A neighbor built a house out of wood concrete and claims that it is "the best material in the world." What are the pros and cons of wood concrete blocks

Once we built a gas concrete bath for a customer. And his neighbor, a couple of years earlier, had built a house of wood concrete for himself. And when we finished, a neighbor came and began to "explain" to everyone that his house was made of the best material in the world and had no shortcomings at all. I could not restrain myself and tried to explain that arbolite still has drawbacks. As a result, I heard curses in my direction. I will not voice it literally, something in the style - "how do you know, you just do not understand, your head is foolish."

A conversation is like a conversation)) But the customer still doubted. And he began to wonder, and maybe the arbolite is really better than the gas block, and it was necessary to build from it?

In fact, wood concrete is not a new material. And in the 90s it was forgotten. But advertising - a modern engine of progress - brought arbolite out of oblivion. Now, arbolite is often attributed to non-existent properties, both positive and negative. On the forums, it sometimes looks very funny, when an ardent defender of the arbolite says something good, and an angry skeptic approves the opposite. Below there will be photo examples)

Today we'll talk about the advantages of wood concrete. And I'll write about the cons tomorrow.

Discussed advantages of wood concrete:

1. Arbolite block is very light

The light weight of wood concrete makes it possible to save on the foundation. The wood concrete block weighs about 20 kg. According to SNIPs with such a weight, you can work without the use of special equipment. The total weight of wood concrete and brick walls will differ by about 4 times. That is, an arbolite wall weighs 4 times less than a brick one.

2. Arbolite is easy to cut and fasten

Yes this is true. You can even cut it with a hacksaw, but it is more convenient - with a chainsaw. It will be possible to drive a nail into the wood concrete block and tighten the self-tapping screw. But only no one has experimented with pulling out anchors. As a rule, easily hammered in, easily ripped out. Most likely, it's the same here.

3. Arbolite is very strong

Often, when talking about strength, people do not distinguish between bending and grade strength. If you hit the arbolite with a sledgehammer, then only a slight dent will appear on the block. But a hydraulic press works differently. Therefore, the grade of wood concrete varies within M10-M25.

Small buildings of 1-2 floors can be built from wood concrete, preferably with a monolithic armored belt.

4. Good thermal insulation properties

It's very funny, but many people appeal that a station in Antarctica was built from wood concrete blocks. And yes, it is. But the station is located in a place where the temperature does not drop too low.

Arbolite really has a low thermal conductivity. If it meets the standards, then the thermal conductivity coefficient of the structural wood concrete is 0.12–0.19 W / (m ° C), and the thermal conductivity coefficient is 0.07–0.1 W / (m ° C).

5. Any foundation will suit Arbolit

This is a big mistake. Many people say that wood concrete walls will easily survive any shrinkage. It is not true. Yes, wood concrete has good bending strength. But with incorrect calculations of the bearing capacity of the soil and the wrong selection of the foundation, even wood concrete walls crack. Cracks appear mainly along concrete joints.

6. Arbolite house cheap

There is a very controversial point here. In particular, due to the fact that the price of wood concrete blocks in different regions differs at times. It seems to everyone that since wood concrete is produced from waste from sawmills, then its cost should be a priori low. But for some reason no one mentions the amount of cement used, chemical additives, depreciation of machine tools and the cost of manual labor. The price of wood concrete is not low. But when building a house from wood concrete, you can save on: foundation, insulation and decoration.

Arbolite has advantages. But there are no less minuses. I'll tell you about them tomorrow. Subscribe to the channel not to miss the article.

If you have anything to add, write in the comments, I will be glad to hear your opinions and discuss.