Which blocks are better for building a house: characteristics, advantages and disadvantages

The house should be comfortable, reliable and warm. Probably everyone will agree with this. And it is also desirable to be inexpensive and to be built quickly. Oddly enough, but there are such options. One of them is building blocks. No wonder there are more and more of them. But what blocks are best for building a house? Let’s try to figure it out. First, identify key positions for yourself and consider all materials based on them.

How to choose the best building material for your home

In order for the built house to please you, you will have to choose the material for its construction yourself. Why? Because there is no perfect building block. All of them have pros and cons. You just need to choose such an option so that the “minuses” are compensated or are not so important, and the “pluses” are used to the fullest. And the conditions of construction are different. Someone lives in a fairly warm climate, and someone in the north. And everyone has their own “best” house. So even two neighbors can be built from different materials, but each of them will sincerely believe that his version is better.

One usually thinks of a block house because it is faster than using traditional building materials. Speed ​​is speed, but quality characteristics are no less important. And in order to choose them correctly, here’s what you need to know.

• Ground water level. May be important if you are going to build a house with a basement or basement. You can, of course, make high-quality waterproofing of the foundation and good drainage around the house and on the site, but this is a big investment of money and time. It is desirable to do drainage before the start of the construction of walls, in parallel with the manufacture of the foundation.
• The type of foundation and the degree of its “stability”. Some blocks do not tolerate movement, so you need to know how reliable and stable the base will be.
• How quickly the walls need to be built.
  

• Will it be necessary to leave them for the winter, or do you immediately plan to cover them with a roof. It depends on the timing and the budget.
• Can you do the exterior? Not all materials of building blocks calmly tolerate getting wet and they must be immediately covered from rain, snow and frost.
• Whether you want vapor permeable walls or more important is thermal insulation and low heating costs.

As you can see, the list is considerable, but this information is necessary. Without them, it makes no sense to decide which blocks are best for building a house. You simply will not have criteria for selection.

Block types

Block construction is attractive because it takes little time to build. Much less than when using the same brick. But what are the blocks for building a house, how do they differ, what are their advantages and disadvantages. Here is a list of block materials for the construction of external and internal walls.

• Lightweight concrete blocks
  • aerated concrete;
  • foam concrete;
    

  • polystyrene concrete;
  • expanded clay blocks;
  • cinder blocks
• Keramoblock or porous ceramics;
• Pressed cement-sand blocks (solid, hollow and heat blocks).

Next, consider the building blocks, their types and characteristics. We also briefly describe the production process. In some cases, this helps to better understand the advantages and disadvantages of the material.

Lightweight concrete blocks for exterior and interior walls

Lightweight concrete is of two types. One uses light weight aggregate, which reduces the weight of the building stone or block. In the second, the weight is reduced due to porization – the cement foams and solidifies in this state. In both cases, the mass of the building material becomes much lower, and the thermal and sound insulation characteristics are higher.

Aerated concrete blocks

Aerated concrete is a cement-sand mixture to which dry reagents are added to form foam. When water is added, the reagents react with cement laitance, active foaming begins. After increasing the volume, the solution is laid out in molds and waiting for aging. As a result, aerated concrete consists of thin concrete shells, inside which air is enclosed. That is, the block is light and warm, vapor-permeable. He is not afraid of water, but “pulls” it solidly. So you need good waterproofing of the foundation and you should not tighten it with finishing.

Advantages and disadvantages

With rather large dimensions (length 600 mm, height 200 mm, width – from 150 mm to 400 mm), the standard unit weighs a little. The exact weight depends on the brand, but you can work alone with medium density. For example, let’s say that the mass of the M400 wall block 200 mm thick is about 13 kg, and 250 mm thick is about 17 kg.

There are two technologies for the production of aerated concrete blocks. One at a time, the solution is laid out in molds of a given size and then they are used. According to the second, large blocks are made, and then they are sawn into smaller ones. The peculiarity of the second technology is that it allows you to maintain dimensions with high accuracy. This makes it possible to use not a masonry mortar of cement and sand, but a special glue. It can be laid in a very thin layer – literally a couple of millimeters. For what? Yes, because the solution and the same glue have thermal insulation characteristics much worse than that of aerated concrete. Thin seams reduce heat loss. But the glue is expensive, so it increases the cost of construction. But it will be possible to save on insulation.

Aerated concrete is easy to process, it can even be sawn with a hand saw or grooved with a metal strip. On the other hand, it is not so dense that heavy things can be hung on the walls without special fasteners.

Of course, it was not without drawbacks. The blocks are brittle, do not tolerate bending loads. That is, it is better not to build a house from gas blocks on a pile or columnar foundation. Deep slab or tape only. The second point: in order for the walls to be stronger, steel reinforcement is laid in every third or fourth row. Door and window openings are also reinforced, an armored belt is made for the installation of a roof structure. This significantly affects the cost of construction, and the cost of fittings must also be included in the estimate.

Types and varieties of gas blocks

Aerated concrete blocks are autoclaved and conventional hardening. For the construction of external walls, it is better to take an autoclave, as it has more stable characteristics. Such blocks are more expensive and they are better.

Aerated concrete can be not only from cement and sand. Part of the cement is replaced with another binder. As a result, we get blocks from another lightweight cellular concrete:

• lime + cement – silicate concrete;
• ground blast-furnace slag + cement – slag-gas concrete;
• ash + cement + lime = ash-gas concrete.

Of all the blocks listed, silicate concrete blocks are used for the construction of permanent residences. They differ from ordinary aerated concrete in color. Aerated concrete is gray, silicate concrete is white. What does the addition of lime give? Price reduction with a slight decrease in performance. But there is one rather significant disadvantage: lime corrodes steel. In order for the armored belts to remain intact, they are laid in a layer of DSP or polymer reinforcement is used.

Foam blocks for building a house

At first glance, foam blocks are very similar to aerated concrete. The difference is that ready-made foam is added to the mixture of concrete and sand, and not a dry reagent. The mixture is kneaded, put into molds and left to dry. Actually, everything. Very simple. This is the disadvantage. You can also make foam concrete in the garage. But one cannot speak of any stability of the parameters. And the material itself is good.

Advantages and disadvantages of foam concrete blocks

The thermal performance of foam concrete is one of the best. Slightly worse than aerated concrete. Which means that foam concrete walls should be thicker. Is it good or bad? More wall thickness, more mass, more load on the foundation. This means an increase in the dimensions of the foundation and the cost of it, although the material for the walls itself is cheaper. But there is no clear answer that it will be cheaper. We must count.

The worst thermal conductivity of aerated concrete is due to the fact that the walls of air bubbles are thicker. That is, there is less air in the same volume. This has two more “consequences” – higher material strength and greater weight. Higher strength is good. It is already possible to screw a self-tapping screw into the walls of foam blocks, and special fasteners generally hold up with a bang.

More weight is not so good. This is again an increase in the dimensions of the foundation and the need to have an assistant for self-construction. Although when compared with the thickness of a brick wall, it is half as much. So the material is economical.

There is another consequence of the thicker walls of cement – it is more difficult to process. Not to compare, of course, with a brick, but not too easy either.

The advantages of the material include its good soundproofing characteristics, incombustibility, environmental safety. The material conducts steam, but not to the same extent as aerated concrete. But its frost resistance is higher. It absorbs moisture even better, so it also needs finishing.

In addition, foam concrete does not have such an ideal geometry. The size difference can be significant. This means that the laying is carried out only on the mortar and the seam is made thick enough to compensate for the difference in block sizes. Thick seams – a decrease in the thermal resistance of the wall as a whole.

To summarize, this is the picture we get. Inexpensive material, but you need to be sure of the quality. The walls are built quickly, the house turns out to be “quiet” and warm, the wall screws hold it. It is undesirable to leave for wintering without a roof. Finishing is needed, but not immediately after construction.

Polystyrene concrete blocks

Polystyrene concrete is a cement to which polystyrene granules are added, additives to improve workability. The mixture is mixed, water is added, poured into molds until solidified. With this technology, ideal geometry is not to be expected, but the material is easily processed. You can cut with a hand saw. And this is despite the fact that the strength and shape stability are high, the shrinkage is minimal, and the mass is small (even less than that of aerated concrete of the same strength).

Blocks of polystyrene concrete are quite large (15-30 per cube), so the construction is going quickly. Put on a regular solution, you can use glue. It goes in a thinner layer, although it costs more. The minus is typical for all blocks of lightweight concrete – reinforcement is required to increase strength. Some manufacturers may lay reinforcement in the blocks themselves. These are used for laying load-bearing walls. Jumpers are separately produced for installation above window and door openings. They definitely contain reinforcement inside. Due to the solidity, such a jumper works no worse than the corners, which are used as an alternative.

The vapor permeability of polystyrene concrete blocks is average. On par with wood. Thermal conductivity is quite good. For structural blocks with a strength of D400 – 0,15 -0,20 W / m ° C. We are pleased with the good indicators of frost resistance of the order of 50-70 cycles for a material of the same strength grade. Compared to 20-25 foam concrete, this is already quite good.

Disadvantages and features

Minus – a house made of polystyrene concrete block requires cladding. Not for technical reasons, but for aesthetic reasons because of the unattractive appearance. What is good is that it will easily survive a couple of winters without facing, as it has good frost resistance. What type of cladding? The best way out is a ventilated facade, but you can also use plaster. Only here the usual on cement keeps badly. It is required with special polymer additives, and they are expensive. The good news is that the consumption will be small – the wall turns out to be quite even. In addition, you can do without rough plaster. Stuff the mesh, and decorative plaster over it. But it is difficult to say how reliable this type of finish will be. They do it, but there are no reviews.

As a summary. If you want to quickly and inexpensively build a warm house, then polystyrene blocks can be considered the best for building such a house. With one note – you have nothing against the use of polystyrene, and the need to think over the fastening to the walls does not bother you too much. After all, you have to somehow put windows, doors.

Expanded clay blocks

Blocks of expanded clay concrete have been known for a long time. Expanded clay is added to the mixture of sand and cement, everything is mixed, then water is added. The technology for concrete is standard, but with its own characteristics. Expanded clay is fired clay and this type of material is hygroscopic. Therefore, more is required to mix the water solution.

In addition, expanded clay is not well coated with mortar, so a longer kneading time is required. Under production conditions, the problem of the required level of strength is solved in two ways: by autoclaving or by vibrocompression. Without such processing, the material is obtained with lower strength characteristics. And since the technology is simple, often “production” is opened in the garage, and the blocks are simply knocked out of the molds and dried. Moreover, like standard concrete, expanded clay concrete gains strength in 28 days. But it needs space to store it, so it can be sold earlier. If you know about this, you can lay it at home for “ripening”. If you don’t know and immediately lay it in masonry, it may crumble. How to distinguish? Yes for the price. Factory ones are more expensive. But if you need blocks to build a house, then it is dangerous to buy handicraft ones.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantages of expanded clay concrete blocks are similar to those listed above: light weight, large size, good thermal insulation characteristics compared to brick. But solid expanded clay concrete has a lower thermal conductivity than all the materials described above. But it is much stronger. This allows you to make slotted blocks, and they are used for laying external walls. In this form, we obtain thermal insulation at approximately the same level. In addition, voids reduce weight, which is good.

From other pluses. Walls made of expanded clay concrete do not require additional reinforcement, which allows masonry to be done faster. The blocks are better able to withstand bending loads, so the requirements for foundations are not as stringent. Buildings from expanded clay blocks can also be built on a pile or column foundation.

The disadvantages of expanded clay concrete blocks are quite serious. The first and main one is high water absorption (on the level with aerated concrete), so that the exterior finish is desirable immediately. You should not leave to winter without a roof, as it will gain moisture significantly and the service life will be reduced. There is no ideal geometry, but cement-based plasters fit very well and hold securely.

And yet, even with the use of slotted blocks of expanded clay concrete, for most of the territory additional external insulation is required. Due to hygroscopicity, this material is not recommended for the construction of partitions in rooms with high humidity. That is, for the construction of a bath or partitions in the bathroom, it is better to look for another material. And in a private house, in order to avoid eternal dampness, a vapor barrier is laid from the inside. And to regulate the humidity in the room, you need good ventilation.

What conclusions can be drawn? Previously, before the advent of cellular concrete, expanded clay concrete was considered the lightest and warmest material for building a house. Today, it is clearly inferior in terms of these indicators to foam-gas-polystyrene-concrete blocks and has solid shortcomings. Therefore, it is gradually being squeezed out of the market.

cinder blocks

As the name implies, slag acts as a backfill in cinder concrete. In theory, blast-furnace slag is used, which is formed during the smelting of ore and covers the metal. It has a porous structure and does not conduct heat well. That is why it was used to produce cheap blocks for housing construction. But in the days of the USSR, when materials were driven all over the vast, one could hope that in regions where there were no steel-smelting industries, you would really get a cinder block. Today, there is little hope for this – delivery is expensive, which makes the production of such material unprofitable.

So what do we have? The absence of slag in the cinder block. It is replaced with rubble, expanded clay, broken glass, brick battle. That is, they also use “slag”, in the sense of waste, but not blast-furnace. As a result, the characteristics are unpredictable, the thermal conductivity is low, the durability is as lucky.

Even if we compare the characteristics of cinder blocks with blast-furnace slag aggregates, they are not impressive. And it must also be added that its moisture absorption is very high – more than twice as high as that of foam and aerated concrete. And this is at a lower thermal conductivity in a dry state. So it becomes clear that this block cannot be called the best, and it is far from being the cheapest. Blast furnace slag costs a lot. This material is now clearly losing in many respects. For the last twenty years, he has been remembered “from old memory.”

Ceramoblock or porous warm ceramics

This porous ceramic block is produced using the same technology as bricks and from the same materials. The whole difference is that the “body” of the material is not continuous, but consists of voids and ceramic bridges. Such a structure is effective: for central Russia, a porous ceramic wall should be 50 cm. The same wall thickness is also needed from aerated concrete. And additional insulation with such a thickness is not required. That is, the wall will be single-layer, which is much better than multi-layer. And the finish can be made of facing bricks or clinker. Ceramics with ceramics “make friends” without problems. But not everything is so rosy.

Advantages and disadvantages of ceramic blocks

The main advantages were listed – good thermal performance and low (compared to ordinary or even hollow brick) weight. But ceramics are fragile. And thin partitions break and beat easily. When transporting, you can get about 10% of the battle. In addition, cutting off a ceramic block is not so easy. The saw will not help here. Requires other, more serious equipment. Another disadvantage is that special fasteners are required, since only it can be held in thin walls.

Other advantages are the same as those of bricks: natural ceramics, medium water absorption, frost resistance from 30 to 80 cycles, good soundproofing properties – up to 55 dB, which is a very good indicator. In addition, there is such a thing as heat capacity. It shows how much heat a material can accumulate in itself. The more heat he “takes” into himself, the longer it will give back. For houses with permanent residence, it is materials with a large heat capacity that are more comfortable. And in ceramics, it is rather big. Such a wall is a kind of heat accumulator. For a house of permanent residence, this is good, but for a summer residence, visited only occasionally in winter, it is bad. It takes a lot of fuel and time to warm up. So for cottages or baths, this building block is not the best.

It is also worth adding that today the cost of a cube of a ceramic porous block and the cost of autoclaved aerated concrete are almost the same. In some places, aerated concrete is even more expensive. But the dimensions of the blocks of aerated concrete are larger, the consumption of glue and the time spent are less. One can argue about time, since for ceramics the presence of armored belts is not necessary, but it will not be superfluous either. And you can’t argue with the block sizes. And with precise geometry. No, there are polished ceramic blocks that are cut to size. They can be laid with a minimum layer of glue. But such blocks are much more expensive. Nevertheless, with an eye to all the facts, it is worth saying that we all know ceramics. So, ceteris paribus, it is more reasonable to choose it.

All right, but there is one problem. Ceramic block is a type of brick. And according to GOST, non-through cracks are allowed in bricks if they do not affect strength. Solid brick does. The presence of small cracks on one side is not considered a marriage and does not affect the quality of the masonry. But if there is a crack in one of the edges of the ceramic block, it will obviously not be so strong. Second. When one of the faces is broken, it diverges, the sides are no longer parallel. It is hardly worth using such a block in masonry, although technically this is not a marriage.

Pressed cement blocks from sand concrete (besser blocks)

Another type of hollow building blocks is made of sand concrete. The same technology is used to make full-bodied ones, but they have low thermal efficiency. But the wall is practically a monolith, it is difficult to break through it, the bearing capacity is high. But such a house, in order to be warm, will have very thick walls, which will increase the cost of the foundation.

Therefore, the best option is considered a combined building. In the sense that the wall is laid from a solid and hollow vibrocompressed block. The outer layer is full-bodied, the inner one has voids. Thus, the strength of the wall and its bearing capacity are high, and the thermal performance is high. It is also worth mentioning that the technology allows one of the sides of the block to be made “front”, with a smooth surface or under a “torn stone”. Sand-cement vibroblocks are good because you can add dye to them. Everything looks quite decent, and for the price, such stones with the “front” side are only a little more expensive. We just need special forms, but the technology does not change.

The process of forming vibropressed blocks is as follows: a mixture of cement and sand is diluted with water. The solution is poured into molds, which are then processed on a vibrocompression table. That is, the solution is simultaneously subjected to vibration and pressure. This gives it increased strength and allows you to make the walls thin and the voids significant. All this makes it possible to reduce weight, as well as increase thermal performance. This technology has been used in America for a long time. Budget houses are built from such a building block. It’s called a besser block.

Advantages and disadvantages of vibropressed blocks

The main advantage of this technology is the processing by vibration with simultaneous pressure. Concrete stone is very durable and uniform. There are no voids, inhomogeneities, the characteristics and properties are stable, the walls are even and smooth. And this processing gives you the opportunity to control the size. Of all the blocks that are poured into molds, this one has the best geometry.

Further on the properties: high frost resistance – from 50 cycles (up to 300), strength – M100 or higher. The thermal conductivity of hollow blocks is 0,9 W / m² C, which is much lower than required, so either the wall must be thick or it must be insulated. It absorbs moisture, but in small quantities, it is not afraid of getting wet. There are no data on the thermal conductivity of a solid block. It must be understood that they are extremely disappointing.

When building walls from hollow vibrating blocks, reinforcement is recommended. And they do both vertical and horizontal. For the vertical, rods are used, which would be good to connect with releases from the foundation. And the horizontal reinforcement is a metal mesh. This is not a requirement, but it makes for stronger walls.

Of the “clean” shortcomings – a fairly large weight and small size of the stone. This is when compared with blocks of lightweight concrete. Accordingly, the foundation for heavy weight needs a more powerful one, which leads to an increase in the cost of it.

For the price, it’s quite affordable, since the components are affordable, and the vibrating table is not such expensive equipment to greatly raise the cost. In general, quite a worthy option. But no matter how you paint the dignity, cement remains cement. And they build houses from this material infrequently. But often they build fences or use it as a facing stone. By the way, it is often called a “fence” block or Besser.

Heat block

A heat block was made on the basis of vibrocompression technology. This is a multilayer structure, in the middle of which there is polystyrene, and on the sides there is a cement-sand vibrocompressed composition. Moreover, one side is front, painted in mass and, as a rule, textured, and the second is a full-bodied building stone that carries the load. To increase the reliability, the structure is fastened with reinforcing rods.

That is, the heat block is a “three in one” material. Immediately, the wall is being built, and its thermal insulation and decoration. The idea is very interesting and tempting. But, as usual, the novelty raises concerns – how will such a pie behave over time? How secure are these walls? In general, while people are in no hurry, although these blocks are better for quickly building a house.