CONST MTRL & TESTING: CLAY PRODUCTS

Clay products are another natural construction material used until these days but minimally compared to the ancient times. Clay products cover three categories:

A. Roof tiles

Although so many roofing materials have evolved over the times, some houses still prefer roof tiles. Besides their massive appearance, these tiles are truly heavy for roofing, they can be un-anchored and fall off easily.

Roof tiles can be further categorized according to their shapes:

1. Flat tiles have rectangular shape although carry different size variations. They are laid in overlapping rows by nailing them on horizontal reapers or battens.

courtesy of OpenClipArt

2. Interlocking tiles have corrugations which keep the tiles interlocked. 

courtesy of EBay

3. Curved tiles are those in half a cone shape. Not necessarily cylindrical for the purpose that the ends of these tiles are overlaid to each other.

courtesy of ColourBox

Click here for Lecture Notes on Clay Products

B. Floor tiles

These tiles are still used until present. Floor tiles differ from bricks or other paving materials due to their slim thickness. 

There are two types of floor tiles although they are closely related to each other. Both of these types are vitrified and they just differ in the level of pororsity and water absorption.


1. Vitrified tiles are processed to keep very low porosity.

courtesy of Buykemadrin.pw

2. Marbonite tiles are fully vitrified which means it contains very less water absorption. Marbonite tiles look similar to natural marble.

courtesy of Johnson India

C. Wall tiles

Wall tiles have the same composition as floor tiles although they have lesser thickness.

CONST. MTRL & TESTING: BRICKS

Bricks are more used these days for face works unlike when they were used to build massive walls when concrete was yet to be popularized. However, there are still places which prefer using bricks over concrete. This may depend on the availability of the resources and cost.

courtesy of TTV Hitech Chambers and Earth Movers

The word "brick" signifies earth bricks, but there are also different materials making bricks such as fly ash bricks. Clay is the main ingredient in making bricks and it takes a long process to manufacture this construction material.

Good quality clay should be used free from organic matter and pebbles. More ingredients are added to the blending of clay like iron oxide, lime, silica and others. These ingredients help to improve the qualities of clay to be made into sturdy bricks.

Click here for PDF Notes on Bricks

Moulding of bricks can be done in two ways - ground and table.

1. Ground moulding uses the ground as the platform when clay is moulded into bricks.Most of the time, this method employs handmade bricks.

courtesy of ThoughtCo

2. Table moulding is equipped with a platform which looks like a table about 2m x 1m. machine moulding with table method is used for huge quantities. machine moulding is helpful for moulding hard and string clay.

Bricks can be manufactured by air drying or burning, although the latter process is more recommended. There are different kinds of kilns used to burn bricks. A kiln is a large oven used to burn bricks.

1. Intermittent kilns operate by being loaded, fired, cooled, and unloaded.
2. Continuous kilns work by loading, firing, cooling and unloading just the same by in a more simultaneous manner.

KEEP LOVING HIM ... FOR YOUR SAKE

I attended a family gathering lately, and it was fun to see my old relatives still together - wrinkly, grey, saggy but so much happy. It was so amazing looking at them together as they try to do just about everything to win in the couple games for the party. In the midst of the laughter, embraces and fun, I got the chance to chat to one of my aunts. She started to talk about those days when she and my uncle were still starting a family.


"You witnessed how I had to do all the chores at home and took care of our four children at the same time", she started. "There were times that I cried because I was so tired and I can't ask your uncle to help me at home. He is truly a responsible and efficient office worker but ohhhhh not at home. Definitely not a help at home." My aunt kept on reminiscing those times in between laughs. Their relationship is not flawless but having the better of each other made them stick together. In their senior years, they are still very happy, traveling to so many places, now that their kids have successful lives of their own.

 Some might argue that time has already changed. So many people live apart and it is already normal nowadays - rising number of broken families, single dads and single moms. Most people breaking up would usually keep their pride and say "he doesn't deserve me." However, though many might disagree, breaking up with him is way more painful than persevering his naughty character. Leaving him right after knowing that he just had so many girlfriends in his life besides you might be the first impulse you jump into, but admit it, it is quite devastating also on your part.

So instead of going through the pain and all, persevere, and understand a little bit more until it doesn't hurt anymore. I was confiding to a good friend a few years ago. I complained about my partner. Then I was deciding at that time to leave him. My friend replied, "Give him another chance.... for your sake." My friend knew how much I loved my partner. And she knew that my life will be ruined without him. So I did, I tried to stick up with him with so many downs than ups.

I persevered when he started to make excuses of not being around or out of touch. He would just say, "I don't know but suddenly the network does not allow my call to you anymore. I stopped asking why he can't talk to me and I just say OK when he says he is just so busy with a lot of things in life. Once he told me to fight for our love in times when he is lured by other women. When I did, he just called me drama factory.

I stopped talking much when he started telling me he doesn't read my messages because they were too long. I also tried to fit in and sent one or two word answers (just to make sure he isn't annoyed).

I never did insist on celebrating anniversaries anymore after he said it was just a day. And those times he doesn't even remember calling to greet me on my birthday. I also stopped greeting him on any other occasion just to show him I understood that nothing is special anyway.

He seldom said 'I love you' and so I need to limit mine too. I don't really want to cause any argument. There are so many incidents that would tell me, he already fell out of love. 

courtesy of Bonobology

Those times, I never stopped asking him nicely to let me go. 

I made it in the gentlest way I could think of. I explained why we should set each other free and every time he would say he loves me very much. Every time I got hurt with  a lot of things he did but the hurt gets less and less painful. Until comes the time that he never called, and I just thought he is already totally gone from my life.

So, instead of feeling so much hurt by breaking up, regardless on who dumped who, try to persevere. Others might say that it is a complete waste of time to be with this kind of partner. Some might say, ladies having this principle in life are martyrs and there are no such people in the recent millennium. When you truly love someone, it is definitely hard to let go. I will consider it a miracle if he changes his heart and will be very grateful but I will be okay if doesn't. Keep loving him for your sake, and as you go through all of his signs of fading away, learn to be stronger, and think about yourself. That time will come when he will be gone, and you can smile and say "Welcome back" to yourself. Then you don't need to blame yourself of not doing your best to keep him - you don't need to be guilty of not loving enough.

courtesy of ArtStation

HOW TO EARN WHILE PLAYING SKYLOM

I just got addicted into trying my luck with Skylom lately. I find winning is easier in this Baymack game as I got like just 10 numbers to choose from in order to win. Jackpot amount varies by $1 which consumes 1 coin to $2000 using 5 coins. One needs to apply in order to play Skylom. Once registered, you should be able to accumulate coins to use as tokens to be able to choose your numbers. By clicking Get Coins on the upper right corner, short video clips would be shown, a question about the category of the video will pop out right after every video. Clicking on the right choice will be directing you to watch another video.

The time duration per game depends on the prize in the pot. For a smaller prize, the time would be limited to around 2-5 minutes while bigger prizes would take up to 8 minutes. A player can only juggle his numbers once in a game unlike Snuckls and Baymack giving 10 chances for a player to the jackpot prize.

 Each slot is considered in winning which means that the numbers you choose should have the right order as that from which was drawn. So in the case above, there are 4 chances for a player to win as the game is asking for 4 slots. 

The prize in the pot would have to be divided among players. The How to Win tab would explain that 98% of the prize will be given to those players pressing on the right numbers. Although chances are thin for this, having to press just one right number still wins the player a part of the prize.

So although I get a very minimal partial of the prize, I am able to win more often. The amount can be redeemed via bank wire of paypal.

I kept on thinking if there is somewhat a pattern to the winnings in this game, however; until I have discovered it, I am happy with gaining a few more cents to my account as I play. Here is the leaderboard of this week and it is just overwhelming to have them win that much just by playing. Get some time to check out the short videos to gain coins now!

HOW TO EARN WHILE GOOFING AROUND THE INTERNET

Yes, there are so many sites offered over the web which gain income for us. Some give free registration, the others ask for some fee to get you through the procedure. The latter are those which most of the people consider as spam. I have not tried any of those sites asking for fees yet so I will not be able to say if they truly pay of not.

Some offers would truly need your time, and these are good for those who would like to have extra income through the Internet by really working. Such as Upwork, 2 capcha, and so many surveying sites. These sites are legit but then again, time and effort to earn anything from them.

There are also income generating games offered online. All one has to do is to earn the coins to use for the lotto, that is, watch a quick video for one token or coin.

1. Baymack is the main umbrella of this company. Baymack offers lotto prize of $150 daily. Logging in to Baymack is through invite only.  player can send 10 tickets or entries per draw and to be able to have access to a ticket, the player needs to watch 5 videos and guess the correct category per video. It is like use 5 tickets for one entry to a maximum of 10 entries per day. And very similar with how the lotto works, per ticket allows you to choose 7 digits from 42. Winning need not take the order of the numbers.

2. Snuckls has the same system as this is also from Baymack company. Daily draws are given for 10 chances to each player who watched 50 videos in all.

3. Skylom, still under Baymack company uses another draw style. Prizes range from $1 to $2000 and time duration depends on the amount like $2000-prize takes around 8minutes cycle and $1 takes like 2-3minute cycle. And unlike Baymack and Snuckls, Skylom only uses the digits 0 to 9 for the draw but follows the order of how the numbers appeared. This game gives easier chances of winning for those who don't really have luck in playing the lotto game. And same as the other registration to Skylom is through invite only but once a player have been registered to any of these sites, he is free to move around any of these games.

4. Flamzy is the new game produced by Baymack but totally different from all others. This game needs you to watch the movie intently because the questions are not about categories anymore but the video itself. This game will eliminate those players giving wrong answers so one would be able to track if he is to get the jackpot prize. There is only 1 jackpot prize for this game by the way.

 Although the three others, you can do simultaneously as you browse over the web, blogging or just searching and the last one would require a bit of your attention, these games can literally generate you money while goofing around the web.

CONST. MTRLS. & TESTING: SAND

Although sand is a major component in the fabrication of concrete, its main purpose is to be a filler for the voids created between the coarse aggregates. The quality of coarse aggregates dictates the strength of concrete while cement glues the aggregates together. However, using cement alone will be very costly for the construction. 

courtesy of India Today

Click for PDF Notes on Sand


Another purpose is to increase workability of concrete. Imagine placing high amounts of aggregates in concrete thinking that cement will be bonding these particles together. With coarse aggregates alone, small spaces between reinforcing bars and intersections of sections will make it hard to be filled with concrete (that is, smaller spaces will be poured of cement alone without any kind of aggregate). Thus, the need for sand.

From the three general classifications of stones, long processes of sedimentation and deposition of these create sand. Natural sand is further classified as:

a. Pit sand which is deposited with soil.
b. River sand obtained from river banks or beds.
c. Sea sand are those found in seashores.

For construction, the most ideal sand grade is river sand which can be checked with fineness modulus between 2 and 3. The perfect sand for construction should be free from salt deposits, soil, or vegetable matter.

According to grade, concrete works require gravelly sand. This type has the average diameter size which is suitable to work as a smaller size aggregate in concrete. Coarse sand, on the other hand, which is about 3.175mm in size is more used for brick laying. And finally fine sand is best used for plastering work as this kind of job would require minute sizes of sand.