Perhaps, after World War II, with the Americans supervising, they needed building blocks to address the reconstruction at a fast paced. It was in 1948 when Jack Russel and five other American partners established a company. This was on February 16, 1948.
Since, we have followed suit in using river-sand based building blocks in building houses and high rises, fences and other builds. Hollow blocks or CHB has become the choice building material as it is available, affordable and acceptable.
No problem with this. The issue lies in the lack of alternatives to CHB, the process of which is long, cumbersome and labor intensive and dependent. From laying to plastering, to painting, too many variables. Lacks versatility. Dependent on commercial paint. Commercial paints mean maintenance costs.
CHB abounds because we do not have a brick industry, and, we do not have a brick industry because it never flourished. It did not flourish because the cost of production was too high. There was one in Pasig, Pangasinan, several in Pampanga but all didnt really take off. I would surmise, even if it took off, the brick design which was solid thru and thru, was too heavy to transport and could not tandem with steel or RSB.
Interesting to note, the whole world uses clay bricks to build their infrastructure. It might be that we are the only country in Asia that does not have a brick industry. It is about time we create that industry especially now when new technologies are being introduced around the world and bricks now have different colors and designs. Google WienerbergerAG.
We want to introduce the Modular Hollow Brick (MHB). A brick that is produced without going thru a kiln, that is earthquake proof because of its interlocking features and one that could work with steel (RSB).
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