A CEB is a compressed earth block. They are produced by compressing earth at about 1,000 to 1,900 PSI.
You can use CEBs to build just about anything you can think of: High-end Houses, Low-cost Housing, Commercial Buildings, Barns, Garages, Outdoor Living Spaces, Walkways, Driveways, Fireplaces, Ovens, Basement Walls, Perimeter Walls. With CEBs, you can let your imagination run wild!
There is no better building material in the world than CEBs. They are durable, fireproof, tornado proof, eco-friendly, readily available, beautiful, natural, water resistant (when stabilized), insect proof, bullet proof, and provide great insulation. There is really no down side to CEBs as a building material, so it’s no surprise that when people find out about them, they ask “why doesn’t everyone build with CEBs?”
AECT machines can make the following sizes of CEB:
4” x 12” (thickness 2” to 4.5”)
6” x 12” (thickness 2” to 4.5”)
6” x 12” with holes (thickness 2” to 4.5”)
7” x 14” (thickness 2” to 4.5”)
7” x 14” interlocking with holes (thickness 3” to 5”)
8” x 14” (thickness 2” to 4.5”)
10” x 14” (thickness 2” to 4.5”)
Un-stabilized CEBs are made only with natural earthen material (clay, sand, aggregate, silt). These blocks are not water resistant on their own, so once built into a wall, they will need to be covered with a porch roof or some kind of coating, such as lime, stucco, or paint.
Stabilized CEBs are made with about 92% natural earthen material and about 8% cement, lime, or fly ash. These blocks have the advantage over un-stabilized blocks that they are completely water resistant.
A comparison of un-stabilized CEBs vs. stabilized CEBs is shown in the table below.
Yes! You can use cement-stabilized CEBs for any application that other types of masonry would be used for. Just as with CMUs, you would need to apply a moisture barrier to the outside of the CEB basement wall.
A wide range of earth is suitable to make great CEBs. In fact, about 70% of the earthen material on this planet will work. There are two hard requirements, however: The first requirement is that you should avoid organic material in your earth mix, as it will not compress (this is easily avoided by pulling your material from at least 12” below the ground surface). The second requirement is that you need some clay in your earthen material. For Un-stabilized and lime-stabilized CEBs, it’s ideal that your earth contains about 20% to 35% clay. For cement-stabilized CEBs, you only want about 15% to 25% clay and a higher content of sand, because it’s the sand that the cement bonds with.
You will have to do some testing up front to get to the right recipe for your CEB material. If you want to produce cement-stabilized CEBs and find that your earth has a high (30% plus) clay percentage, you may want to search for a soil with less clay and more sand…or you may want to bring in sand or aggregate to augment your high-clay material. You will also want to make some sample blocks to determine whether or not your earthen material will make good CEBs. We sell a small block press that works perfect for this function:
We can also help you through the material testing process as part of our consulting service offering:
Make no mistake…the moisture content of your earthen material is critical to making great CEBs. The moisture level in your material needs to be about 5% to 7%, depending on the type of soil. There are techniques to determining the correct moisture level, and we can offer guidance on how to appropriately control the moisture content in your earthen material as part of our consulting service offering:
Now that you understand the importance of having the right clay, sand, cement, and moisture in your earth mix, it’s easy to understand why using a capable earth mixer is so important. Regardless of whether you are producing un-stabilized blocks or stabilized blocks, you will need one of our Mega Mixers if you want to get the full capability out of your AECT CEB machine. The specs and a video of our mixer in use is shown here:
You can surface mount electrical conduit for a modern/industrial look.
You can utilize a double-wall system with a cavity, through which to lay all utilities and insulation.
You can grind out a chaseway for electrical conduit after the CEB wall is complete...and then plaster over the cut. See video below:
With AECT’s wide range of product and service offerings, there are many options for someone who wants to build with CEBs. You can buy one of our machines and produce your own blocks:
Or you can buy the CEBs right from one of our customers:
You can typically get CEB walls installed (material and labor) for less than $20 per square foot of home. Keep in mind that the walls of a home make up only about 15% of the build cost, so depending on the finish-out and location of your home, the entire cost will be very comparable to that of a home built using standard building materials in your area. While CEBs are a premium building material, the walls of your home will not cost much more when compared to inferior standard building materials (cinder blocks, stick-frame, etc.)…yet you will have a home that is fire proof, tornado proof, natural, durable, and beautiful! And because of the high thermal mass that CEBs provide, your AC and heating bills will be only a fraction of what they would have been with traditional building materials. You could end up saving over $100,000 in energy costs over the lifetime of your home!