What can be done if aerated concrete with broken blocks was brought to you
Aerated concrete is a good material, but it requires careful handling during transportation. It's good if pallets are delivered to you immediately from the factory, and the factory is located a couple of tens of kilometers from you. But much more depends on the level of the crane operator when unloading.
First, I will write about the situation of my reader. According to him, up to 40% of the blocks were broken by improper and careless unloading. Blocks 400 mm wide for external walls.
Photo from my construction site - there are also many chipped corners. How I fix the situation - I'll tell you below.
So, he decided to saw such blocks with chips in half, unfold them with even edges outward. Lay the sawn blocks on the whole in the lower masonry and press on top, too, whole. I would also apply glue foam to the longitudinal seam. In my opinion - an excellent way out of this situation. Small voids inside the masonry are not terrible.
But you have to cut a lot. To do this, you need a machine for cutting aerated concrete, because Using a hacksaw on aerated concrete, a large volume of rip sawing will be difficult to handle. I wrote about the assembly of such a machine here
The blocks made by Sibit, which I use, have grippers and you cannot cut them lengthwise, because grip voids will appear on the facade and inside the walls.
I lay the blocks with the whole side on the facade, and with small chips inward. Inside the walls will be plastered and everything will disappear. And the facade without finishing and insulation can stand for a long time.
The Sibit aerated concrete plant is located 800 km away, in Novosibirsk. Delivery of railway, but with reloading on the basis of their representative. All this leaves its mark, damage appears during unloading and loading.
Once they brought me one pallet with heavily chipped blocks of aerated concrete. Agreed to exchange it, tk. there is not a single whole side. It may have been ruined.
Where there are chips on the blocks and the shard is not lost - I glue it on glue-foam. This will be the inner side.
Some chips look invisible after restoration.
Of course, these damaged parts can be sawed off and put into additional blocks. So often I do where the chips are significant. There are not many of them.
Perhaps this is the only thing that I do not like about this material. As I wrote, it is connected with logistics. Let this article be like feedback for companies who supply aerated concrete. I believe that many builders and private developers are deterred by just such moments with block damage.
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Photos of the author (c)
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