Build forever? Cons polystyrene blocks

It used to be easier: if you want to build a house - choose between brick and wood, But now the builder of choice is complicated by the large number of construction materials on the market. We list only the "news" that is already on the ear: Expanded clay, slag, foaming, gas and heat units. And yet there were some blocks dyurasol, arbolit etc. etc!

In such a variety of building materials is difficult not to get lost, to make the right choice, it is important to know the pros and cons of each material. This article will tell about reliable polystyrene blocksTheir pros and cons, as well as building technology.

A few words about the polystyrene blocks.

These units have been developed in the German chemical concern BASF, but similar studies were conducted in the USSR. in 1999 for the polystyrene blocks was designed by P 51263-99, but then the material will not hit the mass construction.

polystyrene - composite building material of two major components: the foam and foam beads of cement stone. To improve the homogeneity of the material manufacturers also use air-entraining (read for insulating) and SAW additives.

Polystyrene blocks appear as follows:

Benefits penopolistirolbetona:

• Excellent thermal insulation: a house does not need to warm further, enough stucco or siding;
• There is no need for additional waterproofing;
• The exact size and geometry of the high ductility of the material: these blocks are not as fragile as the same aerocrete.

disadvantages penopolistirolbetona:

And here is where the fun begins in today's article: it turns out that there are two minuses penopolistirolbetona, one of them very serious.

• Sufficiently high unit cost (about 4000 per cubic meter)
• Small lifetime.

Despite the fact that the manufacturers claim that the house of penopolistirolbetona stand for 100 years, it probably is not. Conclusions about the 100-year period of operation they do on the basis of frost tests, but extremes of temperature - not the only factor that can destroy the house. In the case of penopolistirolbetonom questions is the very composition of the material: the fact that the polymers contained in it composed of 40-50 years will turn into gas, and hence the cavity formed within the material, which will reduce the load-bearing capacity houses.

Most likely, after 30-40 years, one-storey house of penopolistirolbetona with a light wooden roof and wooden beams, and the same will continue, because the walls of the load is not so great, but the two-storey building due to the destruction of expanded polystyrene in the cavity walls can collapse.

Choose construction materials wisely!