Timbercrete Bricks and Loadbearing

We often receive questions regarding the loadbearing capacity of Timbercrete bricks. The questions are fair enough, as it would seem that a brick or block that's made with timber fibres might lack in certain areas and it's capacity to hold big loads might be one of those. Well we're pleased to let you know that Timbercrete has amazing strength and is a more than capable to handle loads that any other masonry block or brick can handle. 

Peter Collier from Timbercrete head office explains: “Timbercrete bricks and blocks have a typical Mpa ranging from 3 Mpa to 6 Mpa. This equates to between 3000 kg and 6000 kg per 10 cm² of surface face area (10 cm x 10 cm). This means that a standard single skin Timbercrete block with the surface face area of 400 mm long by 200 mm wide, has a potential load bearing capacity between 24,000 kg to 48,000 kg per single block. If there are 10 bricks or blocks in a row, this figure is multiplied by 10. If the uninterrupted wall area (not interrupted by windows or doors) was, say; a rectangle of 10 m long by 6 m wide, the overall wall length would be 32 lineal metres. Divide this by 400 mm (the length of the block stated above) one would require 32 / .4 = 80 blocks. Therefore the potential load bearing capacity is between 1920 metric tons to 3840 metric tons.

The load-bearing capacity of Timbercrete can be increased by increasing the percentage of binders, however considering the figures above and the fact that increasing the binders will also have an effect on the cost there is no rational or engineering logic for this improvement.

However, typical engineering practices never construct buildings based on the maximum potential of the load-bearing capacity of the product. They consider a worst-case scenario and then factor in a percentage reduction. This practice of over engineering reduces or eliminates the possibility of structural failure.

Certainly Timbercrete is a load bearing product for both bricks and blocks at between 3Mpa to 6Mpa. One also needs to consider that most of the product range represents bricks or blocks that are solid without any cavities in contrast with most clay bricks and hollow core concrete blocks that are not solid. This being the case the surface face area and Mpa of Timbercrete is not compromised as a result of cavities. We also teach the practice of using a solid mortar bed and perpendicular joints rather than a shell bed as is typically the practice with other bricks and blocks.”

As can be shown in this photo, a home built with Timbercrete blocks is more than adequate to bear the load of a second storey, including a suspended concrete slab. 

If you're in the hunt for bricks and blocks with strong capabilities and extremely environmental properties, then look no further than Timbercrete. For more information go Here, for pricing see the contact details and click on your nearest supplier.