Construction of foam concrete houses - laying the

12-04-2018

Building

Cellular concretes appeared in the middle of the last century, but in the expanses of our country they began to be widely used only in the mid-nineties. Now every second house is being built from these materials. Build a house of foam concrete with your own hands the task is quite doable, even for a person with basic construction skills. On some of the subtleties of the construction we will talk in this article.

What is the secret of popularity

Foam blocks are often confused with aerated concrete. Indeed, these two materials are visually similar and both belong to porous concrete. But aerated concrete gets wet a lot, so it's harder to build from it.

Also an important factor is the price; foam concrete is much cheaper than a gas silicate block.

The foam block is made by mixing cement-sand mortar with water and adding foaming additives.. The result is a lightweight porous material that absorbs water by no more than 10%. As a result, the houses are not raw.
The material is an excellent heat insulator.. Such blocks consist of 80% of the air contained in small bubbles. The air is known to be considered one of the best heat insulators. The cost of heating such a house is 30% less than a brick building. For the same reason, the house has a unique sound insulation.

By the ability to absorb and give moisture foam can be compared with a treetherefore, there will always be an even and comfortable microclimate in such a room.
As mentioned earlier, the installation instructions for these blocks are simple and accessible.. With large sizes, they have a relatively small weight, so the technology of building a house of foam concrete resembles a designer's assembly.
This material is considered to be absolutely environmentally friendly.. It does not contain any impurities harmful to humans and remains neutral with temperature drops.
In the event of a fire, when exposed to high temperatures, the blocks do not lose their geometry, do not fall apart and do not become covered with cracks. The box remains intact.
As with every material there are disadvantages here.. These blocks cannot boast of a brick fortress, of which it is impossible to build a high-rise building. Foam concrete is more suitable for the construction of private cottages with a height of not more than 12 m.

Construction issues

Naturally, the first thing to know is the amount of material. Like aerated concrete, the number of blocks is measured in cubic meters. From here you need to multiply the total area of the walls by the thickness of the masonry.

Foundation laying

Construction of any house begins with the foundation. Foam concrete material is lightweight, so an excessively strong foundation will not be required. But this does not mean that you can save on the foundation.

On this part of the house is better not to save.

The type of foundation is selected depending on the climatic zone and the condition of the soil on the site. So for wetlands, usually used columnar or pile foundation. At the site with close groundwater, it is better to equip the slab. But most often, a strip foundation is laid.
The depth of laying concrete monolith is 20-30 cm below the level of soil freezing. Add to this another 20 cm sand-gravel pillow. Above the ground level, the monolith should rise not less than 50 cm. The width of the fill should exceed the wall thickness by 100-150 mm.
Special attention should be paid to the reinforcement cage. Longitudinal rods should be 10–16 mm thick. The thickness of the transverse strapping ranges from 6 to 10 mm. The frame can be welded or tied with strapping wire.

Important: for the docking of the reinforcement cage in the corners, pre-prepared rods 2–3 m long and bent in half at the required angle are used. If the corners of the reinforcement to bind or weld butt, then the angle can break.

Do not forget that the structure must stand and gain strength. So the shallow-buried and columnar foundations last at least 6 months. More massive structures can stand up to 2 years.

Stacking blocks

Next, we turn to the question of how to build a house of foam concrete with your own hands.

Between the foundation and block masonry should be a strip of well-tarred roofing material in several layers.

Laying the first row begins with the corners. Further along the level, the rope is stretched between the corner blocks and the whole row is laid.

Important: Experts advise that the first row should be laid on the foundation with a cement-sand mortar with the addition of lime. The subsequent laying is done on a special glue. Theoretically, you can lay the whole house on the cement-sand mortar, but the insulation will fall by 30 - 50%.

Since the blocks have a geometrically regular shape, they are almost perfectly adjacent to each other. Therefore, the thickness of the seams ranges from 3 to 5 mm. Glue is applied using a special spatula with a jagged edge.
Foam concrete material is soft; here you will not need to cut reinforced concrete with diamond circles or diamond drilling holes in concrete. You can cut with a regular hacksaw or a chainsaw. Irregularities are cleaned with a plasterboard or sander. (See also the article Grid for concrete: features.)
When building a house of foam concrete, the whole structure must be reinforced. To do this, after installation, with a special wall chaser or with the help of a simple grinder and chisel, several 30x30 mm grooves make their way from above. Grooves are filled with glue and fittings are recessed in them.

From the outer edge of the first groove should be at least 60 mm. The belt fits around the perimeter after the first row and then at intervals of 4 to 5 rows. Angles and turns are made of bent reinforcement. Above the windows and doors, the blocks are laid on rails from a corner of 50-100 mm. The corner should go into the wall at least 50 cm.
In the area of interfloor overlappings and when installing the roof, the technology of building a house of foam concrete provides for the installation of a reinforced concrete belt around the perimeter. It is done a little narrower than the thickness of the wall and lined with finely cut foam blocks.

Facing the house

Finishing such a box is necessary, because after a couple of seasons, the outer layer will crack and begin to crumble.

Plus, the structure of gray can not be called very attractive.

Diagram of the wall option of foam concrete.

If we talk about plastering the building, then to ensure proper vapor permeability, the outer layer of plaster should be twice as thin as the inner one. Compounds for this purpose are used special, intended for cellular concrete.
More durable will impose a house facing bricks. And fill the gap between the wall and the brickwork with insulation. By the same principle it is possible to warm and revet the facade of the building with siding. (See also the article Heater for concrete: features.)
But the easiest and fastest way is to veneer a house with extruded polystyrene foam or foam. At the same time, reinforcing mesh is piled over the insulation and plastered.
Inside the walls are plastered or sheathed with drywall. The gap between the drywall and the wall is insulated with mineral or glass wool.

The video in this article gives some tips on building a house of foam concrete.

Conclusion

As for how much a house is built of foam concrete, then of course a lot depends on the cost of transportation and the number of floors of the building. On average, the one-story building 9x6, with an area of 54m? costs just over 1 million rubles.

House 9x9 with an area of 76m? will cost about 1.4 million rubles. In any case, it is cheaper than building from bricks or natural wood, with the same quality.