Why did I fill in reinforced concrete columns in the aerated concrete house under construction?

DIY construction from aerated concrete continues. But not as fast as we wanted, and even more so as planned. A rainy summer and a lot of unaccounted-for work hours that are not visible. One such stage, and with a departure from the project, was the process of pouring reinforced concrete columns. I decided to play it safe. I will try to tell you about my reasons.

At the end of July, he began to lay out the internal walls, which will also be load-bearing. The floor slab will rest on them. I laid the TechnoNIKOL shut-off waterproofing. Began laying the first row of blocks on mortar.

I am often guided by common sense and do not risk it again. If I doubt something, I strengthen this knot. And now, questions arose about the places of support of this plate:

The PK-30-15-8 slab is located across the rest and rests on the walls of aerated concrete 20 cm thick. And under it there are also doorways and, subsequently, the support of the concrete staircase beams:

Cracks may form in highlighted areas. Doorways are often reinforced with brickwork. But in my case, it would be necessary to make all the internal walls with brick 25 cm wide. Pour the basement along the foundation, increasing its width from 20 to 25 cm. And I would lay out the inner two walls in the evenings for at least two weeks. And the gas block 200 mm wide was already delivered.

I decided to reinforce the openings with concrete columns with reinforcement. I tied the frames from the fittings that were planned for the lintels of the windows of the second floor (there will be factory lintels). It takes a long time to mount the formwork from the planks for the columns and it takes at least 2 days for each layer of concrete to cure. I decided to make a permanent formwork from cutting (from the ends) of aerated concrete blocks 400 mm wide:

The size of the columns is 25x20 cm. Glued the formwork with foam glue. There were many sections, according to estimates, they were just enough for 4 columns.

The reinforcement frame was fixed with metal brackets and screws to the wall.

There were holes from the locks in the scraps (for this I cut them off). I foamed them with the same glue-foam. The second slide is a trial casting (1 bucket of concrete).

Installed all 4 reinforcing cages. One opening 95 cm wide, the second, to the bathroom - 75 cm

He glued the formwork as the inner walls were erected. He poured concrete 0.8 m high (two blocks wide). But when vibrating with a deep vibrator, in one place the permanent formwork was broken and the concrete tried to escape from the column.

I sawed it off with a hacksaw on aerated concrete. The concrete did not flow out, it was thick. I had to make reinforcements from the board during subsequent fillings:

I thought that the reinforcement in the middle of the formwork that had not yet been filled in would be enough. No, the column was torn apart at the gluing points, it was necessary to strengthen, fix these 80 cm in two places with a board:

The columns were poured in three or four evenings (together with the erection of the walls) to the level of the lintels. Continuation, completion of the construction of columns - in the article about the laying of internal walls. In it I will tell you how I anchored the inner walls to the outer ones.

Someone will write that I did extra work, that nothing had to be strengthened. Because there will be a concrete lintel and an armored belt over the openings. As I wrote, such an increase will not be superfluous. In the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Irkutsk Region, all aerated concrete houses are made with reinforced concrete columns in the corners of the house and in the openings. Because seismically active zone.

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Photos of the author (c)

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