Anyone who has decided to build his own house is faced with a very difficult question: "What material should I use for construction?" There are plenty of options, but each of them has its drawbacks. For example, building a brick house is quite expensive;
frame-panel construction technology is still very young, so there is no special trust in it; a wooden house has a very long shrinkage period, and the maintenance of such a building is quite problematic. So it turns out that the best option is to build a house from foam blocks.
What are foam concrete blocks?
This material has long occupied a worthy place in the building materials market, and this is not strange, since it has many more advantages than disadvantages. So, foam concrete blocks are made of lightweight cellular concrete, for the manufacture of which sand, cement and water are used, as well as modifying fillers and a foaming agent. The industrial production of foam concrete began in the 30s, and only in the 90s in Russia the construction of houses from foam blocks began to gain popularity. Inexpensive, reliable, fast - three main qualities of this unique material.
The advantages of foam concrete
One of the advantages of foam concrete is its weight: it is much smaller than conventional concrete. The lightness of the material is achieved due to air bubbles resulting from foaming of the solution. Due to its low weight, the construction of a house from foam blocks is much simplified, because there is no need for a massive foundation and the use of heavy equipment in the process of installing foam blocks. The next positive point is the cheapness of this material due to the technology of its manufacture. Therefore, prices for the construction of houses from foam blocks will be lower by an average of 50% compared with the construction of houses made of brick or wood. A very important quality is the durability of foam blocks. Buildings from the mentioned material can stand for more than a hundred years, but provided that the construction work was carried out correctly, and the necessary conditions were observed during the operation of the building. Another advantage of foam concrete blocks is their large size. One standard block (40x30x25 cm) is equivalent to a brickwork of 15 bricks. Thus, building a house from foam blocks significantly reduces labor costs and speeds up the construction process. For example, a small team of builders in a couple of weeks will be able to build a house with an area of 120 m 2 . The simplicity of its laying, processing and cladding, fire safety, environmental friendliness, high heat and sound insulation properties should be added to all these positive qualities of foam concrete.
Cons of foam blocks
With all these advantages of foam concrete blocks, they, unfortunately, are not without some drawbacks. Firstly, the construction of a house from foam blocks limits the number of storeys of the building. The maximum number of floors is 3, and the maximum height of the load-bearing wall is 12 m. Secondly, foam concrete requires additional waterproofing, as it has high vapor permeability, and due to the formation of condensate, the blocks can shrink and deform. And, thirdly, due to the low mechanical strength and unaesthetic appearance of the foam blocks require additional decoration.