Foam concrete is a very practical and cheap material for the construction of private structures: houses, cottages, garages. He has certain advantages. Before you are planning to make foam concrete with your own hands, you need to understand its advantages. First of all, the material is relatively lightweight and inexpensive. Houses built from such blocks practically do not require any additional use of insulation. And the material is an excellent sound insulator, which has good resistance to negative influences.
Another advantage of the blocks is that you can make foam concrete with your own hands. Moreover, the procedure will not cost very much. For work, you need sand, cement and water (for mixing the solution); hardener and foaming agent. A concrete mixer is needed to combine all of these ingredients. Naturally, you will need forms in which you will spread the solution, as well as a place where it can dry.
Do-it-yourself foam concrete production is not a difficult task. The work consists of several procedures: mixing concrete mortar and foaming agent, pouring molds and drying the finished product. During the manufacturing process, the proportions of the components should be precisely maintained. In order to obtain a medium density block, it is necessary to dilute only 4 g of a foaming agent in 1 kg of cement. If heavier blocks are needed, the amount of concrete may be slightly larger.
So, we will consider in more detail how to make foam concrete with your own hands. For the
preparation of concrete , high-quality
cement of the M500
brand should be used. Sand should be fine. Water should be maximally purified from various impurities. Now proceed to the preparation of the foaming agent. In principle, the presented substance can be made independently, or you can buy it in an already prepared form. The mixture should be passed through a foam generator. Only then can it be added to the
cement mortar and mixed well.
Next, you need to make foam concrete with your own hands using a hardener. A few minutes after mixing all the ingredients, the mass can be poured into molds. It should be noted that in this way it is possible not only to prepare individual blocks, but also to build a monolithic structure. The mold can be made of metal or plywood. The easiest option is formwork. But during its construction, attention should be paid to the geometric parameters of the form: they must be very accurate so that the material is smooth. Lubricate the inner walls of the formwork with a special agent that will not contain fat. Thus, you can easily pull out the block from the mold and subsequently cover it with plaster.
Further, the manufacture of foam concrete with your own hands is done by drying the mixture at a temperature of up to 50 degrees. The process lasts about 48 hours. After that, the blocks can be removed from the molds and used in construction, and a new portion of the solution can be poured into the mold.