Started My Eco-Friendly Nest

[harishmk]

Hello MSN,
How do you know how many bricks are required for the construction? If there is any shortage, how do you manage?
BR,
harish

[msn1270]

As such there won't be any shortage in this construction technique.

Architects have a thumb rule of calculating the No of bricks required based on the Area of Construction & the volume of the Bricks. In fact while making the CSEB Bricks itself, we always plan for at least 10% extra Bricks considering the Damages and also as we loose some of the bricks as we need to cut it during the masonry work in order to adjust the wall Area especially at the corners, Windows, Door....etc areas. So its always surplus only. No shortage unless there is any major change or expansion of the design/construction area. In such a case of smaller quantity, our contractor/Architect will source the necessary quantity of bricks from their other projects, which may be surplus. Alternately, Even after the completion of the project, if any surplus Bricks available, contractor/architect will reuse them in any of their new projects. Alternately based on the qty required, either can make another batch of Bricks at site or we can buy it from the factory directly.

Also during the shifting of Bricks from Ground Floor to higher floors & if it falls, there will be some damage at any corner of the Bricks. These damaged bricks will not be used for exposed wall construction. They'll be used for Compound or hidden areas, where we do cement Plastering/tiling like for Bathrooms, Kitchen areas, compound or even land filling for floor levelling...etc.

[msn1270]

Now the structure is ready and we are entering the second phase of construction work, which deals with internal activities, which needs more precise workmanship as every work executed here onwards directly impacts the final finishing of the building. Hence we should be careful and shouldn't try to squeeze the timeline or pressurize the labour force just to speed up our work to meet our completion deadlines due to some prescheduled commitments.

Now we are starting with "POINTING" work, which is equivalent to Cement Plastering work carried out in the regular construction to cover the walls. Here the work is bit different. We don't cover the entire wall through Plastering, But only the joints between the CSEB Bricks for every layer stacked.

We prepare a mix of fine dust of m-sand, Red soil and the Cement in a predefined ratio and do the Pointing work. by pasting this mortar between the CSEB Bricks, level it and then either using a Thread or using different sized hand tools made of steel rods of sizes varying from 6mm up to 16 mm. Once again there are different Groove Styles and generally Masons make a sample pointing lines of different sizes and show us how it looks and we need to chose the line thickness/depth. Currently I finalised 6 mm like thickness. Also we can choose different Groove Styles for Internal as well as External Walls. If the depth goes more, more chances of dust accumulation in those grooves and need to be cleaned at frequent intervals. Hence small Groove size is recommended for internal Walls. At least some 10+ groove styles available for different shapes and depth. Once the Pointing work is done, it will be cured for again 10-12 days for bonding.

Some people even used chemical like chlorine chloride ...etc to get a deep reddish final colour finish. Depending on the depth of the Red soil colour, final colour of the wall can be visualized. It takes nearly 2-3 weeks time using 2-3 masons to complete pointing work for each floor both internal and external.

you can see lot of video clips in YouTube to see the actual Pointing works in CSEB Construction method.

[ardesarchitects]

Hi Praveen

Thanks a lot for your kind words.

In fact you are one of my mentor and I always follow your views from long time shared in this forum for the queries asked by anyone. From the time, I joined this group as a layman, it really helped me to get the much needed Gyan from the scratch.

CSEB Blocks were tested at BUREAU VERITAS INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED.

Hi Msn
Thank you for your kind words. Its a collective & consistent knowledge sharing by many other members on this forum. Thank you for sharing the testing center details, will be approaching them soon for rammed earth wall. Experimenting with rammed earth wall for a compound wall .

Regards,
Ar.Praveen.N
Ardes Architects and Interior designers
ardesarchitects@gmail.com
www.ardesarchitects.com
https://www.instagram.com/ardesarchitects

[jg_jyotigupta]

HI MSN

I intend to construct my home using CSEB bricks. I want to connect with you. Please share your contact details. Thanks. Best regards. JP Gupta

[msn1270]

Hello Sir

Thanks for your interest.
I've shared my contact details over DM.

[msn1270]

Pointing work got over in the Ground Floor and started in the first floor.

Now the Flooring work started in the Ground Floor. I'm using the natural Bethermcherla Stones for the Flooring. These stones are available from Kurnool area of Andhra Pradesh. Same tiles is also used in Car Parking area in the ground floor. We have limited choice in terms of color and designs part of these stones. Depending on the depth of the quarrying we get different colored stones like Grey, yellow, Green, Purple....etc.

Bethamcherla stone is weather resistant and doesn't crack due to seasonal expansion/contractions which is common in ceramic & Vitrified tiles. Another interesting point of these tiles is that, these are not machine cut. Odd shaped Raw tiles will be received & cut into precise Square shape by marking using pencil and cut by hand using only the hammer & chisel at the site. For fixing these tiles, normal M-Sand & Cement mortar mix is used.

There is no need of polishing or buffing, which is essential in regular flooring options. As we start using and with regular cleaning of the floor, the shining of these tiles increases over a period of time. If we need, we can go for a wax coating as an option

[msn1270]

now Ceiling putty & painting work is going. As we have used the CSEB half thickness(2.5" inches) Bricks while making the Filler Slab RCC Molding, we can see a Semi "SPHERE" kind of Shape on the Ceiling. Similarly, many options available for Filler Slab molding like Clay Pots, Mangalore Tiles, Many Different Shaped Clay Tiles, .....etc.

As said earlier, i don't go for plastering or painting the walls. Its only for the minimum Ceiling Portion, ceiling corner skirting and the Lintel above the Door and Windows only apart from the Window Frames & Shutters.

[ppm123]

Hi MSN

Greetings . I am really impressed with your posts giving such details which is of great knowledge to a person who is constructing the house like me. Kindly share your number as I like to speak to you abd take your advice in my house construction

[msn1270]

Kitchen Platform, Modular Kitchen Caracas and Dining Counter made of Stone is completed. For the Kitchen Platform as well as the Dining Counter, instead of going for the Kadapa stone or the Quarts, we used the Baroda Green Marble, which is good is color and also having good strength and thin sized one compared to the others which gives Rich look and feel.