Probably everyone dreams of their own home. But due to various circumstances, it is often not possible to acquire private housing. If you can’t buy a house, then you can build it. With new construction technologies, it is now possible in a relatively short period of time to build a house from gas blocks with your own hands. Such buildings are durable and will last their owner for many years. At the same time, the building will not lose its operational characteristics.
The process of building from aerated concrete blocks is by no means easy and simple. However, when compared with a brick or a rounded bar, the amount of effort that will need to be applied is much less. How to make a house of gas blocks with your own hands? Step-by-step instructions will be discussed in our article.
Material characteristic
Aerated concrete blocks are a relatively new and technologically advanced building material. It is designed to create walls in low-rise residential buildings. Blocks are made of quartz sand, as well as cement with the addition of lime and water.
Under pressure and under the influence of high temperatures, bubbles form in this mixture. After the mass hardens, a block with a porous structure is obtained. This production technology allows us to produce a large volume block. At the same time, it will be lightweight and durable.
Material benefits
Among the advantages are good heat and sound insulation characteristics, resistance to low temperatures, strength, and density. The block is very light - this is an important advantage, since there will be no large loads on the foundation. The size of one element is much larger than a standard brick. This greatly speeds up the time spent on construction. At cost, a house made of gas blocks, created with your own hands, will come out much cheaper than if the building was erected from traditional materials. This is due to the relatively low prices for aerated concrete blocks due to the high popularity of this building material. Also among the advantages can be identified high fire safety. The construction of aerated concrete is the least susceptible to fire and ignition.
If the block has the correct and beautiful shape, and they fit professionally and accurately, then the resulting wall can not even be finished. This will give the building the opportunity to "breathe." Aerated concrete due to pores is characterized by high vapor permeability.
Preliminary preparation
Before you build a house from a gas block, you need to determine a suitable place. Then you need to prepare all the necessary documents. This is the design and estimate documentation, which should already be certified by local authorities. Next, you need to order and conduct geodetic work, install fences, determine the point of zero horizon and summarize all communications.
After all the documentation is completed and received, you can begin work on the layout of the site. If the fence is already installed, then lighting should be installed, as well as the installation of scaffolding.
Acquisition, transportation, storage of gas blocks
It is not difficult to acquire this building material. Simply find the suitable manufacturer and place an order with its delivery directly to the site. But there are nuances. Not all companies involved in the delivery of building materials are ready to go to remote places with bad roads. In this case, you will have to find the transport yourself. For those who decided to start building a house from a gas block (photo of examples in our article), this should not be a big deal.
Aerated concrete is often delivered on pallets. Blocks are securely packed in plastic wrap. When storing these building materials, excess moisture can accumulate inside and damage to the structure is possible. It is best to place materials on a construction site under a canopy. It is advisable to unpack only those that will be used in the work. Pallets can be stacked. But you should not allow such an installation in more than two rows.
Amount of materials for construction
So, when you have all the project documentation on hand, you need to determine how many gas blocks are needed per house. Don't get too much. There are certain difficulties associated with storage. It is necessary to calculate how many cubic meters of materials will be needed. For example, take walls 10 meters by 8 meters long. You need to calculate the perimeter. This is 10 + 10 + 8 + 8 = 36 m. The height of the wall is 3 m. So, 3 * 36 = 108 m 2 . This is the area of all the walls.
Blocks are offered in cubic meters. To calculate how much building materials will be needed to build a house from gas blocks, you need to multiply 108 by 0.3. This will be the thickness of one block. As a result, you need 32.4 m 3 of materials. This amount is for the construction of exterior walls only. Internal walls are calculated in the same way.
Foundation and ground floor
Next, you need to fill the foundation with your own hands. Gas block houses are not heavy, but the surface must withstand the load on the ground. You can either fill in a concrete slab as a foundation or use a strip foundation, which is more preferable for small 1-2-story buildings.
What it is? Monolithic strip foundations are a concrete-based mixture with enhanced strength characteristics. Additionally, the structure can be reinforced with rigid metal pins with a diameter of 15 mm. They fit in two layers. If the construction site is located at a place where the groundwater level is elevated, or on heaving soils, then the best solution in this case is a foundation with a monolithic grillage.
Before starting serious work on the arrangement of the foundation, it is necessary to thoroughly clean and align the place as much as possible. For a small 1-2-story house, a foundation of 2 m in depth will be enough. The trench should be around the entire perimeter of the entire future construction. It is important to calculate the required amount of concrete. When everything is ready, fill in the material and after complete solidification we build a house from a gas block.
What to choose for fixing blocks
There are two options for fixing aerated concrete products. This is a special glue or cement mortar. Both options have certain pros and cons.
Using glue, you can get the right joints. The masonry will come out very smooth. But during operation, the glue will release toxins into the atmosphere, and at a cost it will come out more expensive than a solution. As for cement mortar, working with it is more time-consuming, because you have to monitor the evenness of the walls. But in the case of a solution, error correction will be easier than with glue. Also, if we build a house from a gas block with our own hands on a mortar, then there are no strict instructions for kneading. Usually a mixture is made in a ratio of 3 to 1 (parts of sand and cement, respectively). Then water is added and it all mixes up.
Features of walling
Aerated concrete blocks have one important feature - they are lightweight. Therefore, the solution or glue will not be squeezed out under the weight of the material and, accordingly, will not leak from the seams. This greatly speeds up the process of laying walls. It should be noted that the use of a special tool is required to work with this building material.
For the construction of a load-bearing wall, it is recommended to use blocks whose size is from 375 to 400 mm. If an interior partition is laid, then the width of the product can be no more than 250 mm.
We stack the first row
So, if we build a house from a gas block with our own hands, then the construction process of the first row should be approached very responsibly. Before starting work, it is necessary to carry out waterproofing. The first row of experts recommend laying only on a cement-sand mortar. Masonry begins with the highest angle of the future home. At the ends of the block there is a groove and a comb, so there is no need to connect the elements with glue.
A cord is pulled along the first row to control the evenness of the masonry. If necessary, the blocks are leveled with a rubber mallet. If during the laying process a gap is formed, the length of which is less than one block, then a special additional element is made. To implement a file, use a hacksaw, an electric saw and a square. The end surface of this additional block must first be coated with a solution or glue. The glue, which is necessary for
laying blocks of aerated concrete, is selected for thin joints. Its consistency should resemble sour cream. Apply the mixture with a special tool. After - level it on the surface of the building material with a spatula. The first row is laid, and we further build a house from gas blocks with our own hands. Then the instruction recommends wiping all the resulting bumps with a special grater. Further, dirt and dust are removed from the surface of all blocks. This process is repeated after each subsequent row. It is important that each new row is stacked with a slight offset of 8-10 cm. Residues of the solution should be removed with a trowel. The second row must be laid approximately one to two hours after the first. To protect the walls from moisture, the finished areas are covered with plastic wrap.
Reinforced aerated concrete jumpers are suitable for use only when creating door and window openings. They are installed using a special wooden device. The thick part of the U-shaped block is located on the outside of the building. In the cavity of the block, a frame of reinforcement is installed. Then this cavity is poured with fine-grained concrete.
When the internal walls will be built, hydro and sound insulation is mandatory. It should also be borne in mind that every second row of the inner wall must be connected to the supporting wall with anchors or brackets using a perforated band.
Any residential building made of gas blocks (made with your own hands or with the help of professional builders, does not matter) will be subjected to various loads during operation. This is the sedimentation of the soil, winds, temperature differences. To avoid deformation, the masonry should be reinforced. Consider how this is done.
Reinforcement: how to do it. Expansion joints
The strobes are cut, then the resulting recesses are cleaned of dust, and then reinforcement is placed in these recesses. After everything is poured with a solution.
To avoid cracks, make expansion joints. Often they are located in places where the gap or the height of the walls changes. These seams are made between walls, the temperature of which can be different. Also, a deformation seam is needed where the gas blocks will be connected to other materials in unreinforced walls. The seams should then be sealed with a film of polyethylene, mineral wool. Both outside and inside are subsequently treated with special sealants.
Overlappings and inclines
As a support for floor slabs, a reinforced belt is used. The joints that will be obtained between the plates should be filled with mortar. The outer ends are closed with axle beams.
Concrete slabs with many voids in them are suitable as overlappings. But also on sale there are analogues of aerated concrete. The latter have high bearing capacity, refractoriness and low thermal conductivity. These slabs are acceptable only if between the load-bearing walls less than 6 m. This slab should be supported by a reinforced concrete distribution belt. If a house made of aerated concrete with your own hands is built competently, then you can avoid the bridges of cold. Windows, roof and foundation are insulated using standard technologies. As for inclined surfaces and openings with complex shapes, they can be easily made with a saw. This is easily explained by the fact that blocks of aerated concrete are very easily sawn and drilled. All mounting holes are drilled with a drill and a special cutter. Stroborez easily cope with the creation of grooves for wiring.
Roof
The roof for the house from gas blocks can be any - you can make a single, gable, attic, hip and others. The latter type is the best choice for residential buildings.
Regardless of the design, the roof must be necessarily equipped with hydro-, heat- and vapor barrier materials. In some cases, when arranging a residential attic, an additional noise insulation material is installed. On top of the rafters, waterproofing is fixed. It is much more convenient to do this with the help of long rails. The latter will perform the function of counter-lattice. Under the insulation between the slats put insulation. Then the thermal insulation layer is closed with a vapor barrier film. Dale is laying the final roofing.
Finishing work
A residential building from a gas block with their own hands is almost made. It remains to complete the necessary finishing work, to carry out the communications necessary for a comfortable life, to install windows and doors.
Works on the decoration of facades can only begin when the installation of the roof and curtain rods is completed. Preliminarily, the surface is leveled, and the chips are filled with a solution. As a material, you can choose anything. Fortunately, the modern market offers a lot of options for textures and colors.
Conclusion
So, we figured out how to make a house out of gas blocks with our own hands. Step-by-step instructions will help in carrying out construction work and will save you from gross errors.