How Leigo Works
Before
placing the first course in a mortar bed, the blocks must be laid dry on the
foundation around the entire building, in order to ensure that they fit exactly
next to each other (leaving no gaps), and that an exact number of full blocks
are used, otherwise the system will not function. When laying the first course
in the mortar bed, care must be taken that the blocks are perfectly horizontal,
and in a straight line, or at right angles at corners.
Once the base course is properly hardened, the blocks are stacked dry, with the help of a wooden or rubber hammer to knock the blocks gently into place. Up to 10 layers can be placed at a time, before the grout holes are filled with a liquid mortar - 1 part cement to 3 parts sand (or soil, or rice husk ash) to 1 part water.
It is advisable to place channel blocks around the building, at window sill height, to install a ring beam. They should also be placed directly above doors and windows to install lintels, and directly below the roof to finish the walls with a ring beam. For increased structural stability, especially in earthquake regions, steel rods or bamboo should be inserted in the vertical grout holes, especially at corners, wall junctions and on either sides of openings.
Interlocking blocks are ideally
suited for load-bearing wall constructions, even for two-story and larger
buildings, provided that the height of the wall does not exceed 20 times its
thickness, and wall sections without buttresses or cross-walls do not exceed
4.5m length (to prevent buckling).