Individual construction using foam concrete blocks is gaining momentum. This material has many advantages, for example, low weight and affordable cost. Foam concrete has excellent sound and heat insulation characteristics, large dimensions and can reduce construction time.
In volume, one such product is equal to 18 bricks, which saves time and money on the construction of the building. Foam blocks are easy to process, they can be sawn with an ordinary hacksaw, screwed into them self-tapping screws that are well fixed in this material.
For construction, it is better to choose foam blocks that do not have oil spots and surface defects, the products should be homogeneous. When choosing a material, it is important to take into account its operational requirements, including the use of blocks with certain parameters for the implementation of internal partitions, load-bearing and external walls. In the first case, the blocks must have a brand in the range from D 100 to D 400, and the overall dimensions should be 100 x 300 x 600 mm.
As for the bearing walls, the brand can vary from D 600 to D 1000. Overall dimensions are 200 x 300 x 600 mm. When erecting external walls in areas with long winters, structural insulating blocks with a mark with a marking ranging from D 600 to D 900 should be used. Such products are able to undergo heavy loads and withstand wall cooling.
Design
You can make a project of houses from foam blocks with your own hands. But it is better to take advantage of the experience of specialists in this field. If the width and length are 9 and 11 m, respectively, then on the ground floor can be located: kitchen, dining room, bathroom, hall, vestibule, porch, living room and porch. The area of the latter may be 15.6 m 2 . The dining room will occupy 18 m 2 , while the living room - 29.1 m 2 . The hall, bathroom and kitchen will have 18.2, 3.7, 11.8 m 2 . In such a house there can be two porches, the area of each of which is 10.7 and 5.8 m 2 .
Foundation selection
Typically, in low-rise construction, a tape reinforced concrete foundation is used, which provides good support for large buildings with several floors. This margin of safety is excessive for foam blocks and requires high costs. This indicates that standards should be moved away and a less expensive type of foundation should be chosen.
If you decide to build a house from foam blocks with your own hands, and on the territory there are swampy soil or wet soil, then it is better to use a slab foundation. He will be able to protect the building from seasonal ground movements that are caused by freezing and thawing. Such a base will cost more. For a one-story house, a foundation built using pile-column technology will become a rational choice. It is reliable and has a more affordable cost.
Construction of pile-columnar base
For the construction of pile-columnar foundation, it is necessary to prepare the site, having cleaned and leveled it. Further on the territory, marking of those places where the supports will be located is carried out. In this case, it is important to comply with the mandatory conditions. They consist in the fact that the pillars should be located in the place where the walls intersect with each other. In addition, the step between the piles should be 2 m.
Screwing is carried out in marked places. You can pre-excavate the recesses for pouring reinforced concrete pillars. At the same time, it is necessary to go deeper by 2.5 m. The final value will depend on the climate. At the final stage, piles and reinforced concrete grillage are poured, which will act as a connecting link. On it and the walls are laid out. Pile foundations undergo excellent loads from not too heavy one-story buildings, as well as withstand seasonal movements of the soil.
Wall construction
Before you start building a house from foam blocks with your own hands, step-by-step instructions should first be studied. Wall masonry starts from the highest point of the foundation, because it rarely turns out perfectly flat. In this case, you can align the plane of the rows with a solution. However, this method should not be abused, since the final characteristics of the house will depend on the thickness of the seams. The less this value is obtained, the more durable the building will be, and the construction cost will decrease, as well as heat loss during operation.
In order to exclude the contact of the foam block with moisture rising from the ground, it is necessary to lay a waterproofing layer on the foundation. A thin layer of cement mortar, on which roofing material is laid, is distributed throughout the entire area of the base. When laying sheets, it is necessary to ensure an overlap of 100 mm or more.
If you want to build a house from foam blocks with your own hands, then you need to familiarize yourself with the algorithm for walling. You need to start from the corner. The first product should be horizontally aligned, using a rubber mallet and a level for this. The corners line up to the height of five blocks, then the space between them is filled.
As soon as you finish laying the first row and align it with the horizon, you can proceed to the formation of internal and load-bearing walls using the project and looking at the location of the openings. It is also important to know where the communication lines will go. For their laying in the blocks of cellular concrete, corresponding recesses or holes are made.
Products are easy to process, so it will be easy to do. Before proceeding with the manufacture of the roof, you should tie the walls with a reinforced concrete belt. It will connect the upper part of the walls, making it monolithic. Material cracks even if subsidence occurs. To fasten the Mauerlat on the upper part of the wall, anchor bolts are laid in the reinforcing belt. When building a house from foam blocks with your own hands, you must think through each stage.
Roof device features
As soon as the concrete gains strength, you can begin to work with the roof. To do this, a Mauerlat is installed around the perimeter of the bearing walls. Anchors are used in the process. You will be able to assemble the rafter system by installing the roof rafters. Rafter legs are cut into Mauerlat . A wooden crate is fixed to them.
All elements of the roofing cake are arranged taking into account the selected coating. If you purchased a bituminous tile, then OSB sheets should be laid on the crate to create a foundation without openings and cracks. For a metal tile, an ondulin and a professional flooring nothing will be required, except a lathing. The distance between its elements can vary from 0.3 to 0.5 m. The final value will depend on the type of roofing material.
When building a house from foam blocks with your own hands, you should not think about the number and shape of ramps, since for single-story buildings this does not really matter. The type of roof you can choose at your discretion. The roof should not be too heavy, otherwise there will be a gradual destruction of foam blocks. The roof should be lightweight, so corrugated board is often used as a material.
Features of the installation of ramps and overhangs
When installing the roof, the slope angle and the truss play a large role. If the building will be located in a region with a cold climate, this issue should be approached more seriously. The walls will experience less load, the sharper the angle at which the rafters are installed.
Attic roof device
Raising a house from foam blocks with your own hands, you can supplement it with an attic roof. In this case, square rafters with a side of 10 to 20 cm are used for rafters. A waterproofing is necessarily located between the Mauerlat and the walls.
Structural units are best secured with metal brackets. The tree for structural elements must be well dried and treated with flame retardants, as well as antiseptic substances. When choosing lumber, it is better to give preference to coniferous species, since the influence of humidity on them is the least.
Waterproofing, Mauerlat installation and installation of the rafter system
When erecting a house roof from foam blocks with your own hands, you can use a regular roofing material as a waterproofing between the Mauerlat and the wall. The layer should be located around the perimeter of the walls, it does not need to be fixed. Mauerlat is a wooden beam fixed along the perimeter of the walls. It is strengthened with anchor bolts, their diameter should be 12 mm or more. Holes are pre-drilled under them. The ends of the anchors are bent in the form of a hook to prevent further pulling. On sale you can find anchors with a spacer system. The distance between the fasteners is 15 cm.
Attachment points - at an equal distance between the rafter legs. If you want to build a house of foam blocks with your own hands without experience, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the recommendations of specialists. They mention that the attic roof can have two slopes. In this case, you will need two Mauerlat. As this element, a square beam with a side of 15 or 20 cm can be used.
The skeleton of the roof is the rafter system. All the loads of the type of rain and wind fall precisely on it. It is better to use larch or pine, the humidity of each of which should not be more than 23%. In order to eliminate the negative consequences caused by the multiplication of microorganisms, it is necessary to impregnate the wood.
When choosing rafters, you should pay attention to the fact that they are layered and hanging. If the span between the walls does not exceed 6 m, then you can use layered. When the span is twice as large, layers are used only if additional support is installed.
Hanging rafters are suitable for the case if the span between the walls reaches 12 m. The installation of an additional support is not provided. When building a house from foam blocks with your own hands, you must consider that the distance between the rafters is 60 cm. It is important to ensure that there are holes for installing windows. The rafters for the rafters will have a square section with a side component of 10 cm. The length can be determined taking into account the slope of the ramps and the dimensions of the house.
Do-it-yourself construction of a house from foam blocks involves the installation of floor beams. For this, a board, timber and logs can be used. The first fits on the edge. A certain distance must be maintained between the beams, these elements are installed in the grooves selected in the walls. Their ends are waterproofed with roofing material, which is laid in two layers. After laying the beams, they are additionally fixed with anchor bolts.
Features of the construction of racks
If the roof is supposed to be broken, then for a start it is necessary to erect support racks. They will be located vertically and will be the frame of the walls. Before you start building a house from foam blocks with your own hands, step-by-step instructions should definitely be studied. From it you can learn that the height of the racks will be 2 meters or more. Only then will it be comfortable on the floor.
Installation of vertical posts is carried out in the grooves on the floor beams. Additional fixation is provided by brackets and metal corners. The beam section is selected along the span. The first value will be 100 x 200 mm if the span is 4 m. The distance between the beams is equivalent to 0.6 m. An overlapping beam is located between the posts.
With a previously defined step, U-shaped racks are assembled. Between them, pull the cord and check its level. If the height turns out to be different, then one of the arches should be dismantled. It is then adjusted in height. The racks are connected to each other by bars of the same section.
Masonry foam blocks
If you want to make a house of foam blocks with your own hands, then you need to ask how the installation works are carried out. The solution layer under the first block will be thinner than under the products in other corners. If the foundation is flat, then the choice of the first corner is arbitrary. Corner foam blocks will serve as a guide for further work. This product should protrude 50 mm above the base. The specified indent will exclude the accumulation of water at low tide, which means that the masonry in the lower row will not be destroyed.
The solution to the surface during the construction of the house from foam blocks with your own hands is applied with a notched trowel or carriage. The trowel can also be used, but it does not allow to withstand a certain thickness of the mixture layer, which leads to the inevitable overspending and the appearance of areas without a solution. In the first row, a cement-sand mixture is necessarily used, since it allows you to level the height difference due to a denser layer.
Masonry mortar is applied to the horizontal surface of the row and the side walls of the block. The vertical seam is filled with mortar. If this recommendation is ignored, voids may appear in the masonry. As a result, moisture will accumulate in the seam, and in cold weather this nuance will lead to the destruction of the block.
Cost of houses
If you want to build a house from foam blocks with your own hands, it can be cheaply done if you build a one-story building. When it measures 9 x 11 m, its cost is 1,690,000 rubles. When reducing the size to 6 x 9 m, the price, accordingly, decreases and becomes equal to 990 000 rubles. If your budget is even lower, then you can pay only 680,000 rubles by building a small house with dimensions of 6 x 6 m.
Finally
If you want to do the work yourself, how much a house of foam blocks costs, of course, you should know. Such a building costs on average 20% cheaper compared to a brick house of the same size. House of foam blocks do not need additional thermal insulation, which also provides an opportunity for savings.
Foam blocks are also good because they do not need to spend too much money for their transportation - this primarily concerns loading and unloading. You can even carry out such work on your own. Lightweight cellular concrete acts as a heat insulator, because air is enclosed inside it.