CONSTRUCTION

TECHNOLOGY II

BY
ESTHER NJOKI

LESSON THREE
 BLOCKWORK
 A building block refers to a walling unit larger in
size than that of a brick but small enough to be
handled by the mason with one or both hands
 Blocks are made of concrete or clay
 Concrete blocks are commonly used for load
bearing walls and are made from both dense and
lightweight aggregates in solid and hollow form

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 Blockwork– cont’d
 Compared with brickwork, blocks result in greater
economy in construction time
 Larger size of the blocks necessitates less activity
in laying a given volume of wall

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 Blockwork– cont’d
 Example: a 450mm x 225mm block represents six
standard bricks each of which has to be laid
individually
 There is a saving on bedding mortar in blockwork
compared to brickwork because of reduction in
joints

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 Concrete blockwork
 Concrete blocks, also known as concrete masonry
unit is made of:
 Cement
 Aggregates
 Water

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Manufacture of concrete blockwork
 Concrete blocks are formed in machines with steel
moulds

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Manufacture of concrete blockwork
– cont’d
 The mix is consolidated by vibrating and
compacting
 The moulds are removed immediately after
impact
 The blocks are cured and dried
 During curing, the blocks are kept moist so that
setting and hardening is gradual

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Manufacture of concrete blockwork
– cont-d
 Curing and drying are accomplished by:
 Open air with protection from the weather

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Manufacture of concrete blockwork
– cont-d
 Blowing heated air through stacked block

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Manufacture of concrete blockwork
– cont-d
 Highpressure steam curing in a pressure vessel called
an autoclave

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 Block classification
 Concrete masonry units fall into four general
classifications:
 Hollow load bearing
 Solid load bearing
 Non-load-bearing block (solid)
 Non-load-bearing block (hollow)

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Block classification

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 Block wall construction
 Concrete brick walls and partitions are normally
one block thick and laid with broken or staggered
vertical joints

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Block wall construction – cont’d
 Special units are available for corners, jambs, and
other purposes

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Block wall construction – cont’d

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Block wall construction – cont’d
 The mortar in the bed joint usually covers only
the face shells

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Block wall construction – cont’d

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Block wall construction – cont’d
 The normal joint thickness is 3/8 in.

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Block wall construction – cont’d
 Preferred joints are the Vee and concave joints

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 Clay blocks
 These are manufactured by the stiff mud process
which consists of extruding or forcing a plastic
clay through specially formed dies

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 Clay blocks – cont’d
 Clay blocks are mostly made hollow and may be
used for cavity walls and structural work

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 Clay blocks – cont’d
 The hollow spaces in the block are called cells or
cores

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 Clay blocks – cont’d
 Blocks are cut to desired dimensions and burned
to the desired hardness

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 Clay blocks – cont’d
 Clay blocks are mostly used for internal partitions
and may be used as infill panels to framed
structures

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 Clay blocks –cont’d
 Clay blocks should be laid to stretching bond
making use of special corner and bonding blocks

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 Difference between brickwork and
blockwork
 Masonry is the word used to describe walls built
out of masonry units laid on a mortar bed.
 Masonry units are commonly called:
 Blocks - (which are generally large hollow units) and;

 Bricks- (which are smaller units, either solid or with

small cores).

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 Difference between brickwork and
blockwork – cont’d
 The masonry built with these units is generally
referred to as blockwork and brickwork.
 The block most commonly used is hollow and is
often referred to by its nominal size i.e., 400 mm
long, 200 mm wide and 200 mm high.
 Blocks have 10 mm wide mortar joints
 To avoid the need for cutting, 3 ⁄4, 1 ⁄2 and 1 ⁄4
length blocks are made which are called specials.
 The range of blocks with a nominal width of 200
mm is referred to as the 200 mm Series.
 Less commonly used blocks are the 100 mm, 120
mm, 150 mm and 300 mm series. Some blocks in
the 100 mm series are solid. 27
Difference between brickwork and
blockwork – cont’d

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 Difference between brickwork and
blockwork – cont’d
 Bricks are usually solid or cored and generally
made to a traditional size, 230 mm long, 110 mm
wide and 76 mm high.
 Blocks are generally made of concrete.
 Blocks are formed in steel moulds and the material
is relatively stable, the size of individual units can
be controlled to within small tolerances
 Bricks are often made of clay. They can undergo
shape changes during manufacture, particularly in
the firing process, and individual units can vary
considerably in size.

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 Difference between brickwork and
blockwork – cont’d
 Hollow blocks are normally laid with face shell
bedding ie, there are two strips of mortar which
are laid over the face shells with no mortar being
laid on the web. These two strips of mortar are
continued up the vertical (or perpend) joints.

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Difference between brickwork and
blockwork – cont’d

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 Difference between brickwork and
blockwork – cont’d
 Bricks are laid on a full bed of mortar and with a
full perpend.

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Difference between brickwork and
blockwork – cont’d

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 Difference between brickwork and
blockwork – cont’d
 Because there is some shrinkage in a concrete
masonry wall after it is constructed, it is necessary
to provide control joints in blockwork to prevent
cracking due to that shrinkage

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 Difference between brickwork and
blockwork – cont’d
 Control joints are required in clay masonry to allow
for the expansion of clay

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 Difference between brickwork and
blockwork – cont’d
 Because concrete blocks are hollow and the cores
are large, it is possible to pour grout (ie, fluid
concrete) into them.
 When reinforcing rods are also placed in the cores,
the resulting combination of block + grout +
reinforcement is called "reinforced masonry“.
 Reinforced masonry is very much stronger than
normal masonry in its resistance to bending and it
is widely used for the construction of large
external wall panels, lintels, retaining walls,
swimming pools etc.

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Difference between brickwork and
blockwork – cont’d

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38
 Mortar
 The three principal functions of mortar are:
1. To provide an even bedding for the blocks and
allow course levels by taking up small variations in
unit height.
2. To transmit compressive loads.
3. To hold the blocks together in the wall by
bonding to them, so that tensile and shear forces
can be carried. (This is often referred to as a "bond
strength"). This is particularly important so that
units on top of a wall are not easily dislodged.

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 Mortar – cont’d
 In order to provide a good bond between the units
and the mortar, the following guidelines should be
followed:
1. An appropriate mortar mix design should be
selected, see Table
2. The mortar should be batched accurately using
some consistent form of volume measurement.
3. The sand used in the mortar should be clean pit
sand, masonry sand or plasterer's sand. Clayey
loam or sand containing organic impurities will
affect the mortar strength and should not be used.
4. Mortar should be discarded and not retempered,
after the initial set of the cement has taken place
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