Compressive Strength and Costs of Sandcrete Blocks and blocks made with quarry dust in Nigeria: A Case study of Abakaliki Quarry
Keywords:
Compressive Strength, sandcrete blocks, quarry dust, constructionAbstract
This work focus on the analysis of compressive strength and cost of sandcrete
blocks and blocks made with quarry dust. It adopted the combination of survey and experimental research design. It was conducted at Abakaliki in Ebonyi State. The study is aimed at introducing a low cost indigenous material with acceptable quality into the construction industry. Having reviewed some relevant related past literatures to the study, samples of the required basic materials were collected and used in molding some numbers of two forms of blocks. These blocks were tested in the laboratory as to ascertain their levels of compressive strength. Rates were also prepared using the prevalent market prices of the relevant constituent materials and their respective finished products to enable comparison of their cost implications. The finding proves that blocks made with quarry dust are
stronger and cheaper than sandcrete blocks. It is therefore recommended to the government and construction industry stakeholders that the quarry dust materials should be used for optimum performance of walling units to enhance housing delivery in Nigeria, especially in igneous quarrying related environments.
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