BajaNomad

Another brick in the wall

motoged - 7-13-2020 at 09:06 AM

Interesting future of bricks..... a step beyond adobe:

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/going-green-kbriq-sustainable-brick-spc-intl/index.html

Stickers - 7-13-2020 at 09:17 AM

Did I miss something or was there no reference to what the bricks are made of? Article did say they would be manufactured at a recycling dump. Not sure it’s a good idea to make bricks out of garbage. I once built a small deck using Trex decking boards which are from recycled material. The boards tuned into oatmeal a few years later.

motoged - 7-13-2020 at 09:27 AM

Research requires more than one source of data.... google the topic if really interested.

Or, do you want the "recipe" for your commercial undertaking?

Change is difficult for some.

SFandH - 7-13-2020 at 09:31 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Stickers  
Did I miss something or was there no reference to what the bricks are made of? Article did say they would be manufactured at a recycling dump. Not sure it’s a good idea to make bricks out of garbage. I once built a small deck using Trex decking boards which are from recycled material. The boards tuned into oatmeal a few years later.


From the article:

"Enter the K-Briq. To make it, construction and demolition waste including bricks, gravel, sand and plasterboard is crushed and mixed with water and a binder. The bricks are then pressed in customized molds. Tinted with recycled pigments, they can be made in any color."

Pacifico - 7-13-2020 at 09:42 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Stickers  
Did I miss something or was there no reference to what the bricks are made of? Article did say they would be manufactured at a recycling dump. Not sure it’s a good idea to make bricks out of garbage. I once built a small deck using Trex decking boards which are from recycled material. The boards tuned into oatmeal a few years later.


Very true, Stickers! I had a huge Trex deck and the Trex started to decompose. Someone told me they were replacing it under warranty, so I called. Turned out to be true. A guy came out to inspect and measure. Trex replaced all of my Trex plus probably 10% extra, as well as a check for fasteners. The new Trex is much better!!!

AKgringo - 7-13-2020 at 09:51 PM

I came out of retirement (briefly) to replace a defective Trex deck for my neighbor. Same scenario as Pacifico, except my delivery was about ten percent less than required for the job.

The replacement product is still beautiful now, about eight years later!

Pacifico - 7-13-2020 at 09:55 PM

Quote: Originally posted by AKgringo  
I came out of retirement (briefly) to replace a defective Trex deck for my neighbor. Same scenario as Pacifico, except my delivery was about ten percent less than required for the job.

The replacement product is still beautiful now, about eight years later!


Bummer! You must have gotten the bad estimator.... :fire:

mtgoat666 - 7-13-2020 at 10:06 PM

No one in their right mind buys recycled concrete/asphalt. It is usually old, so contaminated with lead and chlorinated pesticides, or other nasties.
Every time we sampled recycled aggregate, we looked at analytical results and went with virgin quarry material.

Recycled plaster or drywall sounds like an invitation to lead and asbestos contamination.

[Edited on 7-14-2020 by mtgoat666]

bajaric - 7-14-2020 at 10:50 AM

Starting about 20 years ago there was a big push to divert everything from landfills. Now there is a realization that sometimes recycling actually causes more harm than good. One example is sending plastic bags to third world countries (e.g. Indonesia) for "recycling". Unfortunately because plastic bags are impossible to recycle, after the broker gets paid to accept them they end up scattered all over the place and sometimes get washed in to the ocean.

They tried incorporating drywall into compost, but it smelled like rotten eggs from hydrogen sulfide emissions. Even "virgin" asphalt is loaded with still bottoms from waste solvent recovery, which would be classified as hazardous waste but putting it the asphalt is "recycling" so they can pave the streets with it. Fortunately it appears that once the asphalt is cured the heavy metals in the still bottoms are insoluble.

Recycling makes sense if it can economically replace raw materials, but sometimes it does more harm than good.

This is all driven by an irrational fear of landfills. The harm from landfills is much smaller than popular belief. They occupy a relatively small footprint, relative to the benefit they provide to society. Eventually they turn in to open space wildlife habitats because you can never build on a closed landfill.

In the greater scheme, those internal combustion engine powered 4000 pound things made out of plastic and steel that we all use to get around (automobiles) result in far greater environmental damage, from air and water pollution, to carbon emissions, to habitat destruction, noise pollution, road kill etc. etc. The improvement of the air quality thru out the world after only a few weeks of taking automobiles off the road due to covid was amazing. Getting rid of automobiles would help the environment far more than any amount of recycling, but it is not a "feel good"; people love their cars, and public transportation means getting on a bus with a bunch of ex convict crazy homeless people sitting in the back..

motoged - 7-14-2020 at 11:12 AM

Quote: Originally posted by bajaric  
.....and public transportation means getting on a bus with a bunch of ex convict crazy homeless people sitting in the back..


Geez...I would take a different route....or change neighbourhoods....:biggrin:

Marc - 7-16-2020 at 05:47 AM

Built three adobe homes in Contra Costa County. Sold last one in 1980 for $1.2