2.

1 Divisions of Construction
Materials

16 Divisions of Construction Materials based on Construction Specifications International’s Master

Format


o Div 00  Requirements of Bidding and Construction
o Div 01  General Requirements
o Div 02 Siteworks
o Div 03  Concrete
o Div 04  Masonry
o Div 05  Metals
o Div 06  Woods and Plastics
o Div 07 Moisture and Thermal Protection
o Div 08  Doors and Windows
o Div 09 Finishes
o Div 10  Specialties
o Div 11  Equipment
o Div 12  Furnishings
o Div 13  Special Construction
o Div 14  Conveying Systems
o Div 15  Mechanical and Plumbing
o Div 16  Electrical

2.2 Reference Standards for

Construction Materials

Reference Standards


o ACI-American Concrete Institute
o 211.01-85-Standard Practice for Selecting Proportions for Normal and
Heavyweight Concrete
o 301-84(R88)-Concrete, Structural for Building
 o 309R-87-Standard Practice for Consolidation of Concrete
o 318-86-Building Code Requirements for Reinforced Concrete
o AASHTO-American Association of State Highway and Transport Official
o M173-84-Concrete Joint Sealer, Hot Pured Elastic Type Performed
Expansion Joint Filler for Concrete
o AASHTO-American Asssociation of State Highway and Transportation
Officials
o ANSI-American National Standards Institute
o ASTM-American Society for Testing and Materials
o DPWH-Department of Public Works and Highways (Philippine
Government)
o USCS-Unified Soil Classificatory System

2.3 Site Construction

Tools and Materials Needed:

Tools needed for Site Preparation

 Materials needed for Site Preparation

ATTERBERG LIMITS are tests performed on soils passing the No. 40 sieve as

follows:

1. Liquid Limit (LL) – the moisture content at which a soil changes from the
liquid state to the plastic state, measured when soil in a shallow dish flows to
close a 12.5 mm grove after 25 drops from 1cm.
2. Plastic Limit (PL) – the water content at which a silt or clay material will just
begin to crumble when rolled into a tread approx 3.2 mm (1/8 inch) in
diameter.
3. Plastic Index (PI) – is defined as the Liquid Limit minus the Plastic Limit: LL
– PL = PI, that is the range of water content over which sediment behaves.

FILL MATERIALS

 Fill materials - soil, crushed stone, and sand used to raise an existing grade, or as a
man-made-deposit, generally used under spread footings, pavers, or concrete slabs on
grade. They are classified under the United Soil Classification System (USCS) as:

o
 GW, GM, GP – Gravels with > 50% retained on No.200
sieve, and 50% of coarse fraction retained on No. 40
sieve.

o
 SW, SM – Sands with > 50% retained on No.200 sieve
and 50% or more of coarse fraction passes the No.40
sieve.
 Granular Fill or Filters - soil materials conforming to above General Fill
requirements and  to ASTM C33, size 67, with a sand equivalent of not < than
50%, used to prevent the movement of fine particles out of soils and other natural
materials through seepage.
  Borrow Fill – soil materials suitable as fill or sub-grade, selected laboratory-
approved pit-run gravel, disintegrated granite, sand, shale, cinders or
other similar materials with not more than 35% fraction passing the No.200
sieve.
 Base Course Materials are hard durable fragments of stone and a filler
of sand or other finely divided mineral matter, free from vegetable matter and
lumps of clay, complying with the following AASHTO METHODS T-11 and T-
26 Grading Requirements.

Soil Protection Systems

 RIPRAP -Also known as rock lining is a constructed layer of stone,

placed to prevent erosion, scouring or sloughing of a structure or
embankment.
 GABION SYSTEMS-In simplest terms, gabions are stone-filled wire
baskets used to stabilize soil and prevent erosion. 
 PAVEMENTS-Paving is a material that provides a wearing surface for pedestrian or
vehicular traffic in the environment.

PAVEMENT TYPES
Pavement is a material that provides a wearing surface for pedestrian or vehicular traffic in the
environment.

1. Flexible Pavements – pavements that consist of concrete, brick or stone unit

pavers laid out on a sand setting bed that is somehow resilient and which
distributes loads to the sub-grade in a radiating manner. In order to restrain
its horizontal movement, it will require wood, steel, stone or concrete edging.
2. Rigid Pavements – pavements made of reinforced concrete slabs or
paving units mortared over a concrete slab. It distributes the loads
internally, transferring them to the sub-grade over a large and broad area.
This type of pavement requires reinforcements and extension of the base
materials along their edges.
3. Turf Pavements – pavements made of unit pavers with spacing in
between to accommodate grass or ground covers over a top soil mix.

2.4 Cement and Concrete

CEMENTING MATERIALS
Lime
Lime is one of the oldest manufactured building materials which is used both as a
mortar and plaster by early civilizations. The Greeks used it extensively for mortars and
plasters in their structures and sculptures.  However, the Romans were the first to
develop the first real cement by mixing lime putty and volcanic ash.
Hydraulic Lime - A type of lime which will set under water.
Stalking or Hydration- The process of mixing quicklime with water during which water
is absorbed and heat is     energetically evolved, driving off much of the excess water in
the form of steam.
Cement
Cement was first developed by the Romans  by mixing slaked lime with pozzolana
(volcanic ash) which hardened under the water, but the art was lost with the fall of the
Roman Empire. In 1756, Smeaton, an Englishman, rediscovered hydraulic cement, but
it was not until 1824 that Aspdin, an English bricklayer and mason, invented and
patented Portland cement.
Portland Cement
Portland Cement is made from materials which must contain the proper proportions
of   lime, silica, alumina and iron components.
Blended Cement
In the Philippines, this is the type of bagged cement sold commercially in
hardwares, and is not pure portland cement because pure portland cement is
distributed in bulk.          

Special
Cements:                                                                                                                           

1. White Portland cement – same materials as normal Portland except in color (also
called stainless cement because it is free of iron impurities which stain porous
marbles, some granites and limestone and other light-colored stones).
2. Masonry Cement – designed to produce better mortar than that made with normal
Portland cement or with a lime-cement combination.
3. Air-entraining Portland Cement – small amounts of this is added to the clinker and
ground with it to produce air-entraining cements, effective use for resistance to
severe frost.
4. Oil Well Cement – special Portland cement used for sealing oil wells.
5. Waterproofed Portland Cement – normally produced by adding a small amount
of stearate, usually calcium or aluminum to the cement clinker during the final
grinding.
6. Alumina cement - Utilizes bauxite, the ore from which aluminium is made, as
the major raw material and is also known as a quick-setting cement.
7. Masonry cements - these are prepared mixtures of Portland cement with hydrated
lime, granulated slag, silica, etc. Small additions of calcium stereate, petroleum,
 colloidal clays and other admixtures with the ingredients and proportions varying
widely and usually patented.
8. Natural cements - these are cements made of natural raw materials found mixed
in the correct proportions, needing only grinding and burning in a kiln to produce a
cement. Their use today has largely been replaced by Portland cement. Natural
cements sets more rapidly than Portland cement and are slower in developing
strength.
9. Pozzolanic cement - is the type of cement made of lime mortar and
pozzolanic material. Various natural materials contain active silica, among
them pozzolan (volcanic ash), granulated slag and pumice. Slag cement is a
pozzolanic cement.

Warehouse set occurs from the tendency of cement at bottom layers to harden due to
the pressure above when cement is stored in high piles for long periods.

Types of Aggregates Used in Concrete:

Aggregate – sand, gravel crushed stone, cinder, crushed furnace slag, burned clay,
expanded vermaculite, and perlite.
Sand – found in riverbends, free of salt and must be washed.
Fine aggregate – smaller than ¼” diameter stones.
Coarse aggregate – bigger than ¼” diameter stones.

Concrete
Concrete – the resulting product when a large aggregate of more than 6mm (1/4”) in
size is added to cement, water and fine aggregate.
Reinforced Concrete - concrete strengthened by having steel embedded in it.
Plain or Mass Concrete - Concrete without reinforcement.

2.5 Concrete Mixes and Additives

Concrete Mixes:
Class “AA” - 1:1 ½ :3 - concrete under water, retaining walls
Class A - 1:2:4 - footings, columns, beams, RC slabs
Class B - 1:2 ½:5 - slab on fill, non-bearing walls
Class C - 1:3:6 - concrete plant boxes, etc.
Control of Concrete Mixes:
Slump Test – when freshly mixed concrete is checked to ensure that the specified
slump is being attained consistently. A standard slump cone is 12 inches high (0.30)
and 8 inches (0.20) in diameter at the bottom and 4 inches (0.10) on top which is open
on both ends.
Compressive Strength Test – common quality-control test of concrete, based on 7
and 28 day curing periods.
Concrete Additives – materials often added to the concrete or applied to the surface of
freshly placed concrete to produce some special result.
Accelerators – an admixture which is used to speed up the initial set of concrete. Such
a material maybe added to the mix to increase the rate of early-strength development
for several reasons.
Retarders – to delay or extend the setting time of the cement paste in concrete.
Air-entraining agents – air-entrained concrete contains microscopic bubbles of air
formed with the aid of a group of chemical called surface active agents, materials that
have the property ofreducing the surface tension of water intended for use when better
resistance to frost action is concerned.
Concrete Hardeners – applied on concrete surface to increase hardiness and
toughness.
Waterproofing (permeability-reducing) compounds – these reduce the capillary
attraction of the voids in the concrete or mortar.
Colored pigments - are mainly used to give color to concrete floors. Two types,
the Dry-cast, broadcast or dust-on, for surface coloring and Integral colors used for
body coloring and  are incorporated in the mortar topping.

Two Types of Concrete hardeners and admixtures:

1. Chemical Hardeners – liquids containing silicofluorides or fluosilicates and a

wetting agent which reduces the surface tension of the liquid and allows it  to
penetrate the pores of the concrete more easily.
2.  Fine Metallic Aggregate – are specially processed and graded iron particles which
are dry-mixed with Portland cement, spread evenly over the surface of freshly
floated concrete, and worked into the surface by floating.
3. Water Reducing Admixtures – material used to reduce the amount of water necessary to
produce a concrete of given consistency or to increase the slump for a given water content.
4. Damproofers – materials used to reduce or stop the penetration of moisture through
the concrete. Reduces permeability.

Bonding Agents:
Paste Slurry – often applied to such an old surface immediately prior to pouring new
concrete to increase the amount of paste.

Two Types of Bonding Agents:

1. Metallic Aggregate – iron particle are larger, but with same materials as the
permeability reducer. Bonding takes place through the oxidation and subsequent
expansion of the iron particles.
2. Synthetic Latex Emulsion – consists of highly polymerized synthetic liquid resin
dispersed in water.
3. Set-Inhibiting Agents – prevent the cement paste from bonding to the surface aggregate but
will not interfere with the set throughout the remainder of the pour.
4. Pozzolanic Admixtures – materials sometimes used in structures where it s desirable to
avoid high temperature or in structures exposed to seawater or water containing sulfates.
Pozzolans maybe added to concrete mixes-rather than substituting for part of the cement to
improve workability, impermeability, and resistance to chemical attack.

Water-Cement-Ratio
The water-cement ratio -  the amount of water used per bag of cement.
Traditional materials used for form construction are Lumber, Plywood, and Steel.

Metal Reinforcements
1. Steel Bars or Rods

Reinforcement for concrete construction is mostly in the form of steel bars and rods of
round or square cross section. The bars may be plain or deformed (with lugs or
projections for better bonding to the concrete). They are called billet-steel bars or rail-
steel bars

2. Wire Fabric

Wire fabric made of cold-drawn steel wire is widely used for the reinforcement of
concrete slabs and floors, as well as for stuccoed work.

3. Welded Wire Fabric

Fabric consists of a series wires welded together to form a grid pattern. It comes in
various sizes and spacings and gauges, e.g. 4”x4” – 6/6, 6” x 6: - 8/8 etc. Welded wire
fabric is available in rolls 5 or 6 ft. wide, 150, 200, and 300 ft. long

4. Triangle-mesh Wire Fabric

This is built up of either single or stranded longitudinal wires with cross wires or bond
wires running diagonally across the fabric. The longitudinal wires are spaced at 4inches
on centers and the cross wires 4” or 8” apart.
 5. Expanded Mesh

This is manufactured from solid steel sheets, where the sheet is first cut or pierced in
staggered slots or patterns; then the sheet is held by the two sides parallel to the slots
and stretched by pressure until the desired openings of forms are obtained. Expanded
mesh is therefore free from mechanical and welded joints. e.g. "Steelcrete"

6. Laths

Permanent centering or self-centering laths are produced in many forms. These laths
are furnished either in flat or segmental sheets, pressed into a series of solid ribs,
between which the metal is stamped, perforated or deformed into an open mesh-work.
These laths are furnished painted or galvanized, and in open-hearth mild steel or in
special copper-bearing or alloy steels, e.g. “RIBPLEX” , “HYRIB”.
 

Types of Processed Concrete

1. Aerocrete

This is a light–weight, expanded structural concrete produced by adding a small amount

of metallic aluminum powder to the mixture of Portland cement and sand of cinders. On
the addition of water, a gas is generated which expands the wet mix and forms small air
cells throughout the material. It is used for structural floor and roof slabs, partition blocks
for sound proofing, wall insulation, in rooms of refrigerator plants, lightweight fill on top
of structural floor and roof slabs. In addition to its light weight, it has excellent fire-
resistive qualities.

2. Gunite

This is the mixture of sand and cement deposited under high pneumatic pressure with a
machine manufactured under the trade name CEMENT GUN, to which the required
supply of water is added just before the dry constituents emerge from nozzle. GUNITE
is used for encasing structural steel, when reinforced, for floor and roof slabs and
curtain walls. Ideal for swimming pool construction.

3. Porete

A Portland cement concrete to which a chemical foam is added to generate gases in the
process of deposition, resulting in light weight precast or shop-made unit in both hollow
and solid forms. It is manufactured in solid slabs for short spans roofs and siding of
industrial buildings.

4. Haydite

This is processed concrete added with lightweight aggregate.

Lightweight aggregates can be divided into four general classifications :

1. Aggregates of volcanic origin

1.
o Pumice, weighing from 25 to 60 lbs.per cu. ft. is well qualified as a
lightweight aggregate when dry and well graded. Undesirable feature,
however, is its water absorption. This can be mitigated by wetting the
aggregate before it is mixed with cement .
o Perlite is composed of stable silicates, and is inert and thus durable for
use as a lightweight aggregate or for insulation and is use in precast
o slabs and blocks and in floor fill, fireproofing and plaster.

2. Micaceous minerals

1.
o Vermiculite is a micaceous mineral which expands on application of heat
to as much as 30 times its original volume. It is used as an aggregate in
concrete fireproofing steel, for floor and roof fill, and for acoustic and
fireproof plaster.

3. Expanded shales and clays

1.
o Lightweight aggregates from shales and clays require heating the
material in a kiln to a temperature near its fusion point. The material
softens and coalesces to a sticky mass; escaping gases are trapped,
forming cellular structures and expanding the volume of the material
about 50%. Examples of clay, shale aggregates are “AIROX”,
“ROCKLITE”, Diatomite, “HAYDITE”.

4. By-product Aggregates


o Expanded Slag. Expanded Slag or “foamed” slags are made by treating
molten blast furnace slag with controlled quantities of water or steam.
o Foamed slag has been used for precast blocks, cast-in-place walls of
houses and for panel filling of steel-framed buildings.

5. Cinders are composed of the ash components of the coal along with the various
quantities of unburned or partially burned combustible matter.