molding – after the sand, gravel and cement are mixed together, it is time to mold them into the form of concrete block.

3. Curing – the hardened blocks are cured in a curing water tank. This will be their home for at least two weeks. Through this process, the blocks are being kept continuously moist.

4. Cubing – after weeks in the curing tanks, the blocks then put into a cuber which aligns each block and then stacks them into a cube, three blocks across by six blocks deep by three blocks high. Then these cubes are carried out and placed in storage.

Bright Future

As experts say, concrete block will continue to evolve as architects and manufactures develop new shapes and sizes. These futuristic blocks are to promise making building construction faster and less expensive which will result in structures that are more energy efficient and durable.

Some of the possible designs includes but not limited to:

• Biaxial block – has cavities running horizontally and vertically to allow access for plumbing and electrical conduits
• Stacked siding block – stores heat to cool the interior rooms in summer and heat them in the winter days.

This is how concrete blocks came into your house and the future of them is knocking on your door!

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