2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 22:24
- Expanded clay concrete blocks in construction
- Expanded clay concrete blocks compete with analogues
- What are the advantages of expanded clay concrete
- Types of expanded clay concrete blocks
- Installation of a partition made of expanded clay blocks
- Mortar for expanded clay concrete
- Foundation preparation
- How to properly lay expanded clay blocks
- Dressing
- Doorway
- Completion of wall construction
- Tongue wall panels
Today there is a wide variety of materials from which durable and high-quality partitions can be built. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, which naturally affects the comfort of living inside a structure built from it. The cheapest way is the construction of partitions from expanded clay concrete blocks, while their cost is much less compared to a foam block and a gypsum block.
The photo shows the most common materials from which it is possible to produce masonry elements of almost any overall size, while they will all have much less weight than the same brick. In addition, when using volumetric blocks, the consumption of mortar for their laying is significantly reduced. Today, one of the most demanded materials that meet all modern requirements, both in terms of environmental friendliness and economy, is a wall expanded clay block.
Expanded clay concrete blocks in construction
Expanded clay concrete blocks are a modern material for construction. Its use can reduce the weight of buildings many times. Such blocks are used as partitions and as independent walls.
Compared to a gypsum block and a foam block, the cost of a partition made of expanded clay blocks is cheaper.
Expanded clay blocks are an irreplaceable material in the construction of residential buildings. Blocks are made of concrete, which is added with expanded clay, which makes the material very light. Expanded clay is porous granules, thanks to which the blocks have many useful properties. For example, they prevent moisture penetration and are also noise protection.
Expanded clay serves as an excellent insulation and at the same time it is considered an environmentally friendly material. Expanded clay, aka "keramos", is obtained by firing clay. For its manufacture, special rotary kilns are used, where, as a result of fast and strong firing, foamy pieces are obtained, the size of which does not exceed 5-40 mm. Keramkhite is not afraid of fire and does not sink in water.
Proven over the years and high resistance of expanded clay to rotting and caking. The claydite-concrete blocks absorb moisture only by 15 percent. Experts note that this is a very high figure. The units also serve as insulation from external noise and have a high steam capacity.
Expanded clay is a natural material (clay), therefore expanded clay concrete blocks are considered an environmentally friendly material. In buildings made of lightweight aggregate concrete blocks, it is easy to breathe and the air humidity is correct. Due to the environmental friendliness of the components, they are called "bioblocks". In European countries, blocks of expanded clay concrete have already proven themselves on the positive side. In Russia, over the past 10 years, many customers have also highly appreciated the use of such blocks. Because the blocks are lightweight, retain heat and protect from cold.
Expanded clay blocks are produced in several ways. In the process of vibratory casting, you can form the desired color and texture of the blocks. There are expanded clay concrete and sand-cement "fillings" for concrete blocks. On modern equipment, it is produced by vibrocompression. Due to the voids, living quarters are protected from low temperatures. And blocks with cladding do not require additional finishing in the future, although blocks with cladding will be slightly heavier in weight due to the use of artificial stone. So the construction of such walls is convenient and saves money and time for construction.
Expanded clay concrete blocks are produced by specialized firms in a fairly wide range. The buyer is offered one-, two-, four-sided blocks. And also during construction, corner blocks may be required, which are presented in many variations.
Expanded clay concrete blocks are a guarantee of fast construction. In general, the new technology allows to reduce the time for the construction of structures by 2 times. Compared to a brick, a lightweight aggregate concrete block of a standard size replaces 5-7 ordinary bricks and has 2.5 times less weight. With this technology, cement costs are also reduced several times. And thanks to the textured blocks, no additional cladding is required. Color options can be very different, from light to dark or dark blocks - at the customer's choice, which meets the individual needs of each customer.
Expanded clay concrete blocks compete with analogues
For example, they are largely similar in structure to ceramic blocks, but due to the profiled ends, they are easily connected to each other. Claydite concrete blocks are no more than 36 cm thick, which makes them indispensable for the construction of single-layer walls. And with a smaller thickness, they can easily be used for the construction of external walls.
Is there a risk of damage to the material and its insulating properties? The answer is no, the mortar does not enter the block due to the sealed holes on one side.
What are the advantages of expanded clay concrete
Expanded clay concrete is the most readily available material today. It can be bought ready-made as separate products, or you can make it yourself. This requires only a vibrating table for high-quality casting. This makes it possible to produce masonry materials directly on the construction site. But in order to save time and money, many people prefer to buy finished products from reliable companies. So, what are the advantages of the material, and what characteristics does it have?
A wall made of expanded clay concrete blocks is very warm and quite soundproof. It possesses this property due to the porosity of the main filler and the block manufacturing technology. The main component is expanded clay granulated. It is a burnt clay slag filled with air bubbles. The presence of such a large number of bubbles indicates excellent thermal insulation properties, as well as the low weight of expanded clay concrete.
Depending on the grain size, expanded clay concrete can change its characteristics. Smaller granules are used to make more durable concrete. It is used for making foundation blocks or for casting it on site. It is also possible to build load-bearing walls and structures from it, but the thermal insulation properties of such a material are lower in comparison with large granules.
Load-bearing walls made of expanded clay concrete in low-rise construction can be built from either a solid block or a hollow block. But in the second case, they turn out to be much warmer due to the additional air cushion in several rows.
Types of expanded clay concrete blocks
So, let's consider what types of expanded clay concrete blocks are used in construction today. The simplicity of the production technology allows the production of blocks of various shapes and sizes:
- straight;
- l-shaped;
- tongue-and-groove;
- simple;
- jumpers;
- crossbeams;
- full-bodied blocks;
- hollow and even reinforced concrete floors.
The range of products is very large and is able to fill any needs in the construction of completely different buildings.
The photo below shows the most common wall blocks for partitions.
Technical characteristics of expanded clay concrete
| Value | ||
| Thermal conductivity | W / m Grad | 0.15-0.45 |
| Volume weight | kg / m 3 | 700-1500 |
| Strength | kg / cm 2 | 25-150 |
| Water absorption | % | 50 |
| Shrinkage | % | 0 |
| Wall cooling duration | hour | 75-90 |
| Freezing cycles | cycles | 50 |
Based on the table, it can be seen that in terms of its parameters, the expanded clay concrete block is similar to the gas silicate block and can be used as an alternative to it.
It is important to remember that during construction, in no case should you combine materials or alternate them, because this can lead to cracking of the wall at the joints due to the difference in expansion parameters during heating.
Installation of a partition made of expanded clay blocks
So, we will consider modern technologies for laying claydite blocks and the construction of partitions from them.
Mortar for expanded clay concrete
But first you need to figure out which solution you need to use for construction. Today there are several consumables that can be used to build partitions:
- Cement-sand mortar. You can cook it yourself, for this, cement is added to the sand in a ratio of 1: 3 and mixed thoroughly, then water is added. For plasticity, an alkali or some kind of industrial plasticizer can be added to the mixture. It is important to sift the sand thoroughly on a fine sieve before mixing. Looking ahead, let's take a quick look at how to put blocks in the mortar. In this case, it is necessary to make a thicker layer of adhesive for a better and more durable partition, but then difficulties arise with the geometry of the structure.
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Types of adhesive mixtures The second, the most common for reasons of efficiency and convenience, is glue. As it can be purchased a factory mixture, sold under the name "glue for laying walls from aerated blocks", but you can also use a mixture for laying tiles. The glue has the same properties and has the same adhesive functions. To figure out how to put expanded clay blocks on glue, just watch the attached video at the end of the article.
Foundation preparation
About how to lay expanded clay blocks, photos and information below will help you understand the process, but first you need to prepare the base. To do this, the installation site should be cleaned of the old mortar, leveled and laid with a waterproofing layer. As it can be any material intended for this. You can level the floor surface using a semi-dry screed.
To obtain a high-quality partition, it is necessary to erect it according to a previously applied markup or use a level. The thickness of the wall blocks can be from 10 cm to 20 cm, depending on the need, while they can be either full-bodied or hollow.
It is important to remember that partitions in apartments or private houses with reinforced concrete floors should be erected only from hollow ones, since their weight is much lower, and accordingly, the load on the floors will be less.
How to properly lay expanded clay blocks
The first row is leveling, so the amount of mortar or glue depends on the requirement for leveling the surface. To control the overall geometry of the entire partition, the lace should be pulled, and to control the vertical surface and significantly speed up the installation, it is recommended to use guide bars. The video clearly shows that they are attached to one side of the partition in level, and this excludes the possibility of blockage.
Today, not only strictly rectangular blocks are on sale, but also tongue-and-groove ones. Due to the presence of grooves and a ridge, they are securely fixed to each other, and thus high-quality geometry of the entire structure. Expanded clay tongue-and-groove partitions are especially popular today, primarily because of the convenience and high speed of installation.
The attached video shows the most common laying of partitions from tongue-and-groove blocks. Here you can trace all the subtleties of installation and possible nuances during work.
The laying of expanded clay blocks for interior partitions is a fairly easy process, because the weight of the blocks is very small, and working with glue is just a pleasure. But it's still worth watching the video tutorial and cementing some of the skills in theory.
Video:
Dressing
After laying the first row, you can start installing the second. It is important to observe the dressing here to achieve the required structural strength. This should be done with an offset of at least ½ of the lower block.
But it is also necessary to carry out dressing with load-bearing walls around the perimeter of the building. To do this, a hole is drilled in the wall at the level of the upper edge of the block, into which the reinforcement is then inserted along with the mortar. The laying of tongue-and-groove blocks is greatly facilitated due to the already existing upper groove, you just need to put a dressing in it, and if a solid block is used, you will have to cut a groove small for the length of the reinforcement using a grinder. Expanded clay is a fairly hard material (fired clay), so you should only cut it with a special stone. This is perhaps the only drawback.
Tongue interior partitions using hollow claydite blocks will be an excellent opportunity to hide the communications of ventilation ducts. By the way, for their construction, there are special ready-made blocks with a square section of void on sale.
In addition to dressing with load-bearing walls, the installation of a tongue-and-groove partition made of expanded clay concrete should be carried out with simultaneous fastening to the floor, if waterproofing was installed. This can be done with perforated plates and anchors. When building a partition on a concrete base without a backing, dressing with the floor can be omitted.
Doorway
Installation of partitions from tongue-and-groove blocks necessarily includes door or window openings, arches and niches. A wide variety of standard sizes of expanded clay concrete blocks allows you to create absolutely any design. But how is the doorway made?
For this, it is necessary to strengthen the extreme blocks. This is not necessary when using corpulent. The extreme section of the block is filled with mortar, then a metal lintel is placed on the opening.
For hollow blocks, ready-made lintels are available for sale that fit perfectly under the block and hide in its structure. The tongue-and-groove partition made of expanded clay concrete blocks must be reinforced inside; for this, thick wire or reinforcement is placed in the existing grooves, thereby creating a reinforced ring around the entire perimeter.
Completion of wall construction
A partition made of tongue-and-groove expanded clay blocks should not line up to the very ceiling. It is necessary to leave an air space of 1-1.5 cm, it should be filled with polyurethane foam. This will eliminate the possibility of damage to the partition due to ceiling vibrations.
Tongue wall panels
In large-scale construction today, tongue-and-groove panels are used for partitions. This not only significantly speeds up the construction process, but also saves the consumption of the adhesive mixture. But when erecting such partitions, you will definitely need the help of strangers. If, in the case of small masonry materials, all the work could be done by one builder, then when building a partition from a tongue-and-groove panel, a whole team of like-minded people will be required.
Installation of partitions made of tongue-and-groove panels allows you to cover large volumes of work in a shorter period of time, while the quality of partitions remains high. One panel can replace up to 20 medium-sized blocks. But they have a standard height of 2.5 m, which indicates the need to adhere to these parameters.
An important feature of the partition made of tongue-and-groove panels is its longitudinal strength and the presence of special channels for laying all the necessary communications.
