Mortarless Interlocking Hollow Blocks: An Innovation

Abstract

This paper presents the design of mortarless interlocking hollow blocks for non-load bearing walls. The compressive strength was determined and compared to the ASTM and PTSS standards for CHB. The cost of construction was also determined. There are three designs of the mortarless interlocking hollow blocks, the straight block with a dimension of 45 cm x 10 cm x 20 cm with a hollow dimension of 7.5 cm x 5 cm x 18.1 cm, the corner block has a dimension of 10 cm x 10 cm x 20 cm, and the l-shaped block with a dimension of 30 cm x 10 cm x 20 cm with a hollow dimension of 7.5 cm x 5 cm x 18.1 cm, the radius of the tongue and groove is 3 cm. Using t-test, the compressive strength of the MIHB was found to be greater than the ASTM standards and PTSS standards. The cost for installation and plastering of the commonly used CHB is higher than the cost for laying-out the mortarless interlocking hollow blocks.