Do-it-yourself home building requires deep knowledge. It is important to know which material is better to choose, how to work with it and what difficulties may await in the process. The houses from expanded clay blocks are warm and comfortable for living, but when erecting them, it is important that the material is correctly selected in terms of density and strength, the technology of laying walls with your own hands was observed.
Types of blocks
Before you build walls with your own hands, you need to choose the material. It has already been determined that the house is being built from expanded clay concrete blocks, but this is not enough. There are a fairly large number of their varieties, among which a person far from construction will easily get lost. The main classification is based on a joint assessment of two characteristics of density and thermal conductivity.
Based on them, expanded clay concrete blocks for masonry walls can be divided into:
- constructional;
- structural and heat insulating;
- heat insulating.
The first have a density of from 1200 to 1800 kg per cubic meter. They are strong enough, so they can be used to build the wall of a multi-storey building. The density of the material is close to brick (1800 kg / m3), so the scope is approximately the same. Thermotechnical characteristics are also similar, therefore the wall thickness is also equal to 510-770 mm for most regions of the country.
Due to their strength and density, they can be used for DIY laying of bearing walls without fear.
The second group - products with a density of 700-1200 kg / m3. They are the ideal option for the construction of a private house with their own hands. If you build walls from such expanded clay concrete blocks, they will be strong enough for low-rise construction, but at the same time they will have less thermal conductivity than ceramic bricks.
The third category has a density of 500-700 kg / m3. Low density allows you to get quite good thermal insulation performance. The disadvantage of such expanded clay concrete products is the low bearing capacity, since with decreasing density, the strength also decreased. Such blocks are not used for laying bearing walls. They are suitable as the outer cladding of the outer wall and will work as a heater.
It is better to use this type of product together in the second group. In this case, the inner verst from more durable expanded clay concrete blocks will take on the load from the ceiling, roofing, useful and snow, and the outer verst from heat-insulating products will reduce the wall thickness and warm the house.
In addition to the density, expanded clay concrete products are distinguished depending on the number of voids in them:
- block with voidness of 30%;
- block with a voidness of 40%;
- corpulent block.
Product Dimensions
Having determined which products should be used for strength reasons, it is worth paying attention to the thermal protection of the masonry walls with your own hands.
The required thickness determines the expanded clay concrete dimensions of the products.
For DIY laying of expanded clay concrete walls for various purposes, the following recommendations can be made:
- external - the thickness of the blocks is 400 mm;
- internal - 190 mm.
- partitions - 90-120 mm.
It is also worth paying attention to the density of the material, the lower it is, the thicker it is recommended to use blocks for masonry walls.
Construction technology
Building from blocks has several features. You can give the following order of work, after the completion of the foundation work:
- Laying waterproofing along the edge of the foundation. This is a required event. As the material, you can use roll pasting materials with bitumen impregnation, such as roofing material, linocrom or hydroisol. Waterproofing will ensure the safety of two types of materials, different in properties, but in contact with each other.
- The beginning of the laying of the walls of the cap falls on the corners. Blocks are laid on masonry mortar. It is important to remember that cement-sand mortar has an extremely high thermal conductivity and contributes to the appearance of cold bridges. To build a warm house, stock up on jute ribbon. The solution is placed only along the edges of the wall edge, and in the middle a heater is placed, which will prevent heat loss through weak points of the structure. The rejection of such a decision in the direction of less time-consuming and costly simple cement joints with a thickness of 10-15 mm will lead to higher costs when operating a house for heating. Perhaps even the appearance of condensation on the inner surface of wall structures at the location of the seams.
- Masonry is no different from working with brick or foam concrete. Products are laid with dressing (there should be no long vertical seams).
- Every 3-4 rows of blocks, it is necessary to lay reinforcing bars in the seam. There are grooves in the stone for this. For structural reinforcement, two rods with a diameter of 12-14 mm will be sufficient (selected depending on the number of storeys of the house and the rated load). You need to buy reinforcement of class A 400. Due to the surface profile, it adheres well to the solution and has good strength characteristics. You can also perform mesh reinforcement.
- Additional reinforcement must be provided in weakened and heavily loaded places. These include: the row under the window opening, the areas of support of the jumpers, plates and beams. Here, additional rods are mandatory. In places where the beams and lintels are supported, concrete support pillows can be provided for additional reinforcement. For small spans, this event is not carried out, but if you need to block a large aperture or lay a large-span beam, support pillows are provided without fail.
- After the masonry of the floor is completed, it is necessary to lean the ceilings on it. Expanded clay is stronger than foam concrete, but does not have sufficient strength to withstand unevenly distributed loads. Floor slabs are supported only along one edge, due to which there is an eccentricity (the load does not act centrally), which can lead to the destruction of the blocks. To avoid this, in places where the floors are supported, a monolithic reinforced concrete belt is poured. It evenly distributes the load and prevents damage to wall structures. In addition, it increases the rigidity of the building. After pouring the belt, it is necessary to withstand the time to set it with a strength of 70% of the brand. Under normal conditions (+ 20ᵒ C) this process takes 1-2 weeks. Then they lay the plates and go to the masonry of the next floor.
- The monolithic belt is a serious bridge of the cold, therefore it is without fail insulated from the outside. This is done by foam or extruded polystyrene foam inserts. It is better to opt for the second option.
- When the masonry is completed, perform the insulation of wall fences (if such an event is provided) and mount the facade decoration, perform interior decoration work.
Building a building from expanded clay concrete is not a complicated process. It is important only to choose the right products and provide for all additional measures to increase the strength and thermal protection functions.