Compressed stabilized earth blocks are the innovation of building
materials replacing the earth blocks commonly called adobe. Common stabilizers
(cement and lime) have been found to be expensive and harmful to the
environment. Finding a natural, available, environmentally friendly stabilizer
is vital. The objective of this study was therefore to assess the effects of
gum Arabic (GA) as binder on the durability properties of laterite blocks.
Compressed laterite blocks were stabilized with 2% and 6% respectively as total
percentage of binders in the blocks (cement and/or GA). The results showed that
GA improved the abrasion and drop resistances of compressed blocks. It has been
found that the abrasion resistance of compressed blocks increased with the
increase of GA content and the decrease of cement content. For instance, the
mass abraded away of blocks stabilized with cement only was reduced up to
95.18% when GA was used to partially replace cement. As for drop test, the
higher the content of GA the higher the resistance of blocks to drop.
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