eng Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture 2328-3998 2021-01-19 9 1 9 12 10.12691/ajcea-9-1-2 AJCEA2021912 article Mathioro Fall mathioro.fall@univ-thies.sn 1 Astou Mbengue 1 Nd¨¨ye Seune Gueye 1 Oustasse Abdoulaye Sall 1 Department of Civil Engineering, UFR SI, University of Thies, Thies, Senegal This study is part of the valuation of local materials in order to build economic, sustainable and resilient housing. The objective is to characterize composite bricks made from a mixture of laterite and straw (rice hull and typha) with proportions between 3 to 6%. These mixtures are stabilized with 1% cement and with proportions of 48.5 and 50% sand. The physical and mechanical characteristics were obtained from water immersion absorption and compression tests, respectively. The results show that the high immersion water absorption and porosity of these composite bricks is due to the low density of typha and rice hull and therefore the durability of these bricks is low. To overcome this problem, the use of plaster is recommended. On the other hand, the compressive strength of all the bricks varies between 2.09 to 3.64 MPa. This resistance falls within the range of admissible values for earthen bricks. These resistances are sufficient to build a two-story house [3,8,10]. http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajcea/9/1/2/ajcea-9-1-2.pdf composite brick laterite rice hull typha compressive strength porosity