Making Concrete Blocks As A Business

Making concrete blocks is an excellent business which can be started at very low cost. You can start with hand molds which are easy to make and can turn out 100 or more blocks per day this way.
When you require to make more blocks as your business grows you can acquire or build a concrete block making machine. Purchasing one of these machines is quite costly but you can build an equally good machine yourself.
With this machine you can turn out 800 blocks per day. You will require a helper to remove the blocks and stack them for drying and curing.
You can also make many other concrete products such as patio blocks,garden furniture,bird baths and fountains,garden ornaments and more. Plans for making these items are available from our website.
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Mix Good Concrete Properly

When you are mixing concrete you need to make the right mixture for the job of making concrete blocks. You want to make really good concrete which will form a solid, cohesive concrete block which will not crumble. To accomplish this you need to use the correct mixture of Portland cement,sand,gravel and water.

An excellent method for doing this is to make a wooden box 27 by 24 inches and 10 inches in depth. Then to get the right mixture use one bag of Portland cement and mix with it one boxful of sand and two boxes of gravel.

You can use a cement mixer or mix this batch by hand. To do it manually spread a tarp or a plastic sheet on the floor or do it on a sheet of plywood. Pour all the dry ingredients into a heap and then with a shovel keep turning them over till they are well mixed. Be sure that they are mixed well or you will not make a good homogenous concrete mix.

Make a hole in the centre of the heap and shovel the mix up round the hole. Then take precisely 14 gallons of clean water and pour a little at a time into the center hole and scrape the surrounding mix into it gradually. Gradually pour water into the hole till the whole batch is well mixed. Your concrete will now be ready for use.

Using a cement mixer of course makes the job considerably easier. You can put the same amounts of dry ingredients into the cement mixer the and turn it on till the ingredients are completely mixed. Then gradually add the water to the mix and run the machine till you have a smooth mixture.

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Your Concrete Products Business

When you make concrete blocks as a business you are producing a basic commodity. they are something that is always in demand and will be as long as building goes on.This is the basic product of your business and the one which will make the most money for you since the demand is huge and always growing.

There are however many other concrete products which you can add to your manufacturing line and they can be very profitable. Such things as concrete bird baths and fountains are extremely popular in todays gardens. You can buy commercial molds to make bird baths and fountains or you can make your own molds. Some can in fact be made without using any mold.

You can find out how to make your own molds from our website Concrete blocks. The commercial molds are good but they are quite expensive. Making your own molds or making the items without a mold saves a lot of money For some more interesting information see our Squidoo lens at makeconcreteblocks

Sizes And Shapes Of Concrete Blocks

Concrete blocks are made in sizes which are always in fractional form.The reason is that the standard mortar joint is 3/8 inch in size and when added to the block dimensions this will come out an even number. For instance a standard stretcher block is 15 5/ 8 inches long. with a 3/8 inch mortar joint this gives an even 16 inches.This makes it easier to calculate the quantity of blocks needed for a job and makes walls an even number in height and length.

Concrete blocks are made in both heavy and lightweight types and in full length and half length sizes.The half lengths are necessary so that the joints in a wall can be offset by a half block length to ensure stronger construction.

The most commonly used block is the stretcher block which is nominally 8 inches by 8 inches by 16 inches in size. It has three hollow cores to make it lighter and to save on materials. The heavyweight block weighs 43 to 50 lbs as a rule. The lightweight block which is used only for non load bearing construction is about 10 lbs lighter.
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Materials For Making Concrete Blocks

Concrete blocks are made from a mixture of Portland cement,gravel,sand and water.The product is a light grey colored block with a finely textured surface and high compressive strength. Weight of the block depends on its size of course but the commonest variety weighs in at around 38 to 43 lbs.

The concrete mix used to make concrete blocks has less water and sand than concrete used for general construction purposes. This makes for a dry quite stiff mixture which retains its shape when emptied from the mold.

Cinder blocks are made by using coal cinders or volcanic cinders instead of gravel and sand in the concrete mix. The product is a dark grey colored block with a coarse to medium surface texture. compressive strength is less than that of standard blocks. Insulation qualities of the block are higher and sound deadening properties are improved with this type of block. A common cinder block weighs aboput 26 to 33 lbs.

Lightweight concrete blocks are maded by using expanded clay,slate or shale instead of sand and gravel. Expanded clay,shale and slate are made by crushing the raw material to small size then heating to 2000 degrees Fahreheit(1093 degrees centigrade).The heat causes organic material in the basic materials to vaporise and puff up the clay. a lightweight block of this type is used only in non load bearing walls and partitions and commonly weighs 22 to 28 lbs.

The concrete mix may also have chemicals added to hasten drying time,improve compressive strength or workability of the materials. colored pigments are sometimes added to produce colored blocks.The surface of the block is sometimes glazed for decoration or to prevent chemical dissolution.

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Concrete Blocks

The primary use of concrete blocks is for constructing walls. These may be foundation walls for a home,sides of a barbeque, in the backyard, or complete walls for a building.

A variety of precast concrete products are used by the building trades with blocks being just one of them. Concrete blocks generally have hollow cavities on the inside to lessen weight and quantity of material used. There may be one or more such hollow cavities depending on the type of block.

The sides of the blocks may be smooth or they may have a cast design included. When in use, for building, the blocks are stacked on one another taking care to keep the rows absolutely straight and level. The joints are offset by half a block in the rows to increase strength of the wall. They are held together with concrete mortar which dries to form a hard bond.

You might think that concrete mortar is a relatively modern development but this is not the case. In ancient Roman times as early as 200 BC concrete mortar was used with shaped stones in building. In the era of 37-41 AD small precast concrete blocks were used in the Naples area of Italy for construction.

Unfortunately during the fall of the Roman empire in the 5th Century A.D.most of the concrete technology which had been developed ny the Romans became lost. Concrete technology was not seen again till the year 1824 when an English stone mason named Joseph Aspdin invented Portland cement.Thus began the modern age of concrete technology as we know it..

Make 100 Concrete Blocks Per Hour

The easy way to get started in the concrete block business is to make a number of hand molds and cast your blocks by hand. This is actually very easy to do. There are full instructions and plans available at our website.

However making concrete blocks with molds is a labor intensive process and one person can make about 100 blocks per day working alone.

The need for increased production becomes obvious at some point and the only way to achieve this is to use a concrete block making machine.These are ingenious machines which do everything from start to finish and turn out perfectly made cement blocks at a rate of 100 per hour or even more.

These machines are quite expensive to buy but you can build a machine yourself using auto parts and a few odds and ends.This machine will work very well and can turn out 800 blocks in an 8 hour workday. Plans and instructions for building it are obtainable at our website.

This is a great business to be in. Start up costs are low and demand for concrete products is always strong. Check it out at
Make Concrete Blocks.