Hollow Bocks making business is a very profitable business in the Philippines that is very good to consider if you are planning to venture in a small business with a very low risk with very minimal capital and high rate of profitability.
In this Blog I would discuss the process as base in my experience as small scale business owner of CHB manufacturing business. The tools and material that you will need in making a concrete hollow blocks are shovel, wheelbarrow ( 3 cu.ft ), bucket (16L) , wooden log for molder stand, 2x2x12 inches wood for tapping, chb molder ,empty cement bag, sand , cement , water… this are the thing that you will need in creating a chb.
THE PROCESS
First step is to collect the amount of sand that you will need, the amount of sand that your will need is 7.5 cubic feet of sand or equivalent to seven and half bag of sand using the empty cement bag as measuring tool. Transfer the sand to a wheel barrow and bring it to your mixing area. Once you have collected all the necessary amount of sand, Get a 20 kilogram of cement and mix with the 7.5 cubic feet of sand.
Second step will be a very crucial stage in producing a strong and quality hollow blocks. This second step is the mixing of sand and cement. The minimum number of times that you will flip the sand and cement mix is four times, to and pro, side to side , left and right. if you can increase the number of times that you flip the sand and cement mixture the better, the secret of a strong concrete hollow blocks is the proper and evenly mixing of sand and cement. This will give you a good impression and greater chance of success in the hollow blocks making industry.
Third step is watering , you will need an approximate amount of 28 liters to mix with the 20kilogram of cement and 7.5 cu. ft of sand, you don’t need to consume all the 28 liters of water because it will depend on how wet or how dry is your sand is… so you need to slowly pour the second batch of bucket of water after pouring the first pail of 14 liters. Please refer to the video. Repeat the step 2 process for the proper way of mixing the cement and sand mixture.
You can include in this step the clinch test to determine if you have properly watered and mix the sand and cement mixture.
Get a handful of the mixture and clinch the mixture in your hand, like you’re going to boxed someone…then open your hand, once the mixture stand firm in your hand without eroding then the mixture is ready for molding.
Once you have repeated the second step, we will proceed now to fourth step.
Fourth step is Molding, prepare your hollow blocks molder, make sure its clean , put the log in place, get ready of your 2x2x12 wood for tapping. Now slowly place the molder on top of the log, make sure the base of the molder is properly place on top of the log, the molder base should sit comfortably on top of the wooden log.
Once the molder is sitted properly on top of the log, please watch the video for reference, fill the molder at least three forth filled, then bang the molder slightly twice, to compact the mixture inside the mold, now fully filled the molder and bang again once slightly. Now tap the sand to press it toward the molder, just tap it slightly, enough to flatten it on top of the molder or flatten it in the molder opening.
Fifth step is Ejecting the hollow block mixture out of the molder. Before ejecting the mixture out of the molder, make sure that the drying area is already prepared. You have to take note that the concrete hollow blocks mixture should not be put to direct sunlight nor put in place where it will be drowned in direct rainfall. Once everything is ready then you eject your first manually made hollow blocks. Congratulations! you have your first block for your hollow blocks making business.
Sixth step is Curing, in lay man’s term this is the drying period for the concrete hollow blocks, just to give you an idea how far it will dry in days. On the first day it can gain 16% strength, third day it can gain 40% of its strength, seventh day it gains 65% of its strength, fourteenth day 90% of its strength and on the twenty eighth day it already gains its 99% of its strength.
Basing on this facts, you will
know how strong your hollow blocks are. Now here are some things that you will need to do during the curing time:
Sprinkle with water the moment you notice the corners of the hollow blocks are turning white this means the rate of water evaporation is too fast, and this happens during day time, you can notice this around five hours after ejecting the hollow block mixture. as a rule of thumb once it reach 4:30 – 5:30 pm in the afternoon sprinkle water to all your blocks. The next day, water all the blocks fully in the morning before you start making new block. water the block fully around 8-9 a.m then repeat watering fully around 4-5 pm. Do this until the 4th day of curing.
Seventh step is Filing the blocks, on the fifth day you can file the blocks vertically by 3 layers, then you can add another 2 layers as the day moves. This is the full cycle of how to make a hollow blocks.
Repeat this Seventh process everyday as you make your progress in the hollow blocks making business.
I hope you find this article helpful to you and I am looking forward to your success in considering this type of business at the comfort of your homes. Thanks!
