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SubjectFree lesson

Building Material 1

ClassNotes Team 2 MIN READUPDATED 4 JUL 2026

Basic Technology J.S.S 1 Second Term

Theme: Material and Processing

Sub-Theme: Drawing Practice

WEEK 1

Building Material 1

Performance Objectives

Students should be able to:

  1. Define Building materials
  2. Identify various types of building materials in their locality

Content

Common building materials are:- cement, sand, gravel, metals, plastics, wood, glass, leaves, ceramics, grass etc.

A building is a relatively permanent enclosed construction over a plot of land, having a roof and usually windows and often more than one level, used for any of a wide variety of activities, as living, entertaining, or manufacturing.

Building Material 1

It is a structure constructed using any type of material(s) and for whatever purpose, be it for residential, commercial, industrial or other.

Building material is any material which is used for construction purposes. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, and wood, even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings.

Types of Building & Materials:

Buildings are identified by the types of materials with which they are erected

  1. Mud Buildings -

These are erected with loamy/clayey soil which has been properly treated to plastic nature. They produce very thick walls. Most mud buildings do not exceed the ground floor level. However, building research has recently proved that they could also be taken up to the first floor level.

  1. Brick Buildings-

     Bricks are moulded from dried mortar (a mixture of cement, sand and lime) and at times clay. They are dried and at times burnt in kiln. Brick are of two types:

  • The sun-dried bricks
  • The fire dried bricks (red bricks)

 

  1. Concrete Buildings-

Concrete blocks are made from a mixture of cement and sand. The Blocks are used to erect buildings. They have standardized size e.g. 225mm X 225mm X 675mm. The cement and sand mixture is poured into fabricated metals moulds by mechanical vibration and compaction or by manual compaction. They are formed into blocks of sizes of the metal moulds.

  1. Wood Buildings-

They are erected with logs, timber or plywood.