Expert suggests stabilised earth bricks for building construction

A Professor of Architecture, Adedeji Daramola, has suggested the use of locally-made Stabilised Earth Bricks (SED) by the building construction to ensure durability of structures in the society.

Daramola, also the Rector of Redeemers’ College of Technology and Management (RECTEM) in Mowe, Ogun, described the stabilised earth bricks as a mixture of laterite or natural soil with some little quantity of cement to make them stronger than the usual blocks.

“Building is a capital intensive project, but the fact is that we can still achieve durable buildings by using local materials

“We have a lot of local bricks, now called stabilised earth bricks, which look stronger after production,” he said.
Daramola said that buildings built with stabilised earth bricks had immense advantages for their inhabitants.

He said that they were capable of absorbing the atmospheric moisture and creating a healthy environment for their occupants.
According to him, such bricks serve as bulletproofs for the buildings they were used to construct.

He said that when earth bricks were used, different forms of reinforcements such as cement blocks, concrete flooring, iron rods, and others would no longer be required.

“The mode of production of solid earth bricks is simple; one does not have to wait till the bricks are dried before using them for construction.

“You can put up your buildings without any form of reinforcement when builders use the stabilised earth bricks; these bricks are bulletproof,” Daramola said.

The don, who had been promoting the newly discovered building materials in various publications said that using the bricks was cost-effective unlike the common method of building.

“This involves less carbon emission and embodied energy in the production phase; also, no direct environmental pollution during the whole life cycle.

“These bricks can be used for any form of building; it is tested and trusted,” the professor said.

Credit: Voice Of Nigeria