Excellent do-it-yourself wood chip and sawdust concrete floors

The pros and cons of wood concrete are an important question when considering this material for building a house. Arbolite successfully passes the test of time. Houses built from wood concrete have maintained their quality and strength for more than 50 years. But this material is still not widely used, despite the pros and cons of wood concrete, as well as its unique properties, which make it possible to build houses in both the southern and northern regions.

Arbolite is lightweight concrete with natural organic filler; it belongs to wall materials and is produced in the form of blocks, slabs and panels. It is possible to use wood concrete in the form of a solution, this allows you to create a monolithic surface. Not long ago, wood concrete appeared with a colorful textured facing surface.

Advantages and disadvantages

Arbolite has a huge number of advantages compared to other building materials.

Environmental friendliness of raw materials. It is made mainly from natural ingredients.
High fire resistance. Despite the fact that wood concrete mainly consists of wood waste, it is not flammable.
Good vapor permeability. This property allows buildings to breathe and maintain their microclimate.
Light weight wood blocks. This factor significantly simplifies construction.
Easy processing with cutting tools. The block can be easily given any desired shape.

Easy to use. When laying wood concrete blocks, they do not require professional skills.
Resistant to mold, mildew and pests. The material has class IV biostability.
High thermal conductivity. For this reason, wood concrete is often used in the construction of private houses.
Shrinkage resistance. In this case, walls and partitions will not crack.
High sound absorption. Thanks to this, the material can also be used for the construction of industrial buildings.
Resistance to seismic activity.

The disadvantages include the following factors.

If measures are not taken to protect against moisture, wood concrete quickly begins to decompose, losing its properties.
The blocks do not have a perfectly flat surface due to the characteristic features of the composition.
Arbolite walls require additional finishing.
The material has a low level of adhesion to plaster mixtures.
Due to the huge number of handicrafts, low-quality goods are often found on the market.
Poor range of products.
The lack of large-scale production affects the high price of the material and difficulties with delivery.

conclusions

So, we see that wood concrete has many advantages over many other materials for similar purposes. The only downside is that elements and house structures made from it take a very long time to dry and harden.

Wood concrete is a fairly durable material, has minimal weight, is environmentally friendly and non-flammable. In addition, this building material has many advantages:

sawdust concrete is a very effective heat insulator, so there is no need to spend additional money on insulation materials;
it does not allow moisture to pass through and does not get wet, especially if it is treated with special additives;
the plasticity of wood concrete does not allow it to collapse under strong impacts;
The cost of wood concrete is much cheaper than its concrete counterparts.

Why is wood concrete, or sawdust concrete, used so little today? This was written about above - it represents too much competition for manufacturers of many modern construction, finishing and insulation materials, who spend millions of rubles on advertising their products. And who would advertise ordinary sawdust?

Block composition

For the production of wood concrete, wood waste, as a rule, is taken from coniferous species - they are less susceptible to biological destruction. Cement is used as a binder (sometimes, to reduce the cost, part of it is replaced with clay and lime). There are quite a lot of recipes, but as a rule, they take an amount of cement with water equal in weight to the weight of dry aggregate.

To increase the strength of chip concrete, sand is added to it, but one should take into account the fact that with an increase in the amount of sand, the weight of the wood concrete increases and its thermal insulation properties decrease.

Also, the composition of chip concrete (and other materials with wood waste) necessarily includes special salts that make wood waste non-flammable, and they are practically not affected by fungi and bacteria.

Final chords, protection of arbolite walls

With a team of three to four people, a medium-sized box of a monolithic house made of wood concrete can be built in a couple of summer months. But as we said at the beginning, wood concrete does not do well in a humid environment, so it is advisable to protect it immediately.

On the outside of the house we will cover the walls with a waterproofing barrier and line them with siding. From the inside it will be ordinary cement or cement-lime plaster.

The walls of wood concrete houses built half a century ago still look like new today!
Leave your tips and comments below. Subscribe to our newsletter. Good luck to you and good luck to your family!

Nuances

Before filling wooden forms with sawdust-concrete mixture, they are placed on flat plastic or steel pallets, sprinkled with a thin layer of sawdust. Then, wooden plugs wrapped in roofing felt are installed inside the cells, which are necessary to create holes in the blocks.

When the mixture is placed in the mold, it is compacted with a special tamper. Over the next 3-5 days, the material acquires from 30 to 40 percent of brand strength. After this period, the casting mold is disassembled and the plugs are removed from the blocks. Finished but not yet dried products are left in the same place for 3-4 days. During this time, their strength increases to 60-70 percent.

Estimate, cost of floors for sawdust concrete soil

Here I didn’t consider everything as meticulously as with the roof of my house, where in the estimate you can see everything from start to finish, down to every screw and nail. I have already mentioned the cost of basic materials in the text of the article. And based on the final amount, I will say that I had a budget, according to my calculation, 25,000 rubles . on the floors, but even there are still 2 tr left. (i.e. this is all together with delivery). Floor area - 31.4 sq. m. (minus the foundation tape, it protrudes by 30 cm.)

Arbolit

Sawdust concrete is often confused with another building material - wood concrete, which is completely wrong. According to GOST, wood concrete is defined as concrete made with cement binder, chemical additives and organic solvents. However, in the classic version, wood concrete involves the use of wood chips. It is this that determines its unique properties.

Exactly like sawdust concrete, wood concrete is an environmentally friendly wall material, characterized by high levels of fire resistance and thermal insulation. Nevertheless, these two materials, despite the similarity in structure, have fundamental differences. The fact is that in the production of wood concrete, instead of small sawdust, which cannot have sufficient strength properties on their own, special wood chips are used, the size of which is strictly standardized. Sawdust, unlike wood chips, cannot sufficiently reinforce (strengthen) the wall block and give it “ductility”. Thus, wood concrete concrete is stronger than sawdust concrete in terms of bending strength and the ability to undergo temporary deformation without complete destruction. To be fair, it is worth noting that sawdust concrete is superior to other types of lightweight concrete in this indicator.

To strengthen the blocks, fill voids and reduce shrinkage, a lot of sand is added to the sawdust concrete composition, and a lot of lime or clay is also added to save binder material. The use of a large amount of sand negatively affects the fire resistance of the material we are considering - at a temperature of +573 ° C, sawdust concrete changes in volume, which can lead to cracking. In addition, due to the significant sand content, the structural characteristics of the blocks are reduced. So, for sawdust concrete to reach the strength of grade M25, its density should be 950 kg/m3. Due to the high density, the cost of the material and its delivery increases, and construction work becomes more complicated.

Wood concrete of a similar brand has a density of 500 to 700 kg/m3. Considering that with increasing specific gravity the heat-saving properties decrease, the thermal conductivity of sawdust concrete and wood concrete differs by more than two times in favor of the latter. This difference is due to the low amount of wood in sawdust concrete compared to wood concrete: approximately 50% versus 80-90% wood chips. This negatively affects such properties as providing passive ventilation of the room. Here, again, it is worth noting that in this parameter sawdust concrete is significantly superior to most wall materials. It is excellent for the construction of low-rise buildings and is second only to its “rival”.

Thus, calling sawdust concrete wood concrete is extremely incorrect, since these are completely different materials. The only similarity between them is the presence of a wood component in the composition.

Making wood concrete yourself: instructions for beginners

Before moving directly to the step-by-step production of arboblocks, it is worth mentioning several nuances:

CANNOT for wood concrete . Just wood chips.
Almost any woodworking waste is suitable for obtaining filler - slabs, branches, timber trimmings, tree tops.
If you plan to use large-sized wood concrete blocks (for example, long transverse beams) in the building structure, then you should take care of their additional reinforcement. We are talking not only about the strength frame, but also about the rigging loops for easy transportation.

Please note: the best wood for wood concrete blocks is considered to be coniferous species: pine, spruce. Deciduous trees include birch, poplar, and aspen. It is strictly not recommended to use waste from larch, beech, and elm to make wood concrete.

Compound

For wood concrete, high grade cement is used - M-400 and M-500 . Be sure to keep the cement fresh and dry.

Wood chips, as already mentioned, must be crushed to certain sizes - 25x8x5 mm (optimum) or 40x10x5 (maximum) mm. Try to avoid high concentrations of misgrade - because of it, the final strength of the arboblock will decrease.

The following chemical additives are used:

Food additive E509 – calcium chloride and nitrate.
Aluminum sulfate.
Liquid glass.
The water used is potable (from the tap). You should not make an arbolite mixture using water from reservoirs - dirt and other impurities will destabilize the connecting connections between the components of the block, which will cause its premature destruction.

IMPORTANT: Follow the procedure when mixing ingredients. Remember firmly: first we mix water and chemical impurities, then add wood chips there and only after it is evenly wet, add cement.

Dimensions of arbolite blocks

Arboblocks are classified by density into:

Structural - from 500 to 850 kg/m3.
Thermal insulation – up to 500 kg/m3.

Which blocks you will use directly depends on the building being constructed. For a two-story building or a one-story house with a basement or attic, structural blocks with a density of 600 kg/m2 should be used. For an ordinary one-story building without additional levels, the lightest structural blocks are suitable - 500 kg/m3. Thermal insulating blocks are usually not used to build walls. They are used as additional protection from the cold when lining walls made of other materials.

The standard size of an arbolite block is 50x20 cm. But the thickness varies from 10 to 50 cm. But you yourself can provide other dimensions that are suitable specifically for you.

You can see the typical dimensional parameters of wood concrete blocks from the table below:

It is also worth considering the strength of wood concrete blocks made on your own. It is divided into classes. If you plan to build a residential building from wood concrete with your own hands, then you need a maximum strength class of B2.5:

Video making wood concrete blocks

Step-by-step instruction

So, let's start producing wood concrete blocks with our own hands.

We take the proportions for mixing the components from this table:

Please note: wood shavings (chips) must be free of sugar, otherwise it will ferment and cause the block to collapse. It can, of course, be removed chemically. But usually the wood chips are simply allowed to sit in the air for three months. Remember this when preparing raw materials for the wood concrete mixture.

You will need a forced-type concrete mixer. You can use a regular “pear”, but the quality of mixing will be lower.
Add chemical additives to water in the required proportion. Mix thoroughly.
Pour out the sawdust. Stir a little. Wait until they are completely wet and there are no dry “islands” left.
Start adding cement in batches. Under no circumstances fill the entire volume at once - it will be very difficult to cope with clumping.
By alternating mixing and adding cement, we achieve uniform envelopment of the sawdust with the resulting mixture. This is only possible if the sawdust is sufficiently wet.
When you have a homogeneous mixture, you can start pouring it into molds.
If you have a molding machine with a vibration motor, the process is greatly simplified. All you have to do is load the raw materials, wait and remove the finished block.
But in artisanal conditions, they most often use homemade molds and manual pressing (in the best case, a vibrating table).
The form is a metal box without a bottom. They place it on a flat surface (a board, for example) and begin to pour in the mixture. If you use hand pressing, you should do it in layers. The number of layers depends on the height of the form. Usually they make at least four to five layers.
Each layer is compacted with a metal platform with a handle (it is desirable that it coincides in area with the cross-section of the mold). In order for air to escape from the mixture better, it is pierced in several places with reinforcement, and then compacted again.
We recommend that you make (or purchase) a pressing lever mechanism. Then you can better regulate the density of the output block. In addition, in this case, you can pour the entire volume of the mixture into the mold at once. This will significantly speed up the manufacturing process.
If you need high-density blocks, alternate between light and strong pressure during the compaction process. With this technique, depressing (change in shape due to the elasticity of the solution) is less pronounced, and the blocks are more durable.
After compacting is completed, remove excess mortar with a metal scraper.
Vibration further contributes to the strength of the finished building material. If you have a vibrating table, then the lever mechanism is not needed. Simply place the form on the table surface, load the wood concrete mixture, place a weight on top and turn on the vibration.
After the block is formed, it is transferred to the drying site. When you have a thick enough mixture, you can remove the mold from the wet block. But when making low-density blocks from wood concrete, the solution is too liquid and loses its geometry. In this case, take care to create a sufficient number of forms so as not to waste time.
In summer, you can dry arboblocks outside for 15-20 days. But according to technology, they are required to be kept for two days in a room with a temperature of 60 °C.

After all this, the blocks are, in principle, ready for use in construction work. If necessary, they can be machined to give the desired shape.

Instead of an afterword

In conclusion, we have prepared for you a small digest of nuances that will help you make wood concrete blocks with your own hands:

Chips for wood concrete blocks can be produced independently if you have the necessary machines - a chipper and a crusher. But you can purchase it at nearby woodworking enterprises or in workshops for the production of wood blocks.
To make it easier to remove the blocks, line the inner walls of the mold with linoleum or other smooth and thin material.
When it is necessary to produce structural wood concrete of maximum strength, hydration should be carried out. To do this, place the finished block under film for 10 days at 15 C.
If you use wood concrete not for constructing walls, but for insulating an already constructed building, some precision in the technology for producing the mixture and blocks can be neglected. But don't overdo it.
If you are removing the sugar from the chips by letting them sit in the air, be sure to stir them.
There is a way to immediately prepare wood concrete blocks for exterior finishing. To do this, after compacting, apply a layer of plaster to the top of the block and level it with a spatula.
If you do not have a special drying room with the required temperature conditions, then drying the blocks in the open air will take at least two weeks.

Production technology

Today, several methods are used for making wall blocks for external and internal walls. Most often they are produced by direct pressing or using vibration casting (vibrocompression).

The first method is a relatively young and fairly low-cost technology. It provides for daily curing of wood concrete in molds. But the resulting mass is not uniform, which threatens internal stress in the finished product.

However, the basic manufacturing process is the same in both methods.

It consists of three important stages.

Sorting and crushing of organic matter.
Mixing wood chips with chemical components, cement and water. The operation takes 10 minutes.
Forming and drying the finished solution.

Pouring concrete into formwork - the whole process from “A” to “Z”

Pouring concrete into formwork

How to pour concrete into formwork? If there are large volumes (when the solution is delivered from the factory on a mixer), concrete is poured immediately along the entire perimeter to a predetermined height. At home, it is usually not possible to prepare a large amount of solution. There are two methods for correctly pouring concrete into formwork using hand-prepared portions of mortar:

pouring the entire perimeter of the formwork with concrete to a thickness of up to 0.5 meters, while the presence of too thin layers is not allowed;
Filling a separate area with mortar to the entire height of the formwork. The side edge of the poured concrete should be beveled for more reliable adhesion between the individual parts of the structure.

How to pour concrete into formwork? Concrete supply is carried out:

manually, carrying buckets of solution;
direct pouring from a concrete mixer;
imported concrete is poured directly from the mixer tray; if necessary, the tray can be extended with wooden or metal gutters.

The concrete surface is leveled with a shovel or building rule. If for any reason the work on filling the formwork with mortar is stopped for more than 24 hours, it can be resumed only after the concrete has completely dried. Before starting new concreting, the concrete working seam is wiped with a brush and washed with water.

Types of blocks with wood fillers

Chip concrete or wood concrete can also be divided into the following types:

thermal insulation. Density up to 450 kg/m3;
thermal insulation and structural. Density 450-650 kg/m3;
structural. Density 600-800 kg/m3.

Wood concrete and sawdust concrete are used in the form of wall panels, as a monolithic fill and in the form of blocks of various sizes. The peculiarities of monolithic pouring are that the wall made of wood concrete sets relatively unevenly and warping is possible. And they try not to make blocks more than 20 centimeters in thickness, since they will take a long time to dry, and laying heavy blocks is more labor-intensive.

Another distinctive feature of chip concrete is that walls built from it do not sweat or flow. Since, on the one hand, it retains many of the beneficial properties of wood, and on the other hand, compared to other building materials (brick, foam concrete), it has higher vapor permeability.

You can even talk about partial displacement ventilation through walls made of wood concrete and sawdust concrete. This is a unique type of ventilation, when air leaks through the structure of the material itself, it heats up, passing through numerous fibers and displaces the already heated “exhaust” air in the house.

Thanks to this, there are no “stagnant zones” in houses made of chip concrete, and the costs of installing ventilation are significantly reduced (or completely eliminated as unnecessary). And as a result, heat loss at home is also reduced.

We can summarize:

Wood concrete (and all blocks with wood fillers) is a material for those who care about their family and at the same time want to reduce the costs of building a house. After all, wood concrete is 4 times lighter than brick, which means you need a less strong foundation (cheaper).
A 35 cm thick chip concrete wall corresponds to 1 meter brickwork in terms of thermal insulation properties.
The costs of the ventilation system are reduced.
Chip concrete or wood concrete is not susceptible to damage from rodents, insects, fungi, bacteria and fire, compared to a conventional wooden house.
Due to the porous surface, plaster and putty are perfectly adhered to wood concrete.
Arbolite is easy to process; it can be easily chopped, sawed, driven in nails and screwed in screws.

On heaving and other unstable soils, chip concrete (arbolite, sawdust concrete) is practically irreplaceable. After all, it has good elastic deformation. And at the slightest movement of the foundation (due to frost or soil movement), other masonry materials will crack.

And chip concrete may wrinkle a little, because the shavings and wood chips included in its composition act as reinforcing fibers on one side and can be dented on the other side.

Among the relative disadvantages and features, it should be noted that walls made of chip concrete are recommended to be plastered or covered with bricks on the outside, or otherwise protected from direct exposure to precipitation. Also, when making a house from chip concrete, you need to ensure that the material is of high quality, because some craftsmen can sell frankly low-quality material, discrediting such an excellent material.

Tools for getting the job done

You cannot complete the construction of a house without the right tools and materials. They must be prepared in advance and be in good condition. The list is as follows:

shovel, stone-cutting saw.
level, tape measure, plumb line;
stakes and long rope;
reinforcement bars Ø14 mm;
solution container;
trowel, notched trowel or trowel for laying blocks;
rubber mallet;
fishing line for leveling blocks.

Now you can start building a house from wood concrete blocks.

Best answers

I'll be back:

I don’t know the consistency, but you know that sawdust must be dehydrated and specially processed. composition? and read about brisolite, the same thing...

Online magazine Tips for owners:

Sawdust concrete, also known as wood concrete, is a mixture of sawdust, sand, water and cement. Correct consistency? It is not entirely clear what is meant, if proportions, then it depends on the desired brand. In its simplest form - three buckets of sawdust, a bucket of sand and a bucket of cement. If stronger, two buckets of sawdust, half a bucket of sand and a bucket of cement. In addition, if the sawdust is fresh (up to 2 years), be sure to add about 5% of the volume of calcium chloride, lime or liquid glass.

If the consistency is in terms of the amount of water, then again it depends on the desired brand, but in general it is about 0.8 of cement. The fact is that for wood concrete, no matter how much water you add, the sawdust will be absorbed, but you won’t get a liquid composition. Therefore, you don’t need to pour a lot of water. Only the strength will decrease. From experience, the composition is something like wet sawdust, we pour it into the formwork and tamp it well. The layer is no more than 20-25 cm. It is best to make a mold from boards or sheet metal and prepare blocks, and then build from them. But you can also install formwork from boards in layers. At the bottom of such formwork we make a support beam. They stuffed it, waited two or three days, and rearranged it. The timber (20x20 maximum), if done carefully, gives a kind of seam, the wall turns out to be rusticated, quite interesting. As for freezing, that's the question. 40 cm of wood concrete is the same as a log of 25 -30 cm in thermal conductivity. You won't freeze, but you'll have to light the stove.

But in general, wood concrete is afraid of water, so it’s better to veneer the outside than anything else, but you can immediately lay an additional layer of insulation. Well, the number of floors is no more than two floors...

Mixing

One of the most labor-intensive stages in the production of sawdust concrete (even a novice builder can make blocks with his own hands) is mixing, so it is recommended to use a concrete mixer or at least a mortar mixer. This will make the mixing procedure not only more comfortable, but also of higher quality. Before pouring dried sawdust into a concrete mixer, they must be sifted through a sieve with a mesh side of 1 cm. Then you can mix the sawdust with cement. Only after this clay or lime dough, prepared in advance, is added to the mixture. All components must be thoroughly mixed and diluted with water. Water should be added in small portions. After each topping, it is necessary to mix the sawdust concrete mixture. The proportions of the components are set individually, depending on the purpose of the final product. The more load the blocks bear, the higher their grade.

If sawdust concrete is mixed properly, then when compressed in a fist, the mixture will form a plastic lump, on which, in the absence of drops of water, indentations from the fingers will be visible. This is considered the main indicator of a properly prepared mixture.

Preparation of the solution

If it is not possible to keep the wood chips in the air to destroy the sugars, they are subjected to chemical treatment: left in lime milk for 3 days. The wood waste is mixed from time to time. There is no need to dry the wood chips after this. It is only necessary to remove excess solution. In the process of laying such blocks, a solution of different composition is used.

Sand with cement

Recommended proportions of components: 1 share of M400 cement and 2 shares of sand. If you plan to use M500 cement, then prepare 3 parts of sand for 1 part of this material. The components are mixed dry using a construction mixer.

Perlite

Kneading begins by combining water (10 l) and a dry mixture of perlite (2 buckets). When the components are thoroughly mixed, cement is added to them (no more than 0.5 buckets). When working with perlite, it is necessary to wear a respirator, safety glasses and closed clothing.

Glue mixture

Standard scheme: 5 kg of adhesive (dry) and 5 liters of liquid. The mixture is left at rest for 5 minutes. Then the mixing process is repeated. The finished material must be used within 2 hours, then it will lose its properties.

The procedure and features of mixing the solution

First, sufficient sawdust is poured into a container or concrete mixer. After this, water is poured in. Special additives and liquid are mixed separately. At the next stage, the solution is added to a concrete mixer, where the sawdust is soaked. After these manipulations, cement is poured in small portions.

Block molding

Forms for the finished mixture are made or purchased. They should have handles, but without a bottom. Such structures are installed on a wooden base. The solution is poured into them. If the work is done with your own hands, the mixture is laid out in molds in layers, each time tamping the material using a manual vibrating platform. Air is periodically removed from the thickness of the mixture. To do this, the material is pierced with a rod. At the last stage, the surface of the workpieces is leveled, for which a metal strip is used - it helps to remove unevenness.

Compound

As the name suggests, the defining element of this material is sawdust. In addition, sawdust concrete contains sand, cement, as well as clay or lime. Due to its favorable sanitary and hygienic characteristics, the material is optimal for the construction of residential walls.

The density of the building material depends on the ratio of sawdust and sand. The more sand and binders in sawdust concrete, the greater its density. In this case, the material has high strength, but low thermal characteristics. As the amount of sawdust increases, the strength decreases. Along with it, the frost resistance of the material and its water resistance are reduced, which, in turn, negatively affects the corrosion resistance of steel reinforcement. Reinforcement is used when laying walls. From the above we can conclude that before you start building a house from sawdust concrete, it is necessary to study the features of the influence of the composition of the material on its properties

When choosing one or another composition, it is worth taking into account the thickness of the walls, the number of storeys of the building and the purpose of the walls (internal, external or load-bearing)

Manufacturing Features

The porous material meets all thermal insulation standards and helps create a rigid frame. At the same time, it is quite light and does not sink at all in water. This makes working with monolithic blocks comfortable and convenient. Such features make the material popular among builders and home owners.

Foam concrete blocks meet all thermal insulation standards. They include many parameters, including frost resistance and strength.

Foam concrete is produced on any site. But for the accuracy of the process and the creation of high-quality material, it is necessary to comply with certain standards. Therefore, without proper experience, it is advisable to entrust production to professionals and purchase finished products.

The monoliths contain sand and cement. The composition is mixed in certain proportions and can be aerated

At the same time, it is important to maintain temperature conditions on the site. The air should not be cooled below 100

The process of enriching the sand-cement mixture with oxygen must be carefully controlled. It is extremely difficult to do this on your own. In production, special electronics are used for control purposes. This greatly simplifies the process and makes production higher quality. The finished mixture is poured into reinforced molds. If necessary, it is thickened with a finish. To make structures stronger, reinforcement is sometimes used in manufacturing.

Another advantage of a ready-made foam concrete block purchased in a store is the ability to measure density and conduct tests. This helps ensure the strength and durability of a structure made from such material. The ideal density should be 200 kg/m3.

Pros and cons of sawdust concrete

Sawdust concrete is increasingly being chosen to create country houses. Its use can bring certain advantages, since the following positive qualities can be identified in the material:

the load on the foundation is noticeably reduced;
increased thermal insulation is observed;
construction costs are lower;
the walls are frost-resistant and non-flammable;
there is protection from the effects of microorganisms;
the house has excellent sound insulation;
You can line the walls with different materials.

However, like other building materials, sawdust concrete has some disadvantages that also need to be taken into account during construction:

load-bearing capacity is low;
blocks are able to absorb moisture;
it is necessary to cover the walls;
the material shrinks.

Comparison with other materials

For the construction of a residential building or outbuilding, it is very important to choose the right building components. But you should know that there are no good or bad materials, there are only suitable and not so suitable ones.

Expanded clay concrete. Just like wood concrete, it is an environmentally friendly material and belongs to the class of lightweight concrete. It consists of expanded clay (burnt clay or shale), cement, sand and water. However, expanded clay blocks have a thermal conductivity index (0.5 - 0.7 W/m K), that is, slightly worse than that of wood concrete. Therefore, from the point of view of heat preservation, it is better to choose wood blocks for the house. Despite its higher strength, expanded clay concrete may not withstand excess pressure. This is due to the hollow space inside the product.

Sawdust concrete. The composition of this material is very similar to wood concrete. In both cases, wood waste is used. Just like wood concrete, it is considered an environmentally friendly building material, has high heat-shielding qualities and is resistant to stretching, bending and impact.
Aerated concrete. The cellular composition consists of sand, cement, water and a gas-forming agent, due to which characteristic porosity appears. Unlike wood concrete, aerated concrete has a clear geometry of the product. The material is characterized by high water resistance and fragility. If we compare this material and wood concrete, then in many respects aerated concrete wins.

Polystyrene concrete. This is a type of lightweight concrete consisting of Portland cement, polystyrene foam granules and air-entraining additives. It is distinguished by its high structural strength. It shrinks, but significantly less than gas blocks and foam blocks. Just like wood concrete, it has good thermal insulation properties. Polystyrene concrete blocks do not require additional insulation.
Straw blocks. They are a building material consisting of environmentally friendly raw materials - pressed straw. Straw blocks have a better thermal conductivity index than wood concrete (0.05 - 0.065). But they also have disadvantages such as high moisture absorption and low fire resistance.

Beam. This is a highly environmentally friendly breathable material made from laminated boards or logs. It has excellent thermal conductivity and high strength. It is a worthy competitor to wood concrete.
Gas silicate. This cellular material is obtained from a solution of fine sand, lime, gas-forming additives and water. The structure is similar to aerated concrete, but there is a difference in composition, and therefore in properties. It is characterized by good thermal conductivity, high fragility and increased moisture absorption.

Fibrolite. This is an analogue of wood concrete with a very similar composition. In both cases, wood waste acts as components. But if in the first option there are shavings, then wood fiber is used in fiberboard, made in the form of thin and narrow strips. Just like wood concrete, it has good thermal conductivity (0.08 - 0.1 W/m K) and needs additional protection from moisture.
Sibit. Consists of concrete, gypsum, aluminum powder with the addition of surfactants and water. It is considered an environmentally friendly material, since the reactions result in the formation of artificial stone. It has extremely high frost resistance (up to 250 freezing and thawing cycles), but low fracture strength. It is usually not used for low-rise buildings.
Adobe. This is the oldest building material, consisting of environmentally friendly raw materials - clay soil and straw. Adobe has an excellent thermal conductivity coefficient (0.1 – 0.4). However, it has an important drawback - increased moisture permeability.

About the pros and cons of wood concrete in the video below.

Areas of application of the monolith

As mentioned above, the composition of foam concrete has properties that allow it to be used in a wide variety of areas of construction.

Walls

Thanks to permanent formwork, the walls become three-layered: a layer of foam concrete and two layers of frame (inside and outside). This allows you to obtain very high thermal insulation without additional insulation.

If a building of several floors is being built, then two brick walls can act as permanent formwork. Later, the gap between them will be filled with foam concrete.

The frame from the inside can be mounted from plasterboard sheets. They are very convenient in interior decoration, therefore they are an indispensable material for permanent formwork. You can also use fiberboard sheets for the inside of the formwork and metal for the outside.

We install formwork for the walls

Wood or plywood can be used as formwork. Such materials most often appear in removable formwork. In order to subsequently be able to use them for other purposes, the formwork should be carefully covered with polyethylene before pouring the liquid mixture.

Whatever option is chosen, the frame must be made in such a way that monolithic foam concrete in permanent formwork does not exert excessive pressure on the walls, as a result of which the structure could bend or bend. To do this, all frame supports should be placed at a distance of no more than 60 cm.

Floors

A difficult task in construction is pouring a leveling screed for floors. However, monolithic pouring of foam concrete can solve this problem. A high-density mixture of grades D800-D1200 is perfect for screeding. Thanks to the porosity of the material, firstly, the load is reduced, and secondly, sound insulation characteristics are improved.

The thickness of the screed should be at least 3 cm, sometimes it is up to 5 cm, and in some cases up to 10 cm. Another effective option is when the lower part of the floors is filled with foam concrete with a density of 300-500 kilograms per cubic meter, and the upper part with a mixture of more high density or even concrete screed. Of course, for each individual case there is a correct solution.

Roof

If we talk about insulating a flat roof, then monolithic filling with foam concrete is an excellent option. Thanks to this method, there are no cold bridges, and the poured layer is both a leveling screed and insulation.

This material is fire-resistant, which is very important for the roof of a building. This makes it stand out among commonly used insulation materials.

It is also not susceptible to rotting, mold or mildew. Therefore, it is used on the roofs of private houses and businesses, as well as on damaged roofs.

Floors

Monolithic foam concrete can significantly reduce the load of floors on the foundation. Also, thanks to this technology, sound insulation increases, which is especially valuable in multi-story buildings.

When pouring foam concrete into a frame for flooring, accelerators, plasticizers, and hydrophobic ingredients are added to the concrete mixture.

Industrial use

Since foam concrete has thermal insulation properties, it is advisable to use it for insulating pipes. Moreover, this can be done both at the facility itself and during manufacturing. There are also no restrictions on the length or diameter of pipes that need to be insulated.

Another option for using foam concrete for industrial purposes is to fill voids created by building tunnels or digging trenches. This material can also serve as a base for road surfaces. Of course, the density of the material in such cases must be high.

Wall insulation

When a building was built a long time ago and needs insulation, you can use the thermal insulation properties of foam concrete for these purposes. In this case, it is necessary to attach a light frame to the walls at a short distance equal to the thickness of the insulation. DSP sheets can be used to cover the formwork frame. Upon completion of work with the formwork, the liquid mixture should be poured into the formed wall.

Final drying

The last stage of sawdust concrete production is drying. For final drying, the blocks must be moved under a canopy or covered with polyethylene. It is advisable that they be in a draft. When laying blocks, it is necessary to leave gaps between them for ventilation. As a rule, laying is done in the form of pillars. To begin with, a couple of wall blocks are placed on two baked bricks, then a couple more are placed across them, and so on. After a month, the blocks will harden, dry and reach 90% strength. To ensure they are as durable as possible, it is recommended to wait another three months before starting construction. It’s up to you to ignore this rule or not; it all depends on the type of building for which the material is being prepared. For example, to build a bathhouse from sawdust concrete it is not at all necessary to wait until the products are 100% dry. Completely finished blocks must be hard, durable and free of cracks. If dropped from a meter height, they should not break.

Using permanent formwork

One of the constructive solutions could be the use of permanent formwork made of wood-concrete hollow blocks. When filling the voids with the working mixture, a high-strength frame is formed.

For monolithic structural wood concrete, the benefits of installing such a system should be calculated. On the one hand, the blocks occupy some volume and allow you to save the volume of the working mixture. On the other hand, the cost of construction is 2-3 times more than that of plywood , however, the latter material is recycled in most cases.

Permanent formwork based on fiberboard or woodchip slabs can be advantageous when constructing houses of more than two floors on a supporting frame, filled with heat-insulating wood concrete.

Construction from monolithic wood concrete is an effective solution with which you can build durable and reliable housing.

How to make monolithic wood concrete with your own hands is clear from the video: