Abstract
The frequent collapse of buildings in Nigeria has necessitated carrying out a quality check not only on the structural design of these buildings but also on the materials used in their construction. Sandcrete blocks are used as a walling unit mostly because they are cheap and fast to produce. They can also be use as either load-bearing or non-load bearing purpose. Hence, this paper gives an in-depth quality assessment of sandcrete blocks commercially produced in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria. Six sandcrete block producing locations were visited within the local government and both six inches (6″) blocks (450×150×225 mm) and nine inches (9″) blocks (450×225×225 mm) from each location were randomly collected, together with their soil samples. Twenty-four control samples of 6″ and 9″ sandcrete blocks were also produced in accordance with the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS 87: 2007). Specific gravity test, silt/clay content and sieve analysis test were performed on each soil samples from different locations to check their suitability for block production, in addition, bulk density, compressive strength and water absorption were performed on the collected sandcrete blocks. In general, the compressive strength of the block samples was between 1.09 N/mm2 to 1.19 N/mm2 for six inches and 1.37 N/mm2 to 1.64 N/mm2 for nine inches which falls below the 2.5 N/mm2 and 3.45 N/mm2 minimum recommendation given by the NIS.
Highlights
The frequent collapse of buildings in Nigeria has necessitated carrying out a quality check on the structural design of these buildings and on the materials used in their construction
Other building members could cause equal risk or contributes to the loss of the building serviceability. [12] opined that some of the problem of building collapse in the country is largely due to poor sandcrete block quality used in construction. [13] observed that sandcrete blocks quality differs in location owing to production difference and material properties. [14] studied the quality control measures put in place during sandcrete block production in Yewa South of Ogun State, Nigeria
This study has shown that the conformity and the standard of produced sandcrete block in circulation in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria is very low with a high degree of variability when compared with the recommendation given by the Nigeria Industrial Standard (NIS) 87: 2007
Summary
[9] reported from the study carried out that the use of such blocks has resulted to as many as 56 cases of collapse of buildings in Lagos State between the year 2000 to 2010 which has resulted to several loss of properties and lives. [14] studied the quality control measures put in place during sandcrete block production in Yewa South of Ogun State, Nigeria. He concluded that almost all commercial block producers are ignorant of any standard or relevant code regarding block production quality. He further stated that the low blocks quality was due to not adhering to the standardized
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