STRUCTURE AND SCHEME OF THE EXAMINATION

The Examination shall consist of three (3) papers, all of which must be taken.
Paper 1 shall consist of forty (40) multiple choice questions for 40 marks and shall last for 45 minutes.
Paper 2 shall be an essay paper consisting of 5 short structured questions, 4 of which should be answered in 1 hour for 60 marks.
Paper 1 and 2 shall be a composite paper 1 hour 45 minutes duration for 100 marks.
Paper 3 (Practical) shall be of 3 hour duration for 100 marks. This shall be a work piece involving laying of total number of blocks not exceeding 30 and where the work piece is made of bricks only, the total number of bricks shall not exceed 100.
When is a combination of bricks and blocks, this shall not contain more than 20 blocks and 40 bricks. (i.e. in composite walling). Council may consider testing candidates using the alternative to practical (in lieu of real practical) in the event of constraints of requisite facilities. In that case, the paper shall be a test of knowledge of practical processes, techniques in blocklaying, bricklaying and concrete work as well as safe practices inthe workshop.

DETAILED SYLLABUS

 S/NO. CONTENT NOTES      1. Workshop and site safety (i) Various safety rules at work site.    (ii) First aids.    (iii) Purpose of safety.    (iv) Safety regulations (scaffolding, electrical,    installations, etc)    (v) Protective wears.    2 Basic tools and equipment (i) Identification of basic hand tools for    blocklaying, bricklaying and concreting    including site preparation and levelling tools,    finishing tools.    (ii) Sketching of basic hand tools.    (iii) Uses of basic hand tools and equipment.     (iv) Simple maintenance of basic tools and    equipment.   3 Site preparations and setting - (i) Tools and equipment used for site    out preparation.    (ii) Clearing of building site.    (iii) Methods of setting out.    (iv) Setting out tools and materials.   4. Manufacture, application and (i) Manufacturing processes of blocks and    properties of blocks and bricks. bricks.    (ii) Types of bricks and blocks    (iii) Materials used for blocks and bricks (sand,    lime, cement, clay, laterite and water).   5. Concreting materials (i) Various constituents of concrete    (ii) Cement – Types of cement    (iii) Definition of Fine and coarse aggregates    and their differences.    (iv) Storage of concrete materials.   6 Formwork for (i) Functions and functional requirements of    construction work. formwork.    (ii) Materials used for formwork.    (iii) Advantages of steel and timber formworks.    (iv) Construction of formworks for concrete floor    slabs, beams, columns, arches lintels and    staircase.    (v) Erection and striking of formworks. 7 Concreting operations (i) Mix proportions. (Cement - aggregate ratio;    water-cement ratio).    (ii) Stages in concreting (Batching, mixing,    transporting, placing, curing).    (iii) Methods of transporting wet concrete.    (iv) Testing of concrete.    (v) Properties of concrete.    (vi) Methods of making construction joints in    concrete elements. (Beams, columns,    concrete roofs and slab).    (vii) Need for concrete reinforcement.    (viii) Methods of reinforcing concrete elements    (ix) Types of steel reinforcement bars.    (x) Casting and curing of concrete structures    (in-situ and precast concrete).    8 Basic principles of (i) Types of soil.    substructure construction work (ii) Definitions of site and soil investigation.    including ground floors (iii) Definitions of bearing capacity of soil.    (iv) Definition of foundation, types and uses.    (v) Definitions of ground floors, types, uses and    construction.    (vi) Materials for d.p.c. and d.p.m.    (vii) Differences between d.p.c. and d.p.m.    (viii) Methods of placing and positioning d.p.c. in    walls.   9 Upper floors (i) Functions and types of floors.    (ii) Methods of floor construction.    (iii)   Types of flooring and their applications.      10 Walls (i) Functions and types of walls.    (ii) Walling materials.    (iii) Common bonds in brick/block walls.    (iv) Mortar (types, mixing methods and ratios).    (v) Differences between pointing and jointing.    (vi) Types of pointing and jointing.  11 Openings in walls. (i) Functions and types of openings.    (ii) Materials used for lintels, beams, and arches    (iii) Windows and doors    - functions and types of windows and doors.    - materials for windows and doors.    - methods of fixing.    (iv)   Ironmongery for doors and windows.      12 Stairs construction (i) Types of stair.    (ii) Construction of a straight flight stair.   13 Scaffold and scaffolding (i) Types of scaffolds.    (ii) Scaffold components.    (iii) Hoisting equipment.    (iv) Safety regulation.   14 Finishes (i) Types of finishes.     (ii) Types of finishing materials.    (iii) Characteristics of finishing materials.    (iv) Uses of finishing materials    (v) Care and maintenance of finishes.   15 Construction of (i) Principles of good drainage system.    drainage system. (ii) Types of a drainage system.    (iii) Differences between a sewer and a drain.    (iv) Simple sketches of septic-tank; soakaway    pit, inspection chamber, manhole and    cesspool.    (v) Surface drainage.    (vi) Method of laying drain pipes to a specified    gradient.   16 Kerbs (i) Functions and types of kerbs.    (ii) Materials used in production of kerbs.    (iii) Methods of laying precast concrete kerbs.   17 Business opportunities (i) Opportunities in building industry.    in Building (ii) Procedures for establishing businesses in    the industry.    (iii) Requirements for managing construction    business    (iv) Estimating the cost of construction jobs.    (v) Principles and techniques of Book-keeping.  
   LIST OF TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT   TOOLS EQUIPMENT   1. Internal angle trowel 1. A complete set of scaffolding,    fittings and scaffolding pipes   2. External angle trowels 2. Block moulding machines   3. Pointing trowel 3. Buckets   4. Hand trowel 4. Concrete mixer   5. Block axe 5. Concrete vibrator (Poker and    clamp-on)   6. Boat level 6. Gauge box   7. Bolster 7. Manual hand mould   8. Club hammer 8. Hand rammer   9. Builders square 9. Hand sieves (various sizes)   10. Brick hammer 10. Headpan    11. Cold chisel 11. Levelling instrument   12. Corner blocks 12. Measuring tape   13. Folding rule 13. Pick axe   14. Gauge rod or rule 14. Slump test apparatus.   15. Hawk 15. Tyrolean machine   16. Joint duster 16. Water hoses and roses   17. Jointers 17. Wheelbarrow.   18. Jointing board/caulking board 18. Terrazzo grinding machine   Line and pin Mason’s hand saw 
21. Metal float 22. Plastering trowel 23. Plumb rule and bob 
24. Builder’s line 25. Spade 26. Shovel 27. Claw hammer 
28. Gauge lath 29. Pointing tools 30. Pointing trowel 
31. Range. 32. Spirit level. 33. Steel square 34. Straight edge 35. Skutch 36. Square and bevel 37. Tingle plate 38. Wire brush 39. Wooden float. 

SUGGESTED READING LIST

S/NO. TITLE OF BOOK AUTHOR PUBLISHER   1 Barry’s introduction to construction of Stephen Emmett Blackwell    Buildings and Christopher A Publishing.   2 Building Technology Ivor H. Seeley Palgrave   3 Building Construction, Mckay Longman    Volumes 1 – 4   4 Principles of construction Roger Greeno.   5 Advanced Building Construction C. M. H. Baritt. Longman    Volumes 1 & 2    6 Construction Technology Volumes 1 R. Chudley. Longman    – 4   7 Building Construction for Senior L. A. Adesokan and Ilesanmi    Secondary Schools. Volumes 1 – 3 M. O. Adeniyi.   8 Blocklaying and concreting Industrial M. O. Obande Longman    Crafts Series   9 Brickwork Volume 1 – 3 W. G. Nash