Started My Eco-Friendly Nest

[msn1270]

This is the manual CSEB Brick Making machine used at the site to make the Bricks. CSEB Bricks are made up of Msand, Red Soil & Cement combination of 50 % +40% + 10%. Based on the Clay content in the Red Soil, this ratio may vary Slightly to get the optimum results.

Here Cement is used as Binding material. Hence there is no need of Firing process by burning wood to heat the Bricks used for making the traditional mud Brick. Once the CSEB Bricks are made, it will be cured with water 3 times a day and allowed to get Dry under sun light for minimum 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, its ready for wall construction.
Hence this is more nature friendly process.

On an average, daily 500-600 bricks can be made.

Wonderful msn1270 and thank you for sharing the details. I am also planning to construct my house in JP Nagar 9th phase soon.

Can you please let us know the process for the CSEB Brick manufacturing at the site?
Firstly you need to have good amount of free space around your site or very close to your site in order to make CSEB Bricks at your location. At least 3600 sq. ft free space essential in order to dump your raw materials i.e M-sand, Red Soil and cement, Mixing & moulding activity and to cure the moulded bricks for 2-3 weeks.

Main reason for doing CSEB Bricks at site is cost saving, can have the control over the material (Good quality Red Soil) and the process. If you are doing in a bigger plot or in farmland kind of area, you can use the mud from your own plot and after soil test the sand & cement ratio will be decided. Else we need to buy the quality red soil either from the Bannerghatta/kanakapura area or from Devanahalli area. Mainly clay content in the Soil is the key factor. Red colour of the soil is not a major factor, which helps only in giving some aesthetical look of the building. Final finishing colour always varies for each building.

Based on the quote I got it last year(Old Price), Buying a CSEB 9" load bearing brick from the factory costs Rs. 32 + 5% GST + Loading & Unloading Charges + Transportation charges at actuals based on your area from the factory. All together it costs you not less than Rs. 38/Pc. Whereas the cost of interlocking bricks starts from Rs. 38 to 45. As the diesel prices have gone up in the recent times and also after the current 5 state assembly elections are over, there will be big spike in the fuel prices further which is on hold since last 4 months. Hence the current or future factory brick prices will be much more higher. I got it done at around Rs. 27-28 (Material + Labour) as there is no GST, Loading & Unloading Charges, Transportation cost or Profit margin. And also there is no damage of bricks which generally happens during the Transportation. usually if you are buying from the factory, you need to buy minimum 5-10% extra bricks considering the damages. that is also saved here. Since your plot is in J.P Nagar side, you can have a significant saving in the red soil transportation cost.

Do we get the CSEB Brick Making machine for rent or do we need to buy one, if so what is the cost?
We need not buy or rent the machine separately. Either the contractor will have it or the team which makes the CSEB Bricks will have it. They charge Rs. 12/Brick, which includes the labour, machine Rent and also its Calibration cost. They need to calibrate the Machine for for every 10,000 bricks made. In my case, My architect + Builder, both owns the Brick making machines and also the moulds used for various sizes or designs. I hope, it will be similar with other builders also.

What type of cement needs to be used, any specific grade needs to be used?
Regular 43 Grade cement is used.

Any specifications for M-Sand?
Regular M-sand (Zone-III).

Do we need to make the blocks ready first and start the construction as we need 21 days of curing time?
Generally, you can start the CSEB Brick making work simultaneously along with the Basement excavation work. By the time you finish the Basement part, your Bricks will be ready. Only hurdle is, there shouldn't be consistent or heavy raining at this period. else procuring the Dry Red soil is very difficult & also making the bricks is not advised as drying without good sunlight is difficult after curing. For the same reason, Even Factories also stops making the CSEB Bricks couple of times during the heavy raining period in the monsoon season.

Are the laborers are trained by someone to do this?
Yes. these CSEB Brick making labours are trained /skilled labours team. They have very good network with all the eco-friendly builders across south India. usually for Bangalore, there are 2 - 3 teams are there, either from Mysore-H.D Kote side or from Tamilnadu.

Do we get specially skilled laborers for this to do at the construction site?
Even the masons are trained ones. General masons who do the regular construction cannot do this kind of work. The weight of the CSEB Bricks is almost 2-3 time heavier than normal mud Bricks based on the size. This kind of construction needs lot of patience and precise labour work. Even cutting a CSEB Brick by normal Towel, a regular practice by normal masons is not possible. In case of cutting a CSEB Brick, first we need to mark the CSEB brick for a required size and then by using a cutting machine, we need to cut it. Of course, you can have Helpers who do work at any kind of construction.

Any contacts for the laborers/contractor to do this work?
You need to first decide, whether you want to go for Solid CSEB Bricks or Interlocking Bricks construction. Based on that, you can have the Contractors. there are many people who are just familiar with the Interlocking brick kind of construction by putting the columns and filling the gap. They don't know muck knowledge about the Solid CSEB load Bearing Construction Techniques. They just buy it from the factory & do it. If you are particular about Load bearing construction method, which doesn't need any Columns up to 4 - 5 floors, then you need good architect + Contractor combination.

Those who do load bearing construction using Solid CSEB Bricks are very few.
I'll DM my contact details to you. Feel free to call me anytime for more information.

[msn1270]

Another option to make CSEB Bricks at site other than manual machine is to hire a Mobile Hydraulic CSEB Bricks making machine. It makes at least double the quantity of CSEB Bricks per day. But it will run on Diesel Generator. So if there are already existing houses around your site, then the neighbours may object for the Diesel Generator Noise and the smoke pollution it creates through out the day. Also the Transportation charges to bring the machine and the diesel expenses will become additional burden in this case.

[msn1270]

Now the wall construction for the ground floor is completed nearly 10+ft height and started with the roof centring setup for the Moulding work.

[msn1270]

Once the Centring support is installed for the roofing, the stage is ready to go for the Siller Slab roofing process.

Here we don't lay mats or oils which is a common practice used in conventional roofing method to isolate the Centering metal slab & the RCC. Instead, First we put a layer of "Muddy mix" which is nothing but a mix of m-sand and Cement in the ration of around 80:20 for approximately 2"thickness to create a uniform surface. This is required to ensure a flat uniform ceiling, as we don't do any plastering for the ceiling later. Over the Muddy layer is dried, a thick layer of Cow dung + water mix paste is spread which is a natural material, so that this muddy mix will not get bonded with the RCC mix. This muddy mix is not a very high strength mix & hence, once the roofing RCC curing is over for 3 weeks, when the centring support is removed, this low density muddy mix also comes out or collapses along with the centring support.

Next step is to place the Filler slab materials. Basic idea of using filler slabs in roofing is to use a light weight, natural material along with the RCC mix to reduce the heat absorption and also to reduce the transfer of heat from top side to inside as its a sandwich of two different materials with different heat absorption nature. Other advantage of the filler slap roofing is to reduce the use of Steel & Cement Mix. This method will save nearly 15-25% of steel & Cement usage. As the Cement Mix is a Dense manufactured materials, it absorbs more heat in the day time and gives out this heat in the evening/night time. Hence the Room Temperature will always be high in the normal RCC Roofed Materials. Even If we use a ceiling fan, the heat radiated from the Ceiling will be distributed by the air circulation of the Fans.

There are many varieties of Filler slab roofing, like Using Clay Pots, Clay Tiles, Coconut Shells, Mud Bricks....etc. In our case, we used the specially made CSEB Bricks with 2.5" thickness. Once these Bricks are placed in a required pattern of our choice/design, then the bar bending work will be carried out.

Usually CSEB Brick will not be used in the area Bathroom areas, as it will be of sunken slab type, where the level difference will be provided below the normal flooring height to assist the Sanitary Line plumbing.

[msn1270]

Along with the Bar bending work, even laying the electrical conduit system will also be carried out similar to any regular Roofing process works.

[msn1270]

Usually moulding will be done with regular concrete mixing machine or manual mixing and manual laying. There are few reasons, for not using the Readymix concrete method for filler slab roofing method. Primary reason is to avoid displacement of CSEB Bricks/damage of Clay pots which are laid in particular pattern/design as part of the Filler Slab roofing to give good aesthetics inside as the Concrete slurry will be poured with huge force/pressure in Readymix concreting method. Other reason is, getting readymix concrete in custom quantity is not easy for small and mid sized constructions, as many branded suppliers will supply as per their standard full load or half load quantify only, which may create surplus or shortage for Roofing activity. Our Roof moulding activity started bit late by 10:00 a.m and completed by 3:00 p.m. We used the 53 grade cement.

[msn1270]

Work is going on for the Pits for the RWH excess water percolation to the ground (once the Sump is Full, as the Rainwater collected will be first collected in the Sump after filtering). This is done by digging up to 9 feet deep and used 4ft diameter Cement Rings.

Also Pit done for recycling the Greywater collected from the Bathroom & Kitchen. Greywater Recycling Pit capacity is around 2,000 litres & used the same 4ft diameter Cement Rings. Water proofing will be done inside the pit and a separate Over head tank will be used to cater the secondary needs. On an average nearly 60-70% of waste water can be recycled in a home. Remaining 20-30% is used for Toilet Flushing's.

We need to use separate filter for the Black water coming out of Kitchen basin as it contains edible oil, bacteria & pathogens, left out food wastages. And another filter will be used for bathroom outlets to filter out any wastes like hairs, ...etc.

By recycling the greywater, we can reduce the potable water consumption by up to 40%. After necessary filtering & disinfection treatment, this water will be used for Flushing the Toilet EWC, Vehicle Washing, Gardening, outdoor cleaning....etc on day to day basis.

[sheruvs]

Dear msn1270,
I happened to stumble onto this post and it is simply awesome. The efforts you have put in to share the knowledge gained with others is truly commendable. The eco-friendly methods that you have adopted are the need of the hour.

I am gearing up towards constructing a house of my own shortly and am exploring various methodologies and techniques. I too am serious about going the eco-friendly way. Can you pl share your contact details so that I may reach out to you. Thank you.

[msn1270]

Thank you sheru for your kind words. I've shared my contact details through PM.
Being a member of this forum for more than 17 years, I gained bit by bit knowledge from many members over a period of time. Its time for me to give back a little bit, which may help others.

As many experts say a picture says 1000 words, so I'm just trying to convey my message in a way, others can easily visualise the things.

[msn1270]

After 15 days of RCC roofing curing is completed, we started with the first floor construction of 2 BHK. Ground Floor centring support will be removed by next week.