Building Materials Shortage
Building materials are used in the construction and production of various structures. The construction industry is one of the most prosperous industries and businesses in the Middle East. Fine sand is usually easily found on the beach and in the river. Reade More About Building materials of the Middle East
Soil is a combination of excellent minerals and minerals created by weathering and rock destruction. Plaster is a soft, white powder obtained from gypsum. Cement is produced in a very soft powder and is provided to the consumer in bulk or in packages.
“Our vision is to build the largest retail network for construction materials in the Middle East Africa region so the Binastore brand becomes a household name for small and medium-size builders. Building on our success in Algeria, our goal is to deliver a range of building products, including our own, through multiple channels to meet the needs and lifestyle of our customers who are becoming more and more sophisticated,” said Saâd Sebbar, Region Head Middle East Africa.
To complete the construction work on your project to a high standard, look no further than our wide range of building supplies. We have various materials ranging from traditional bricks and blocks to tough and durable metalwork. For interior and exterior walls, you can benefit from plaster and plasterboard, along with a wide range of aggregates and excellent accessories.
The first step in making cement is to extract limestone (and other materials) from a quarry by blasting. The materials are reduced in size and then transported to a plant for processing. Then, other materials like sand, clay, shale, iron ore, gypsum, and minerals are ground with the limestone to produce raw meal which is uniform in size and chemistry.
Despite this, we are now witnessing rising interest prompted by demand for more sustainable materials that are less energy intensive. Advances in technology are also shaping the science of materials, with engineered plastics providing new solutions across industries — from oil and gas to the automotive, packaging, renewables and construction sectors.
Creating Sculptures — One of the most commonly used materials for creating sculptures is gypsum plaster. Since it can be moulded in any shape, therefore it can be used for fine crafting sculptures and statues. Not only in modern world, but this material has been used since the renaissance age. It can be used on other materials like wood and metal.
Is Cement the Best Building Material?
Cement is most commonly used in constructing large projects at both domestic and industrial levels. From constructing the walls, floors and roofs in your home to building schools, car parks, hospitals and even dams. Concrete is among the most versatile materials in the construction industry and can be mixed and created to meet almost any requirement, whether it’s lining your swimming pool at home or building a school.
Inorganic coatings, such as anodized finishes, convert the outer layer of aluminum to aluminum oxide, producing an extremely durable surface. Applying a clear (organic) coating can further protect the anodized surface. To prevent staining, alkaline building materials such as wet mortar, plaster, or concrete should be removed quickly from anodized surfaces.
It’s fair enough to say that clay remains one of the favorite materials of sculptors to this day. This could be explained easily due to the cheapness and availability of this material. So, there are lots of modern masterpieces, which were made of clay. And humanity continues to use this natural material not only in art but in the construction as well.
Brick and block can be one of the cheapest construction types. Most builders would prefer to build in masonry, so builders tend to price a bit more competitively, and of course a lot of ‘self-builders’ are in the trade, so they have more chance of getting better rates from mates or family in the trade, than they will from a timber frame company.
What Types of Construction Materials Are Used For Buildings?
Over the ages, builders have made use of the binding properties of lime to construct different types of structures: Roman temples, castles, cathedrals and bridges, etc. Today, lime-based mortars still form part of masonry and plaster mixes for building facades. Lime is also an ingredient in modern building materials such as aerated concrete and sand-lime bricks.
These materials have excellent thermal, fire as well as acoustic insulating properties and are easy to work with, making them extremely popular. Limestone and clay are major components for building and construction products. Lhoist offers a wide range of aggregrates, ground and milled minerals specially formulated to be used as fillers and extenders.
The construction market intelligence (CMI) unit publication, ‘Monthly statistics of building materials and components’, presents the latest detailed information on selected building materials and contains monthly data on price indices, bricks, cement and concrete blocks. It also contains quarterly data on sand and gravel, slate, concrete roofing tiles, ready-mixed concrete and imports and exports of construction products.
Materials should comply with building codes and job specifications. Packaged materials should be labeled properly, indicating the manufacturer, brand name, and recommendations for use. Packaged materials that might be damaged by moisture should be protected. Proprietary or specialty plaster should be mixed in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.
This cement expands in volume, when mixed with water compared to an ordinary Portland Cement. By doing so, the cement helps in minimizing the shrinkage loss caused due to loss of moisture. There are three subtypes of expansive cement, namely- K type, M Type and S type. These differ from each other in terms of raw materials and the intent of the application.
Portland cement is made by highly heating a finely powdered mix of clay and limestone. The final product, known as clinker, is cooled and after that ground into a very fine powder. During the grinding, there is added about 2% of gypsum which prevents the cement from solidifying too rapidly. The addition of gypsum increases the setting time of cement.
What are the latest modern construction materials?
Cement accounts for 5% of global carbon emissions — yet is still one of the most widely used construction materials . It’s mainly comprised of limestone, calcium, silicon, iron and aluminum and is the binding factor in concrete, but the recipe for the future is adapting to our need for sustainable alternatives. DB Group, for example, has created zero-cement concrete Cemfree that can save up to 88% in embodied CO2 compared to a conventional mix — all without compromising strength .
And then there’s Concrete Canvas, a flexible, concrete impregnated fabric that hardens when exposed to water to form a thin, durable, water proof and fire-resistant concrete layer. The material comes in batched rolls and can be speedily laid up to 10 times faster than conventional concrete. And not only does it cut down on construction time and cost, it is also a low mass, low carbon technology that uses up to 95% less material than traditional methods .
Both of these novel materials are already being used in the building of infrastructure around the world. Anglia Water in the UK became the first water company to use Cemfree in 2017 and Concrete Canvas has been used to create storm drains and build emergency infrastructure following natural disasters.
“We are not saying we need to stop sand mining altogether. We are saying we need to minimize the impacts,” says Jack Liu, a biologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing who is spearheading an effort to assemble a comprehensive picture of the damage.
Construction standards should be raised to extend building longevity, he says, and building materials should be recycled. Those sand grains on the beach may not be innumerable after all.
The scope of Construction and Building Materials includes, but is not restricted to, materials, NDT and monitoring aspects of new works and repair and maintenance of the following: bridges, high-rise buildings, dams, civil engineering structures, silos, highway pavements, tunnels, water containment structures, sewers, roofing, housing, coastal defences and railways.
The construction techniques used in the past are also often overlooked or misunderstood by those repairing them, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Today most construction is based on ‘waterproof’ materials down which rain flows rather than being absorbed.
As clay never sets we have the ability to use water to manipulate it. The amount of water used, coupled with the suction of the clay, allows us to maximize the benefits of using clay as a building material. No other building product is so infinitely recyclable and repairable. Once the mysteries of clay have been revealed to you, anything is possible.
