Each mason movement is performed at a certain speed. An ordinary clay brick weighing about 3 kg or a large foam block of the same mass will be installed in the wall at the same time. But the size of the foam block is eight, or even twelve times the size of the brick, which dramatically increases the speed of masonry. Another important advantage of a light and warm building material is that it requires glue, not a complex solution.
The history of the appearance of foam blocks
In 1923, the Swedish architect John Axel Erickson invented a fundamentally new brick technology for building houses. Experimenting with concrete mixtures at the setting stage, Erickson began to blow air. Inside the mass, the air formed small cavities that never reached the surface. Subsequent tests showed that the resulting material became lighter, its thermal conductivity decreased several times. The decrease in mass prompted the young researcher to make large bricks, which he called cubes or blocks. The size of the foam blocks increased by 8-10 times compared with clay bricks. The idea was worked out in a small brick factory. At first, it did not attract manufacturers, because the price of the new material was quite high, and the product was not attractive to buyers. Only in 1929, Erickson was able to develop a real installation for porous concrete and manufacture equipment for foam blocks. The great depression in those years almost buried the great idea of a talented person. But a year later, the brick factory received a huge order for those times for the production of several million pieces of light blocks for the construction of a shipyard. This order of five million guilders allowed expanding production and starting production of new building material, which began to gain popularity among builders.
Development of domestic scientists to create foam blocks
Similar ideas for creating light bricks were worked out by us. At the beginning of the thirties of the past century, analogues of the Swedish invention were made at the Central Asian State University (Tashkent). V.V. Sablikov proposed a concrete mixture with a low density and high thermal resistance (the work was carried out independently of the Swedes, there was an order for a material that in its properties would be similar to adobe bricks, but more durable and durable). The dimensions of Sablikov's foam block exceeded conventional bricks. At first, the employees liked this idea, they wrote a lot about it, the young scientist was told that they would soon receive a professorship. Several buildings were even constructed from promising material. One of them still exists; for many years now it has been the Museum of Nature of Central Asia. But the machinations of envious people were stronger than logic, Sablikov was convicted under article 58. During the Great Patriotic War, he volunteered to go to the front, then penal battalions were formed from the convicts. In the first battle in 1942, he died. The homeland forgot about the priority for its invention, made about 80 years ago. Our manufacturers of building materials bought the lightweight concrete technology in the USA in the early eighties.
Foam building
In our country, in the middle of the last century, the production of expanded clay concrete blocks began. They already exceeded ordinary clay bricks in their characteristics. But it was not a foam block, it only looked like it. The construction boom using lightweight foam concrete began later. The dimensions of the foam block and its almost perfect shape made it possible to reconsider the technology of walling. Now, instead of cement-sand mortar, a glue was required to bind the individual elements, connecting the disparate parts into a single rigid structure. Many builders greeted the appearance of foam blocks in construction technology with caution. They were confused by the mass of structural material, the relatively large size of the foam block and the price. In order to overcome the doubts of professionals, complex tests of blocks of foaming materials were carried out. The results hit seasoned professionals. Many did not believe the data of strength and thermophysical studies. Representatives of the whole industry, brick production, also contributed their negative opinion to the image of the new material. Indeed, in fact, their traditional building material is losing in all respects, the only characteristic is the price per unit of standard burnt clay brick is lower.
Prospects for foam blocks in Russia
Most of the territory of our country is located in an area with severe winter frosts. The walls of houses need to be insulated or erected so wide that inside the space will be very limited. It’s not necessary to go far for examples, everyone has been to houses where the wall thickness approaches a meter. Only one way out - to use effective insulation, which can reduce the thickness of the supporting structures. According to this indicator, building material with satisfactory structural performance and high thermal resistance will be in demand in construction. The dimensions of the foam block are such that it is not only convenient for transportation over long distances (packaging on Euro pallets), it can easily be moved around the construction site, can be quickly mounted in walls and partitions (especially in partitions, since it does not require additional floor reinforcement), perfectly retains heat and It is an excellent sound insulator.