Probably everyone dreams of their own home. But due to various circumstances, it is often not possible to acquire private living space. If you can't buy a house, then you can build it. With new building technologies, it is now possible to build a house from gas blocks with your own hands in a relatively short period of time. Such buildings are durable and will serve their owner for many years. At the same time, the building will not lose its operational characteristics.
The process of building from aerated concrete blocks is by no means easy and simple. However, when compared with a brick or rounded timber, the amount of effort that will need to be applied is much less. How to make a house from gas blocks with your own hands? Step by step instructions will be discussed in our article.
Material specification
Aerated concrete blocks are a relatively new and technological building material. It is designed to create walls in low-rise residential buildings. The blocks are made fromquartz sand, as well as cement with the addition of lime and water.
Under pressure and exposure to high temperatures, bubbles form in this mixture. After the mass hardens, a block with a porous structure is obtained. This production technology makes it possible to produce a block of large volume. At the same time, it will be light and durable.
Material advantages
Among the advantages are good heat and sound insulation characteristics, resistance to low temperatures, strength, and density. The block is very light - this is an important advantage, since there will be no large loads on the foundation. The size of one element is much larger than a standard brick. This greatly speeds up the time spent on construction. At a cost, a house made of gas blocks, created with your own hands, will come out much cheaper than if the building were built from traditional materials. This is due to the relatively low prices for aerated concrete blocks due to the high popularity of this building material. Also among the advantages can be identified high fire safety. The construction of aerated concrete is the least susceptible to fire and ignition.
If the block has a correct and beautiful shape, and they fit professionally and neatly, then the resulting wall can not even be finished. This will give the building the opportunity to "breathe". Aerated concrete due to the pores is characterized by high vapor permeability.
Preliminarypreparation
Before you build a house from a gas block, you need to determine a suitable place. Then you need to prepare all the necessary documents. This is design and estimate documentation, which must already be certified by local governments. Next, you need to order and carry out geodetic work, install fences, determine the point of the zero horizon and bring all communications.
After all the documentation is completed and received, work on the layout of the site can begin. If the fence has already been installed, then lighting should be installed, as well as scaffolding.
Acquisition, transportation, storage of gas blocks
It is not difficult to buy this building material. It is enough just to find a suitable manufacturer and place an order along with its delivery directly to the site. But there are nuances here. Not all companies involved in the delivery of building materials are ready to go to remote places with bad roads. In this case, you will have to find transport yourself. For those who decide to start building a house from a gas block (photos of examples are in our article), this should not be a big deal.
Often, aerated concrete is delivered on pallets. The blocks are securely packed in polyethylene film. When these building materials are stored, excess moisture may accumulate inside and the structure may be damaged. At the construction site, it is best to place materials under a canopy. It is desirable to unpack only those that will be used in the work. Trays can be installed inthe form of stacks. But you should not allow such an installation in more than two rows.
Amount of building materials
So, when you have all the project documentation on hand, you need to determine how many gas blocks you need per house. Don't buy too much. There are certain difficulties associated with storage. You need to calculate how many cubic meters of materials you will need. For example, let's take walls with a length of 10 m by 8 m. It is necessary to calculate the perimeter. This is 10+10+8+8=36 m. The height of the wall is 3 m. So, 336=108 m2. This is the area of all the walls.
Blocks are offered by cubic meters. To calculate how much building materials will be needed to build a house from gas blocks, you need to multiply 108 by 0.3. This will be the thickness of one block. As a result, you need 32.4 m3 materials. This quantity is for the construction of external walls only. Internal walls are calculated in the same way.
Foundation and ground floor
Next, you need to pour the foundation with your own hands. Gas-block houses are not heavy, but the surface must withstand the load on the ground. You can pour a concrete slab as a foundation or use a strip foundation, which is more preferable for small 1-2-story buildings.
What is this? Tape monolithic foundations are a mixture based on concrete with increased strength characteristics. Additionally, the structure can be reinforced with rigid metal pins with a diameter of 15 mm. They fit in two layers. If the building site isin a place where the level of groundwater is elevated, or on heaving soils, then the best solution in this case is a foundation with a monolithic grillage.
Before starting serious work on arranging the foundation, it is necessary to thoroughly clean and level the place as much as possible. For a small 1-2-storey house, a foundation 2 m deep will suffice. The trench should be around the entire perimeter of the entire future building. It is important to calculate the required amount of concrete. When everything is ready, we fill in the material and after complete solidification we build a house from the gas block.
What to choose for fixing blocks
There are two options for fixing aerated concrete products. This is a special glue or cement mortar. Both options have certain pros and cons.
With the use of glue, you can get the right joints. The laying will come out very even. But during operation, the glue will release toxins into the atmosphere, and at a cost it will come out more expensive than the solution. As for the cement mortar, working with it is more laborious, because you have to monitor the evenness of the walls. But in the case of a solution, correcting errors will be easier than with glue. Also, if we build a house from a gas block with our own hands on a solution, then there are no strict instructions for kneading. Usually they make a mixture in a ratio of 3 to 1 (parts of sand and cement, respectively). Then water is added and it all mixes together.
Features of wall construction
Aerated concrete blocks have one important feature - they are light. Therefore, the solution or adhesive will not be squeezed out under the weight of the material and, accordingly, will notout of the seams. This greatly speeds up the process of laying walls. It should be noted that the use of a special tool is required to work with this building material.
For the construction of a load-bearing wall, it is recommended to use blocks whose size is from 375 to 400 mm. If an interior partition is laid, then the width of the product can be no more than 250 mm.
Laying the first row
So, if we build a house from a gas block with our own hands, then the process of building the first row should be approached very responsibly. Before starting work, it is necessary to carry out waterproofing. Experts recommend laying the first row only on a cement-sand mortar. Laying starts from the highest corner of the future home. The ends of the block have a groove and a comb, so there is no need to connect the elements with glue.
A cord is pulled along the first row to control the evenness of the masonry. If necessary, the blocks are leveled with a rubber mallet. If during the laying process a gap is formed, the length of which is less than one block, then a special additional element is made. To make a file, use a hacksaw, an electric saw and a square. The end surface of this additional block must first be smeared with mortar or glue. The glue, which is necessary for laying blocks of aerated concrete, is selected for thin seams. Its consistency should resemble sour cream. The mixture is applied with a special tool. After - level it on the surface of the building material with a spatula. The first row is laid, andwe continue to build a house of gas blocks with our own hands. Then the instruction recommends wiping all the resulting irregularities with a special grater. Further, dirt and dust are removed from the surface of all blocks. This process is repeated after each next row. It is important that each new row is laid with a slight offset of 8-10 cm. The remaining mortar must be removed with a trowel. The second row should be laid approximately one to two hours after the first. To protect the wall from moisture, the finished sections are covered with plastic wrap.
Reinforced aerated concrete lintels are suitable for use only when creating door and window openings. They are installed using a special wooden fixture. The thick part of the U-shaped block is located on the outside of the building. A frame made of reinforcement is installed in the cavity of the block. This cavity is then filled with fine-grained concrete.
When internal walls are being erected, hydro and noise insulation is required. It should also be taken into account that every second row of the inner wall must be connected to the load-bearing wall with anchors or staples using perforated strip.
Any residential building made of gas blocks (made with your own hands or with the help of professional builders, it does not matter) during operation will be subjected to various loads. This is sedimentation of the soil, winds, temperature changes. To avoid deformations, the masonry must be reinforced. Let's see how it's done.
Reinforcement: how to do it. Movement seams
Strobes are cut, then the resulting recesses are cleaned of dust, and then reinforcement is placed in these recesses. After everything is filled with a solution.
To avoid cracks, expansion joints are made. Often they are located in places where the gap or the height of the walls changes. These seams are made between walls, the temperature of which can be different. Also, an expansion joint is needed where the gas blocks will be connected to other materials, in unreinforced walls. The seams must then be sealed with a film of polyethylene, mineral wool. Both outside and inside they are subsequently treated with special sealants.
Slabs and ramps
A reinforced belt is used as a support for floor slabs. The joints that will be obtained between the plates must be filled with mortar. The outer ends are closed with ax beams.
Concrete slabs with many voids in them are suitable as floors. But there are also analogues of aerated concrete on sale. The latter have a high bearing capacity, fire resistance and low thermal conductivity. These slabs are acceptable only if there is less than 6 m between the load-bearing walls. This slab must be supported by a distribution reinforced concrete belt. If a do-it-yourself aerated concrete house is built correctly, then cold bridges can be avoided. Windows, roof and foundation are insulated using standard technologies. As for inclined surfaces and openings with complex shapes, they can be easily made with a saw. This can be easily explained by the fact that blocks fromaerated concrete is very easy to saw and drill. All mounting holes are drilled with a drill and a special cutter. The wall chaser can easily cope with the creation of grooves for wiring.
Roof
The roof for a house from gas blocks can be any - you can make one-, gable, mansard, hip and others. The last type is the best choice for residential buildings.
Regardless of the design, the roof must be equipped with hydro, heat and vapor barrier materials. In some cases, when arranging a residential attic, additional soundproofing material is mounted. Waterproofing is fixed on top of the rafters. It is much more convenient to do this with the help of long rails. The latter will perform the function of a counter-lattice. Under the waterproofing, a heater is placed between the rails. Then the thermal insulation layer is covered with a vapor barrier film. Next, lay the finish roofing.
Finishing work
A do-it-yourself residential building from a gas block is practically made. It remains to complete the necessary finishing work, carry out the communications necessary for a comfortable life, install windows and doors.
Facade finishing work can be started only when the installation of the roof and cornice overhangs is completed. The surface is preliminarily leveled with a grater, and the chips are filled with mortar. You can choose anything as a material. Fortunately, the modern market offers a lot of options for textures and colors.
Conclusion
So, we figured out how to make a house from gas blocks with our own hands. Step-by-step instructions will help in carrying out construction work and save you from gross mistakes.
