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'Breezeblock'itblock: ?¸?¸´?¸?¸š?¸??¹‡?¸?¸„, the finished item. If the holes a re left empty, the brick has excellent insulting properties approaching those of a cavity wall. For a stronger construction, the holes can be filled with cement and rebar can be fed trough them or up the grooves in the ends.
Current 2009 price: 3.50 baht. delivery is always free for a house load within a radius of about 50 Km from your plot.jazzman
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This 9 cm thick breezeblock is for heavy duty use. It is made with high grade portland cement. It can be used for load bearing walls if rebar is used and the holes a re filled with concrete. They can also be used for building small swimming pools.
They cost 8 baht each.jazzman
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BrixmixThe mix of cement and fine aggregate is made in this thing which looks like a commercial baker's dough mixer. These 39 x 19 x 7 concrete blocks, erroneously called breezeblocks or cinderblocks, are the most commonly used, most economical and practical solution for non load-bearing walls, and have excellent insulating properties. Almost every village in the country has a brickworks, our village has two. Here's ours just 600 m from our house. The price of a brick in 2009 was still only 3.50 baht, including free delivery of course.jazzman
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Up to the hopperThe mix is sent up to the hopper.
The compressive strength of these bricks is quite good, although they are not recommended for load bearing walls. 'Breeblocks' like these are available in other dimensions, particularly a 10 cm thick one, but they are no so common.
The only argument NOT to use these breeze blocks for normal walls was posited by a CTH member who was worried about what would happen if he drove his car into the front of his house...jazzman
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The 'jelly mould'This form makes two bricks at a time. The tongues are the bits that create the holes in the bricks. In this installation, two workers can produce about 1,000 bricks per shift.jazzman
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filling the formA measured quantity of mix is drawn into the 2- brick 'jelly mould' which is then mechanically vibrated. It takes about 15 seconds to produce and stack a pair of bricks. Two people working the plant can produce about 3,500 bricks in a day. That's enough for 290 m2 of wall, or about 1.5 houses the size of the Jazzman house. About 1,000 bricks were used for the motel.jazzman
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CuringCement mix or concrete mix does not dry - it cures and the process must not be accelerated. These racks just allow any excess water to evaporate slowly, and to prevent the bricks damaging each other.
To build a wall, allowing for mortar, 13.5 bricks are needed for 1 square metre. The method is much stronger, cheaper, far more insulating, and much less labour intensive than using the small traditional red clay bricks still favoured by some constructors.jazzman
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Little Red BrickNot made in this 'factory' but equally indispensable on every building site for small filling work. Some builders still make entire walls with them, particularly in Pattaya, but they work out very expensive and labour intensive per m2. Here they cost 70 Satang each, and it takes about 50% longer to build a wall with them.jazzman
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