Foam concrete blocks do-it-yourself: production and laying

Is it difficult to make gas-foam concrete blocks with your own hands? What components and in what dosage are used in production? What auxiliary equipment is useful for their manufacture? What is the technology of masonry foam concrete blocks? Let's figure it out.

What it is

The composition of foam concrete blocks is quite common for building materials - filler (sand) and an astringent (portland cement). There are no special delights in the choice of raw materials: any sifted fine river or sea sand will do; cement brand M400 will be on sale in any hardware store.

Nuance: the lightest brands of foam concrete can be made without the addition of sand, from only one cement stone.

However, the same composition has any masonry or plaster solution. What are foam concrete blocks? How do they differ from ordinary concrete?

Dear reader, you blew soap bubbles in your childhood, didn't you? And, probably, noticed that they are quite durable. A bubble disappears when its shell loses a substantial part of water due to evaporation.

Now imagine that not a soap solution was foamed, but cement milk with the addition of surfactants. Evaporation of water with a sufficiently large amount will be reduced to a minimum; the presence of cement means that the process of its hydration will start in the foamed mass - turning it into a durable cement stone.

At the same time, the cavities in the foam mass will not go anywhere - after the material is cured, they will improve its insulating properties.

Instructions for the independent production of foam blocks can be divided into several basic steps:

1. We need to prepare a cement-sand mortar.
2. Then he will have to foam. In artisanal conditions, the easiest way is to add ready-made foam to the solution and mix the resulting mass thoroughly.
3. Foam concrete is poured into molds during setting, after which it gains strength during storage..

Training

What is required for handicraft production?

Equipment

crazy hands

Let us give a few tips to the most economical readers.

1. Inexpensive and productive foam generator can be built on the basis of an air compressor. All that is required from the device is to add water to the air jet with the foaming agent.

1. The form is easy to assemble from thick plywood. With a thickness of 15 mm, the sheets can be pressed against each other with pre-drilled holes for the screws. All the details of the form are pre-impregnated with drying oil heated on a water bath.

Raw material

So, we need cement, sand, water, and a foaming agent. If how many foam concrete blocks are in 1 m3 depends only on their size (blocks for external walls are made about 20x40x60 cm in size, but foam concrete blocks for partitions are not more than 150 mm thick), then the raw material consumption per cubic meter can be estimated in advance.

What does this mean in terms of costs? If the cost of a foam concrete block predictably depends on its size, then the cost of a cubic meter at current prices for cement will be about 1,500 rubles, which is twice cheaper than factory-made blocks.

Where to get a frother? It can also be made independently.

At 100 m3 of foam concrete you need:

• Gum rosin - 6 kg.
• Caustic soda - 1.6 kg.

• Joiner's glue (bone) - 6,3 kg.

How is a foam additive prepared from these ingredients?

1. An aqueous solution of caustic soda (1.17 kg / liter) is boiled with the gradual addition of crushed rosin until it is completely dissolved.
2. The ground glue is soaked for a day in 10 parts of water per 1 part of glue; then the mass is heated in a water bath and stirred until complete dissolution.
3. Both solutions at a temperature of about 60 C are mixed until a homogeneous mass.

Technology

Production

There are no subtleties here:

1. Sand is kneaded in a concrete mixer with cement and a small amount of water to obtain semi-dry dough.
2. With continuous mixing, foam is supplied to the concrete6.
3. Homogeneous porous mass is poured into shapes and compacted by bayonet or vibration.

Nuance: it is better to lay wooden forms (even proolithic) with polyethylene. In this case, the seized foam block is much easier to remove.

1. After setting for 12 hours, the blocks are laid out in a covered room for further strength development.

Masonry

How and what to put blocks - foam concrete and gas concrete?

• The first row is placed on the leveling pad of cement-sand mortar in a ratio of 1: 3. The thickness of the pillow is about 20 mm.
• Subsequent rows are put on the glue for cellular concrete. Glue is applied with a trowel and leveled with a notched trowel. Seam thickness - 2-3 millimeters; Tying vertical seams and applying glue to vertical surfaces are required. To fit the blocks used rubber mall.

Conclusion

We hope that these recommendations will help the reader to save money during construction. One should not forget, however, that handicrafts produced will have a low strength and a wide variation in characteristics from batch to batch. As always, the video in this article will offer additional thematic information. Successes!