Sustainable use of laterite soil as compressed cement stabilized earth block for low cost housing construction

Abstract

Developing countries facing challenges in provision of housing especially with the increasing population in Malaysia, large demand on the construction materials resulting the construction cost to increase tremendously. Using low-cost housing material will be beneficial to provide affordable housing in order to meet society needs. This study investigates the sustainable use of laterite soil as a construction material for the production of compressed earth block stabilized with cement. Engineering properties of the laterite soil were determined using moisture content, sieve analysis, Atterberg Limit and standard proctor test conducted. Stabilized compressed earth blocks were cast with various percentage of cement (2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10%), these compressed earth blocks were tested on unconfined compressive strength at 7, 14, and 28 days of curing. The strength of the sample increases with increasing of cement content and curing days. The highest compressive strength of compressed earth block achieved was 3.4 N/mm2 with 10% of cement content at 28 days of curing. These 28 days UCS of cement treated laterite soil meets the minimum strength requirement which are 2.8 N/mm2 and 1.4 N/mm2 for load bearing internal wall and non-load bearing partitions as stated in Malaysian Standards.