The use of red earth, lateritic soils and quarry dust as an alternative building material in sandcrete block

Abstract

This study investigated the prospect of utilising red earth, quarry dust and laterite as alternative materials to river sand in the production of sandcrete blocks. Compressive strength test was performed on the samples at 7, 14, 21 and 28 curing days in the laboratory. The effect of curing on strength improvement was also studied. Using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey analysis, the results showed that quarry dust and lateritic soil performed relatively better in comparison with the traditional river sand used in sandcrete blocks production. Also there was progressive improvement of the compressive strength of the tested materials over the period of curing regime adopted for the study. Red earth and quarry dusts showed good prospect as alternative to the use of river sand in sandcrete block production for developing nations. Keywords: Earth, Compressive, Laterite, Quarry, Blocks, Materials