COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH QUALITY ASSESSMENTS AND BATCHING ECONOMICS PARAMETERS OF SANDCRETE BLOCKS: OVBIOGIE FINE AGGREGATES AS CASE STUDY

The article looked at the quality and economics of compressive strength of sandcrete blocks produced in Ovia North East Local Government of Edo State, Nigeria. A total of 84 sandcrete blocks were batched from mix ratios of 1:6 to 1:18 and cured for 7 to 28 days. Results obtained showed that the minimum number of sandcrete blocks per bag was 15.36 at ratio 1:6 and maximum units of 41.70 at ratio 1:18. While material production costs ranged from 396.57 naira to 791.65 naira, corresponding to 41.70 and 15.36 blocks cast per bag, the corresponding compressive strengths ranged from 0.122N/mm2 to 1.404N/mm2 at 28-day curing period. The results indicated that these sandcrete blocks were below the recommended minimum strengths of 3.45N/mm2 and 2.45N/mm2 as per NIS 87:2007 for both load and non-load bearing cases. They also did not meet the standards set by National Building Code, 2006, of 1.75N/mm2.