The construction of any object begins with the preparation of a project and an estimate. And if experts are involved in the calculation of the required amount of materials in production, then when building a private house or other buildings on their own, the developer has to do this himself. How to correctly calculate the number of foam blocks in the construction of a private building from this material? Solving such an important task when building a house or outbuilding is not at all difficult if you know and take into account several important nuances.
Material advantages
Foamed concrete is currently quite a popular material. It is indispensable where it is impossible to use other types of building materials - brick, stone, wood. Foam blocks are used, depending on their brand, to solve different types of problems:
- Construction of ground levels.
- Construction of load-bearing internal and external walls.
- Creating partitions.
- Masonry contour additional layer.
The reason for such a high popularity of foam concrete blocks is their merits. This is:
- Sustainable - blocks are made using sand, cement and foaming agent.
- Heat-saving properties. The porous structure is an excellent barrier to cold and heat, thanks to which the house maintains a stable temperature.
- Resistant to chemical mixtures, fire, temperature changes.
- Light weight, which allows the material to be used for the construction of buildings on unstable soils and not to create heavy, powerful foundations for them.
- Quick styling. Products are much larger than bricks, so the laying of walls will be carried out much faster.
- Easy handling. Foam blocks, if necessary, can be easily shortened to obtain an element of the desired size. In addition, it is easy to create channels in them to lay pipes, electrical wiring and other communications.
Material Counting
To calculate the number of foam blocks for building a house, the following parameters must be taken into account:
- Volume of supporting elements.
- Building area. Specifically, the area of the walls.
- Number of running meters.
Since there are no standard indicators for these measurements, therefore, when calculating, you will have to proceed from the dimensions of the building and the blocks themselves.
Foam block products of different sizes are produced. For external walls, blocks of 20 x 30 x 60 cm are used. Forthe erection of load-bearing walls, they are laid on the edge in rows so that the layer is 2 elements thick. Then the thickness of the walls will be sufficient (40 cm) and will withstand all the loads. If laid out in one layer, the thickness of the wall will be only 30 cm and this is not enough to support the weight of the walls and roof themselves.
Next, it is necessary to calculate the number of foam blocks for internal partitions that are not load-bearing. For their construction, products measuring 10 x 30 x 60 cm are suitable.
Features of calculating the required amount of material
In order to correctly and correctly calculate the number of foam blocks, it is necessary to divide the sections of the building into groups:
- First - load-bearing external walls.
- Second - load-bearing interior walls.
- Third - internal partitions that do not carry any loads.
When choosing a material, it is necessary to take into account the number of storeys of the future building. For internal walls, on which a small load falls, foam concrete products of the D400 or D500 brand are suitable. For a two-story house, you will need to purchase more durable foam blocks - grades D600 or D700. If a three-story building is being built, foam blocks of the D800 and D900 brands are needed.
To calculate the number of foam blocks, divide the object into groups, calculate the parameters of each of them. From these indicators, the area occupied by windows and doors is calculated. Moreover, the doors are both external and internal.
It is necessary to add a certain number of blocks to the received figurefoamed concrete - in case damaged products come across or the cut is made incorrectly and the block does not fit, you will need to use the next one. In other words, there should always be a small margin.
Counting options
There are two ways to calculate the number of foam blocks for construction - by rows and by volume. Each of them has its own advantages. The choice of a specific method is not at all necessary: you can use both and compare the results.
If they match, then everything is calculated correctly, if not, a mistake was made somewhere and you will need to double-check all the numbers. How to calculate using each method? More on that later.
Squaring
To make it easier to understand how to calculate the number of foam blocks per house, it is best to analyze the features of this action using an example. First, calculate the area of the building. The deduction of window and door openings is done later. To begin with, the calculation is performed on the first floor:
- Calculate the perimeter: 8 x 2 + 8 x 2=32 m.
- Divide the resulting figure by the length of the foam block (0.6m). 32 m: 0.6 m=54 pieces
- Calculate how many rows there will be - floor height (3 m) divided by block height (0, 2): 3, 0: 0, 2=15.
- Now the number of blocks of one row is left multiplied by the number of rows: 54 x 15=810 pcs.
Now it remains to subtract from the resulting figure those products that willsuperfluous due to the presence of windows and doors. Since a margin of 8-10% is initially planned, it is possible not to calculate the openings. But for example, it's still worth calculating. If the total volume of windows on the first floor is 20 sq. m, this figure is multiplied by 5, 56 and get minus 111 pieces of the total figure. In the same way, the remaining floors are calculated if the building is classical. If it is planned to build an attic, the calculation will need to be changed by calculating only triangular gables. To do this, multiply the length of the attic (8 m) by the height (3 m) and divide the resulting figure by 2, you get 12 m: 0.6 m=20 pieces per side.
Count by volume
To calculate the number of foam blocks by volume, use the same house size data: height 3 m, perimeter 32 m. After multiplying the data, the volume is 96 m. Now it remains to multiply this figure by 0, 3 - the height of the masonry. It will turn out 28, 8 cubic meters. One cubic meter is 27.7 standard foam blocks. Multiplying by the number of required cubes, you can get an indicator of the required number of products - 798 pieces. This is for the construction of the first floor.
Conclusion
Calculating the number of foam blocks per house is not at all difficult if there is data on all indicators - area, volume, width and height of levels, attic dimensions, dimensions of openings. Thanks to the knowledge of all the numbers, you can perfectly accurately calculate how much material is needed. The stock should not exceed 10-12% of the total amount of material. This will also allow you to find out the amount of funds needed forthe acquisition of material for construction, and the features of its transportation, warehousing and storage.
If you do not want to make any calculations, you can use the calculator on any of the construction sites on the Web or contact the design bureau.
