Property
Getting Familiar with
HYDRAFORM
H
ydraform building system is gaining
recognition and is increasingly used
in most developing countries such as
Nigeria, for the provision of low cost
housing, due to its numerous benefits including environmental friendliness, better thermal
insulation, aesthetic value, faster construction
and cost efficiency. These benefits embolden
the use of hydraform blocks in the provision of
mass housing.
Due to limited means within developing countries, it is necessary to seek ways to reduce
construction costs, especially for low-income
housing, as well as adopting easy and effective solutions for their repair and maintenance;
this can be achieved partially through the production and use of cheap yet durable locally
available building materials. Recent studies
revealed that it is more economical to build
with interlocking soil stabilized blocks such as
hydraform than conventional concrete blocks.
The concept of these stackable interlocking
blocks differs from conventional blocks and
bricks, because the units are assembled in a
geometrical way without the use of mortar. Interlocking blocks have complex shapes which
appear to have been deliberate in design
which demands for the need to study the development of blocks with simple geometry.
The hydraform building system replaces the
conventional bricks and mortar by using hy-
08 | Choice Options
By Bolaji Yusuf
draform blocks with the other components of
the conventional system remaining largely unchanged. Hydraform system is essentially a dry
stacked masonry system that enables speedier
construction of high quality aesthetic and affordable buildings. The hydraform building
system has been in use for over a decade and
is the choice of many construction firms, government agencies, NGOs and international
agencies worldwide. The system has been
tested extensively for parameters of strength
and durability in recognized engineering institutes of South Africa and India. Hydraform
bricks are manufactured by hydraulically
compressing a soil-cement mixture in
a block-making machine. Hydraform
bricks can be manufactured on site and
dry-stacked, reducing the embodied
cost of transportation and the product
contains a small percentage of cement
which largely accounts for its embodied
energy component.
The Hydraform Building system comprises of three primary aspects namely;
the hydraform Block, the hydraform
machine and the advantage of interlocked stacking offered by the hydraform blocks. Hydraform blocks are
three times as efficient as concrete and
almost twice as efficient as fired clay
bricks in terms of thermal insulation.