Home-Style Bricks has recently invested in a brand new state of the art Zenith 844 single pallet Brick and Paver manufacturing machine. The machine will hugely improve their manufacturing capacity, speed delivery time and increase efficiency. The new machine has the capacity to manufacture around 60,000 cement bricks per day. It produces batches of 378 bricks and stacks them automatically on a pallet in rows of 9 by 6 (equalling 54 bricks or pavers at a time) by 7 layers high. In addition to this, it automatically places a thin layer of sand in between the horizontal layers to prevent the layers sticking together.

Remarkably it can produce a single layer of bricks in 26 seconds. Apart from the bricks the machine is also capable of producing 60mm and 80mm interlocking and rectangular pavers. Zenith is a German based company specialising in manufacturing and installing the highest quality, most advanced brick and paver machines, from single machines to full plant planning and implementation. Zenith was established in 1953 and have been world leaders in the field for more than 60 years, renowned for their innovations and safety features and well known for the low maintenance requirements of their machines.

Home-Style Bricks new acquisition was manufactured in Germany and then imported to Zimbabwe. The machine is fully computerised and controlled so that the operator can select the desired quantities of all the necessary inputs including cement, aggregate, water and oxides for colouring. This makes it extremely efficient and cost effective to run as the quantities and combinations of inputs can be closely monitored and controlled. A German technician came out to Zimbabwe for about a month to help install the machine and train local operators to programme and run the machine as well as explaining the basic maintenance requirements. The machine has two computer operators plus a third technician who acts as the quality controller ensuring the end product is up to specific standards.

Home-Style Bricks was started in 2011 with a single brick making machine and rapidly became the largest supplier and manufacturer of cement based products in the country. With the acquisition of the new Zenith 844 they now have four machines, capable of manufacturing around 200,000 bricks per day. Because of their huge volumes that they produce, they are able to maintain the best and most competitive prices. Home-Style also carries a large quantity of all their products in stock, so even very large orders can be accommodated quickly making it very convenient for the construction industry.

Smaller orders for individual home owners can usually be filled and delivered the same day. Home-Style Bricks has a fleet of ten 30 tonne trucks enabling them to offer a fully comprehensive customer service from sales to the final on site delivery. By offering customers the convenience of an in-house transportation service, they are also able to reduce costs and ensure that deliveries are reliable. Home-Style Bricks also manufactures a huge range of other cement based products for the construction industry and the home owner. One of their innovative products is the Ribs and Blocks system to create suspended floors in multi-storey buildings. Basically the ribs are precast sections used to span between walls. The ribs are reinforced with deformed bars and a steel lattice set into the concrete. The blocks are pre-cast hollow section units which span the ribs to create the floor. The blocks can then be skimmed with cement and finished to the customer’s specifications. This system is quicker, stronger and more cost effective to install than the traditional method of casting floor slabs on site using steel shuttering. The Ribs and Blocks system allows customers to make substantial savings on materials, time and labour. Because the Ribs and Blocks are relatively light they can be moved and assembled by hand so there’s no need for extra cranes or other machinery. It’s an ideal system for buildings or houses where access is restricted.

Home-Style Bricks has over 100 products in its range. This includes commons bricks, load bearing bricks, hollow maxi bricks, and face bricks in a range of six attractive colours. The bricks are coloured with oxide powders during the manufacturing process so that the colour runs all the way through. If the bricks are chipped or damaged in any way the colour remains consistent. Incidentally, cement bricks slowly get harder over 95 years as the cement cures gradually.

Home-Style also produces a range of blocks and breeze blocks as well as a variety of pavers, cobbles and even floor tiles and wall cladding. They produce coping for the top of brick walls, drip stones, window sills, and Dura-wall panels and pillars. Decorative items include pillars and columns, benches and tables for the garden as well as bird baths, plant pots and cement globes. Their impressive range includes ZESA poles, culvert pipes, lintels, slabs, pool copings and concrete sinks for washing outside. This is just a small selection of their products. For a more comprehensive idea of the extent of their range visit their website at www.hsbricks.co.zw where you’ll also find the technical specifications of all their products. Some of their range like the pillars and the breeze blocks are individually cast by hand in fibreglass and steel moulds, so production is very labour intensive. Currently Home-Style offers employment to around 240 people involved in the manufacturing and transport sections, with additional jobs in sales and administration, making them a major player in the construction industry.

From their modest beginnings; their yard now covers five hectares to accommodate their stock and machinery, plus huge piles of aggregates and river sand used in the manufacturing process. Home-Style is conveniently situated right next to Pomona quarry, where they source their aggregate as a by-product from the production of ¾ inch gravel stone. Their manufacturing process requires around 400 cubic metres of aggregate per day; therefore proximity to the quarry vastly helps to reduce their running costs. They also have 10 massive PPC cement silos of onsite which can consume 60 tonnes of cement per day. They have four backup generators when ZESA is not available and 3 boreholes to feed the eighteen 10,000 litre water tanks. The availability of materials, water and power means that their production run is never interrupted.

Home-Style Bricks even have a recycling facility where reject products can be crushed and re-cycled to remanufacture products. Largely due to their size Home-Style Bricks supplies many companies in the Construction Industry, Government and the Private Sector. To find out more you can: Visit: Home-Style Bricks at Pomona Quarry along Alpes Road Email: sales@hsbricks.co.zw Tel: (+263 242) 851 996 / 851 983 Mobile: 0772 232 054 Or visit their website mentioned above: www.hsbricks.co.zw