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We are building our house in Bangalore and it is time to buy 6" cement blocks. We have searched around and found too many manufacturers. How do we find out good and bad blocks?
We have got samples from 5 manufacturers out of them 4 are from manual mixing units. One is from an automated mixing unit.
Weight of each block from manual mixing units ranges from 19-21 kgs, while the one from automated mixing unit weighs 24-25kgs. External finish is also good for the automated one.

Price for manual: Rs.28/-
Price for automated: Rs.34/-

Now we are confused whether weight and finish of the block is a criteria while choosing the block? Does it add more weight to the structure if I choose the automated one?

Experts, please suggest!

No expert here. I would get a sample from Basant Betons and see how the ones you have compare to their block. Basant's blocks are supposed to be top of the shelf. Basant also has some white papers on testing cement blocks on their site. You may want to go through it and perform some rudimentary tests yourself (water absorption, shock absorption etc)

You can check for strength reports (if available) from vendors.

We had a requirement of load bearing blocks as there are no columns in our house. So I went with APCO C grade blocks.

If yours is a column construction then there should be not much worry about the kind of blocks used. You can the go through this post for discussion on testing the blocks http://www.mybdasites.com/viewtopic.php ... block+drop