Hollow and Solid Block Demand in Iraq: What the Market Actually Buys
20 October 2026 · 6 min read
Quick answer
The split follows the wall, not the catalogue. Hollow 390 x 190 x 190 mm blocks go into load-bearing and infill walls, solid units and pavers into plinths, floors and yards, and each shape sets its own cycle inside the 15 to 25 s band. Buy the first mould for the buildings going up within sight of the plant, then add the second only when an order pays for it.
Hollow and solid block demand in Iraq does not divide evenly, and the split shows at the plant gate. Load-bearing walls take a hollow block with a cavity deep enough to run services and light enough for two men to lay. Partitions take a thinner hollow section. Plinths, boundary walls, yards and access roads take solid units and pavers. A plant that buys one mould for the widest shape in the catalogue spends its first year stacking stock nobody ordered.
The product mix is also a machine decision, taken before the machine is ordered. Each shape sets a cavity depth, pieces per stroke, a cycle and a stripping load, and the mould set carries all four. Choose the mix from the buildings going up around the site and the machine order follows. Choose it from a catalogue and every correction costs a mould, a changeover and a run of scrap.
Which block does a building in Iraq actually buy?
Read the wall, not the stock list. A hollow 390 x 190 x 190 mm block is the load-bearing and infill unit on most framed buildings: the 190 mm width matches the wall on the drawing, the cavity takes conduit, and the face shell carries the plaster. A thinner hollow block divides rooms inside the frame, where no load arrives and the duty is to stand straight.
Solid units appear where a hollow one cannot go. Below the damp course, in a boundary wall that takes impact, in a floor or yard that carries a wheel, a cavity is a weakness rather than a saving. Pavers are a separate market: a contractor buys them by the square metre and judges the face and the arris, not the core.
What does a 390 x 190 x 190 mm hollow block ask of the machine?
A hollow block is a thin-walled box, and the machine has to fill its corners without tearing it. Three cores mean three sets of core bars, each with enough taper to strip clean, and a feed box that pushes mix across the full 390 mm length before vibration starts. A mix that arrives late at one end leaves that corner short, and the block fails on the pallet, not on the wall.
Vibration and pressure carry the rest. On a press with 150 kN of vibration force and 31.5 MPa of rated pressure, the hollow block runs toward the slower end of the 15 to 25 s cycle band, because the stroke is long and the mould holds more steel than concrete. A 1,350 x 880 x 25 mm pallet on the mid-size frame carries fewer cavities than a wider one, and pieces per stroke follow the pallet.
Solid block and paver: one press, opposite demands
The 240 x 115 x 51 mm standard brick is the opposite problem. The section is shallow, the mould has no cores, and every cell in the set is a plain division. Filling is easy; density through the full 51 mm is not. A solid unit that leaves the press with a soft centre looks perfect and breaks on the lorry, so the press must hold its load until pressure reaches the bottom of the section.
Pavers add a third demand: the face. A standard brick sells on dimension alone, while a paver sells on colour, texture and a sharp arris, and those come from a mould cut to a tolerance the block mould never needs. Same machine, same pallet, different mould set, and a different standard for a good piece.
A mould change is a production planning event
A mould change is hours of a shift, not five minutes. The old body is unclamped and lifted out with a hoist, the new one landed, aligned to the pallet and torqued down in sequence. Height, vibration time and the press closing point are re-set, because the new cavity grid changes what the machine works against.
Then comes the settle-in run. A fresh mould runs cool, the mix in the hopper was built for the previous product, and the first pallets come out with torn faces or the wrong height. Those pallets are scrap, and they belong in the plan. Schedule the change at a shift boundary, hoist free and two people on it, and the job costs a morning instead of a day.
How do you split a shift between two products without starving either?
Split by campaign, not by hours. Two products in one shift means two settle-in runs, two scrap allowances and a curing line holding two shapes at once. The default is one product per shift, with the second running on the next shift and its mould fitted from the start rather than swapped in at noon.
When an order book forces two into one shift, put the boundary where the pallet flow can take it. Finish the first product with a full curing stack rather than a part stack, and change while the stacker is still clearing. Starving shows up as an idle press waiting for a mould, or a curing yard packed with one shape that cannot ship this week. Neither is fixed by running faster.
Keep the fast mover on the thinner shift and the slow mover where a supervisor can watch the first pallets of every run. The product that ships tomorrow should be the one in the machine at shift start, because the last two hours are where quality slips.
The first mould set, and the shapes that sit in the yard
The first mould set should match the buildings within sight of the plant. Stand at the gate and look at what is going up: if the frame stands and the walls rise in a 190 mm hollow unit, that is the first mould, whatever else the catalogue offers. If the town is finishing yards and roads instead, the paver goes in first and the hollow block waits.
Slow movers are stock, not production. A 170 x 80 x 80 mm small block has a real use in thin partitions and insulation courses, and a plant that needs it once a month should not hold that mould in the machine. Run it in a campaign when the stock drops, or buy it in, and keep the press on the shape that sells every day.
Demand is read from orders, not from what other plants say they make. Count the enquiries that arrived with a drawing and a delivery date, the repeat orders by shape, and what left the yard last month by mould. A neighbouring plant's product list is a catalogue too.
What should you ask five contractors before the mould is cut?
Five contractors, five sets of answers, and the mould order writes itself when the questions aim at the wall rather than at the product list.
- What is the wall thickness on your drawing, and is the block carrying load or only dividing space?
- What block do you lay today, and where do you go when your supplier is short?
- Do you buy by the piece or by the square metre, and who rejects a pallet, you or the client?
- How many blocks does one house take, and how many houses are on your programme?
- What do you do with the last two pallets of a shape you no longer need?
The answers give a first mould, a second mould and a stock list. A plant that can name the building its block goes into does not need a catalogue to choose a mould.
Frequently asked questions
Which block should a new plant in Iraq make first?
Make the hollow 390 x 190 x 190 mm block first where housing is going up around the site, because that is the unit the walls in sight are built from. Choose the paver first only where yards and roads are the work. The first mould should match the buildings within sight of the plant, not the widest shape in the catalogue.
How long does a mould change take on a block machine?
Plan hours of a shift, not five minutes. The old body is unclamped and lifted out, the new one landed, aligned to the pallet and torqued down in sequence, then height, vibration time and the press closing point are re-set. Add the settle-in pallets that come out with torn faces or the wrong height as planned scrap.
Can one machine make hollow blocks and pavers?
Yes, with a separate mould set for each product and often a different pallet. The host machine supplies vibration and pressure, but the cavity grid, the core bars and the face tolerance all live in the mould. A 390 x 190 x 190 mm hollow block runs toward the slower end of the 15 to 25 s cycle, while a paver is judged on a sharp face.
How many moulds should a new plant buy with the machine?
Two is the usual working number: one for the shape the buildings in sight are using, and one for the second confirmed order. Every extra mould is a changeover, a settle-in run and pallets of scrap before it earns anything. A 170 x 80 x 80 mm small block belongs in a later campaign, or bought in ready-made.
Why does a hollow block run slower than a solid brick?
The stroke is longer and the mould holds more steel. A 390 x 190 x 190 mm block has three cores, so the feed box must push mix across the full length before vibration, and the press has to strip a tall thin-walled section without tearing it. That pushes the cycle toward 25 s inside the 15 to 25 s band.
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