One of the most popular materials used for the construction of building envelopes has been brick for a long time. Such building stones are characterized by a high degree of strength. They are made of clay, and therefore are considered environmentally friendly. However, brick has, unfortunately, one rather serious drawback. This material does not protect the interior of the house from the cold.
Today in Russia warm ceramic blocks are gaining great popularity. Such building material is also made of clay, and therefore, is environmentally friendly. Moreover, it is completely devoid of the main lack of brick. Houses made of warm ceramics are very convenient and comfortable.
What is the material?
Such blocks are reminded of a traditional brick only with their red color and rectangular shape. Their structure is completely different. Clay mortar in the manufacture of this type of material undergoes foaming. As a result, the blocks are porous, like aerated concrete.
Configuration
By design, this type of material vaguely resembles a hollow brick. Blocks of this type are not made completely. In their thickness there are many voids of different sections.
Ceramic blocks differ from ordinary bricks and sizes. Their length can be equal to 250-510 mm, and the width of 230-250 mm. Narrower blocks of this type are also produced by industry. Such material is used for the construction of intra-house partitions.
In terms of thermal conductivity, ceramic blocks are comparable to gas concrete, which is popular among domestic developers. Moreover, they are several times higher than this material in strength.
On all external planes, ceramic blocks have ribs. The solution when laying such material is spread only horizontally. There are simply no vertical joints in the walls of houses made of such material. In a row, blocks of this type are connected to each other simply by the principle of a thorn groove. The presence of ribs on the external plane of a building stone of this type greatly facilitates the process of plastering facades.
In comparison with aerated concrete, ceramic blocks have one more definite plus. They are completely not afraid of moisture and are characterized by a greater degree of frost resistance.
How do ceramic houses look like?
In many cases, building insulation from ceramic blocks is not required. Very often, such houses at the final stage are simply finished using plaster and facade paint. That is, they look about the same as private low-rise buildings built from aerated concrete.
Sometimes when using not too large-sized ceramic blocks to erect the external walls of the house, the facades still have to be insulated. In this case, such a building is usually simply clad with clinker or decorative brick on the outside. In this case, expanded clay is poured between the main walls and the cladding or ecowool is laid. Such buildings, of course, look very prestigious and respectable at all.
Pros of buildings
Look at home made of warm ceramics, thus, more than worthy. In operation, such buildings, according to the owners of suburban areas, are also convenient. The walls of such houses can hold heat very efficiently.
Ceramic blocks are nowadays made mainly on modern equipment under computer control. And so they have impeccable geometry. Accordingly, the boxes of buildings themselves, erected from such material, are almost ideal. The walls of such houses, both outside and inside, subsequently look absolutely even when using any finishing materials.
Since ceramic blocks are not afraid of moisture and temperature extremes, they serve for a very long time. It is believed that buildings of this type can be operated for at least 200 years. That is, in terms of durability of a house made of warm ceramic blocks, they are not much inferior to brick ones.
What are the disadvantages
Of course, such buildings have some disadvantages. For example, the foundations of houses made of warm ceramics must be built of concrete of high grades. At the same time, the foundations of such buildings should go deeper. The walls of houses made of ceramic blocks do not weigh too much. But at the same time, of course, they are inferior in terms of brick strength. Therefore, during spring heaving on a not very reliable foundation, such walls can crack.
Building houses from ceramic blocks can be done in regions with any climate. However, in buildings that are too dry, such buildings are still rarely built. In such a climate, ceramic blocks, unfortunately, become very denser over time and become somewhat brittle. This is due primarily to their drying out. Of course, in dry regions, houses made of ceramic blocks do not fall apart. However, for example, hammering nails or dowels in the premises of such buildings can be quite difficult. The material of the walls in this case begins to simply crumble.
Another significant drawback of houses from such blocks is their relatively high cost. In this regard, such buildings are comparable to brick.
Among the indirect disadvantages of ceramic blocks can be attributed, among other things, the fact that extremely low-quality material of this type is often sold on the market today. And although some serious companies that care about their reputation have already started the production of such material in Russia, the risk of running into a fragile, short-lived block is still present.
The project of a house made of warm ceramic: what you should pay attention to
Aerated concrete blocks, as you know, can be used to erect only buildings up to 3 floors high. This is due to the fragility of this material. The same rule applies to clay blocks. With their own hands, only one-story houses of warm ceramics are built from warm ceramics. In some cases, higher buildings can also be built from this material. Sometimes such blocks are used to build 2-3-story cottages.
However, the strength of this material, as we found out, is still much higher than that of aerated concrete. Professional builders build from such material and buildings up to 6 floors, including multi-unit buildings. However, only experimental projects are being implemented in Russia this way today.
Private owners who decided to build a house of warm ceramics, of course, first of all, it is worth taking care of acquiring high-quality material. For the construction of a one-story residential building, the owner of a suburban area can purchase, for example, blocks of this type of brand 50. For the construction of a cottage on 2-3 floors, you will have to buy more durable and expensive material.
Dimensions
Among other things, when drawing up a project for such a house, it is necessary to take into account the fact that only 300-510 mm blocks can be used to erect its bearing walls. At the same time, internal unloaded building envelopes in the building may be erected from a material of 250 mm. For partitions, it is at all possible to purchase blocks of 80-110 mm.
Cost calculation
How much money does it take to build a house of warm ceramics? Foundations for buildings of this variety, as already mentioned, should be built as reliable as possible. The lion's share of the budget for the construction of such a house, therefore, will most likely go away on the basis. The cost of the strip foundation of a building made of ceramic blocks, for example, with an area of 5x4 m, will be about 25-30 thousand rubles for 2018. subject to self-priming.
One ceramic block 300x230x219 mm long costs about 100 rubles. That is, 1 m 2 of such masonry will cost about 2000 rubles. Thus, for the construction of a box of 5x4 m 2 2.5 m high, you will need to buy blocks for 100 thousand rubles.
The opinion of experts
Reviews from owners of warm ceramic houses about their property are mostly very good. As private traders note, in summer in such houses, for example, pleasant coolness is created. In winter, owners of buildings with such walls do not have to spend too much money on heating. The sound insulation level in ceramic houses is also very good.
But what do qualified builders think of such buildings? Reviews about warm ceramic houses from professionals also exist only good. Experts believe that reliable and easy-to-use houses can be built from ceramic blocks. But builders recommend using such material for the construction of boxes of buildings, including low-rise buildings, only after making sure of its quality.
A private trader will be able to build a house of warm ceramics with his own hands, as professionals say. But the owner of a suburban area, in their opinion, first needs to get acquainted with the technology of erection of such buildings, which is somewhat different from the methods of building brick structures.
A high-quality solution for such blocks, for example, can be prepared independently only from special purchased mixtures with polymers. The usual cement mixture will create cold bridges in the masonry and also begin to fall into the voids in the material. Sometimes ceramic blocks are not even laid on concrete mortars, but on polyurethane foam.
The complexity of building houses made of warm ceramic, as well as aerated concrete, lies in the need for careful alignment of the masonry. Stresses in the wall of such a material should not arise. Otherwise, cracks may appear on the masonry.
If the owner of a suburban area has doubts that he will be able to do the laying efficiently with his own hands, he, of course, should nevertheless order a turnkey construction of a house from warm ceramics in some construction company with a good reputation. In this case, he is likely to soon receive at his disposal the most durable and comfortable building.