Overview of projects and the price of building a house from expanded clay concrete
When designing a country house and choosing a material for walls, light and budget masonry products with high insulating properties are primarily considered. These conditions are fully consistent with blocks of expanded clay concrete, the average cost of 1 m3 they have is 3000 rubles, the final prices for their masonry outperform brick by 2-3 times. Dimensions and weight allow you to work on your own and reduce costs by 1/3 compared to paying for the services of the relevant companies, but the drafting of the project is usually trusted to professionals. The finished documentation includes the main dimensions of the house and individual structures, the results of the calculation of building materials, masonry schemes, reinforcement, the location of floors and roofing systems.
Blocks are obtained by vibrocompression, the main components are Portland cement, sand and fired clay granules, after steaming and curing, they are completely suitable for masonry. For the construction of houses, both hollow and large-slotted products are used; to enhance the bearing capacity, the structures are reinforced. The benefits include:
1. Lightness, allowing to reduce the load on the foundation of the house. For the construction of load-bearing walls, elements with a specific gravity in the range of 700-1200 kg / m3 are used, in this regard, expanded clay concrete loses to foam blocks and gas silicate, but undoubtedly outperforms brick and concrete.
2. Resistance to fire, biological influences, aggressive environments and moisture.
3. Strength acceptable for the construction of country houses and cottages, withstand loads from 35 to 100 kg / cm2. This allows you to use them for the construction of 1-3 storey buildings, including those with an attic or basement rooms. The only exceptions are the foundation structures of residential buildings.
4. Good energy saving ability. The thermal conductivity coefficient depends on the purpose and density of expanded clay concrete: it varies within 0.1-0.18 W / m ° C for heat-insulating blocks - from 400 to 600 kg / m3, from 0.22 to 0.45 - for structural heat-insulating, and over 0.55 - for high-density products (up to 1800 kg / m3), but the latter are more often used in industrial construction than in private.
5. Compliance with sanitary standards, ensuring a comfortable microclimate inside the house.
6. High masonry speed, ease of processing, better ability to hold hardware and fasteners in comparison with cellular concrete grades.
7. Durability, subject to all the rules, houses built of expanded clay concrete will last at least 50 years.
The restrictions and operating conditions taken into account when designing a cottage include the need to strengthen the supporting structures, finish and protect against external influences during the first 2 years, insulation, and waterproofing of the lower row. The requirements for the foundation are average: expanded clay concrete is lighter than brick, wood and conventional concrete grades, but denser than gas silicate and foam blocks. In terms of geometric accuracy of dimensions, they are inferior to autoclaved aerated concrete, which negatively affects the thickness of the joints and the number of cold bridges, measures to close them are mandatory.
Finished house projects
Cottage for a comfortable stay of a family of several generations with three floors: a basement made of stone, two residential with walls made of expanded clay concrete. The project includes a kitchen combined with a dining room, a living room with a fireplace, a relaxation room, 4 spacious bedrooms, a sauna, storerooms and utility rooms, including an aggregation room. The main advantage is the possibility of arranging an internal recreation area and adding a pool or gym to the plan. Attached to the cottage garage is designed for 2 cars.
The interior is made in Irish style, on the second floor there is a balcony and a spacious terrace. The outer finish of the basement floor is made of natural stone, the first floor is made of red brick, the upper one is white plaster, the complex roof is covered with metal tiles. The project provides for the construction of a prefabricated foundation; when building on soils with low bearing capacity, additional measures are needed to strengthen the foundation.
A one-story house made of expanded clay concrete blocks with an attic, optimal for a family with children. The plan includes a living room and 2 bedrooms, 2 separate bathrooms, a kitchen and a built-in boiler room. The useful volume of the house is increased due to the attic with a symmetrical gable roof. The construction budget depends on the finishing material, when choosing the option included in the project (facing colored bricks), the cost of such a turnkey house is 1,500,000 rubles.
A two-story cottage with an internal garage and a loggia of expanded clay blocks. With a size of 138 m2 occupied on the plot, the house has a spacious living room, a kitchen-dining room, an office and 4 bedrooms, bathrooms and toilets are provided on both floors. The attic room is small, an open loggia, located above the main entrance, acts as a separate recreation area. There is an additional entrance to the garage. The main advantage is a competent division into functional areas isolated from each other, only the living room is a walk-through.
The nuances of the construction of expanded clay concrete
The laying process is practically no different from brick: products are placed with dressing, starting from the corner, with a mandatory level check. For the construction of load-bearing walls, expanded clay concrete blocks with a strength grade of at least M50 (more is better) are used, the technology involves reinforcing every third row with rods with a cross section of 8 mm or more, corners, lintels and laying an insulated armo-belt in the upper part for mounting ceilings or binding roof elements . Despite the lower moisture absorption capacity compared to aerated concrete, the bottom row is insulated.
Masonry is carried out either on glue (with a joint thickness of about 5 mm and a higher consumption compared to aerated concrete), or on a cement-sand mixture in proportions of 1: 3. In the second case, the distance between adjacent products is at least 9 mm, the formation of cold bridges is inevitable. Regardless of the type of masonry mortar, the bottom row is placed on cement-based compositions. This, as well as the need for insulation of a house made of expanded clay blocks, is due to their low frost resistance.
The number of defrosting cycles, even for high-quality brands, rarely exceeds 50. To obtain the exact parameters of walls and layers, thermal engineering is required; with basalt wool about 50 mm, this is enough for a comfortable year-round living.
When conducting construction in the northern latitudes, they turn to two-row masonry: the rows are mounted simultaneously with the obligatory binding of the walls to each other. The internal space is filled with polystyrene chips or penoizol, there is no need for external insulation in this case, there is enough finish. Products begin to crack and crumble along the edges without protection from external influences. The maximum allowable service life without it is 2 years.
Exterior decoration of expanded clay houses can be done in any style, the most popular are classic and modern. Due to its high adhesion, the block holds well plaster compositions or facing products (tiles, thermal panels, siding, natural stone, decorative bricks), vapor-permeable and heat-insulating types are preferred, and if necessary, the walls are strengthened. Expanded clay concrete allows you to combine different types of finishing building materials, even when using a standard house project, you can get an original building. The method and types of finishing are selected at the design stage (this is one of the most costly parts of the estimate), when laying the foundation from the outside, a brick-wide distance is provided for mounting the insulation and the facade.
This building material is not available everywhere and must be ordered in advance. With the geometric dimensions and the manufacturer are determined at the stage of drawing up the project of the house, preference is given to certified products. The best reviews are claydite blocks of the Cheboksary construction plant, TPA Unit, PBI Maksimovo, Steingot. High-quality expanded clay concrete contains sand, has no chips, is not painted by hand and does not crumble upon impact. It will not be superfluous to check the dimensions and density: the block is measured with a tape measure and weighed, the volume is calculated taking into account the specified voidness.
Prices for design and construction
The easiest option is to purchase a finished house project, the cost of standard plans for medium-sized buildings (10x10 or 10x9 m) with a garage or attic is 25,000 rubles. The advantages of this solution include the ability to start construction without delay, savings on the development of documentation, a time-tested layout and design reliability, and errors in the purchase of materials are practically excluded. The main disadvantage of standard plans is that they are tied to a certain type of soil and communication schemes; consultation of specialists when checking their compliance with real conditions or, if desired, making changes is mandatory.
The development of an individual project costs 2-4 times more expensive - from 100,000 rubles and more and will take more time (from a month to six months). This is due to the need to fit, taking into account all the desires of the customer, but the final result is worth it. In fact, this is the only way to get a reliable individual building. The prices for the development of a turnkey project usually include an analysis of geodetic and climatic conditions, the calculation of structures taking into account the expected loads, eliminating errors in the construction and operation of the house. The final cost of design services depends primarily on the complexity: with an equal number of storeys, drawing up a plan for a 10x9 cottage will cost more than 10 × 10 or 12 × 12 m in the presence of a basement, attic, garage, balconies or asymmetrical roofing.
The minimum price for building a house when contacting specialized companies is 11,000 rubles per 1 m2 for a “box” and from 15,000 for turnkey construction. Basement projects are the most expensive: their walls are built of concrete blocks with the help of special equipment, which leads to an increase in the budget for laying the foundation by 30% or more. The minimum price of a one-story cottage when doing all the work on its own is 800,000 rubles, with an attic, costs double.