Building & construction

material

Lic. Victo Matienzo Bustamante

Concrete:

Concrete is a composite material made from mixing cement, aggregates such

as sand and crushed stone and water. The properties of concrete depend on
the ratios used in the mix design. Therefore, it’s a standard practice for
concrete suppliers to provide material properties and test results for each
concrete patch.
Steel:
Steel is one of the strongest building materials available with excellent
strength capacity in both tension and compression. Because of its high
strength-to-weight ratio, it is ideal for structural framework of tall
buildings and large industrial facilities. Structural steel is available in
standard shapes such are angles, I beams and C-channels. These shapes
can be welded together or connected using high-strength bolts to build
structures capable of resisting large forces and deformations.

Steel is a relatively expensive building material so it is the

structural engineer’s responsibility to choose economic sizes
and shapes according to the actual loads on the building to
avoid overdesign
Wood:
Wood pieces used in construction are machine-planed
and sawn into certain dimensional specifications.
Dimensional lumber comes in widely available sections
such as 2”x4”, 2”x6”, etc. This is commonly used in the
construction of walls and floors. Believe it or not, a
2”x4” is actually 1 ½” wide x 3 ½” high. Wood that
comes in larger dimensions are referred to as timber
or beams and are commonly used to construct the
frames of large structures such as bridges and multi-
story buildings. Engineered wood is another type of
wood used in construction that consist of various forms
of wood glued together to form a composite material
suitable for specific construction applications. Examples
of engineered wood is glued laminated wood (glulam),
plywood and fiberboard.
Masonry:

Masonry construction is using individual units to build

structures that are usually uses mortar to bound the units
together. The most common material I use in the design of
masonry structures is concrete block, with vertical steel
reinforcing if required. Masonry is strong in resisting
compression loads/stresses which makes it ideal to use for
the construction of load bearing walls. Other masonry
materials include brick, stone and glass block. Masonry is a
highly durable and fire resistant material, however it can be
sensitive to mortar and workmanship quality.
CEMENT

A cement is a binder, a substance used for construction that sets,

hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together.
Cement is seldom used on its own but rather to bind sand and
gravel together. Cement companies produced mixed with fine
aggregate produce mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel
produces concrete.
 BRICKS

A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements, and

other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term
brick denotes a block composed of dried clay but is now also
used informally to denote other chemically cured construction
blocks.
BLOCKS

Blocks are constructed using concrete or cement. They

may include a hollow core to make them lighter and to
improve their insulation properties. They are now used for
various purposes, such as the construction of load-
bearing walls, retaining walls, partitions, and foundations.
SAND

SAND is widely used in construction , often

providing strength, bulk and stability to materials
like concrete, mortar,asphalt and cement. But not
the sand is the same. For example natural sand,
river sand
FLOORS

a floor is the 'lower horizontal surface of any space in

a building, including finishes that are laid as part of the
permanent construction. ... A floor typically provides:
Structural support for the contents of the room, its
occupants, and the weight of the floor itself.
MISCELANEOUS MATERIALS

Glass Plastics Paints