Sawdust concrete used in the construction of houses is usually called a type of wood concrete. The building material was created quite a long time ago, but real popularity has only come to it now. Sawdust concrete is a type of wood concrete, a building material made from sawdust and shaving residues, cement, chalk, sand, clay, etc. Sawdust concrete was first used more than half a century ago, but it became truly popular against the backdrop of the construction boom of the 2000s. The material is especially widely used in the construction of country houses and utility rooms.
The peculiarity of sawdust concrete is that anyone can work with it. Even people without serious construction experience can build a barn or country house using concrete blocks from sawdust. Working with the material does not require special knowledge, skills, or the use of complex tools and equipment.
Sawdust concrete has many advantages, but the main one is the highest level of heat capacity. By building an external wall 300 mm thick, you can be sure that the house will be warm. However, experts still recommend using a profile with a thickness of 400-500 mm.
Sawdust concrete is a fairly durable material with good resistance to mechanical stress. The strength of sawdust concrete allows the construction of buildings with a height of 2 and even 3 floors.
When building houses, two main methods are used:
- production of sawdust concrete blocks and construction of a building using the block method;
- application of monolithic construction techniques using different types of formwork.
Both methods involve preparing a concrete-sawdust mixture using the same technology.
DIY sawdust concrete house
Video instructions: how to prepare sawdust concrete?
Another huge advantage of sawdust concrete is the ease of preparation of the parent composition. Both a summer resident and a novice builder can make the mixture. The main thing is to have a sufficient amount of raw materials and equipment for effective mixing of the composition. To prepare the mixture you will need:
- a metal, plastic or wooden container of large volume (this is where the solution will be mixed);
- a mixer for construction or a hammer drill with an attachment designed for effective mixing;
- mixture ingredients: cement, sand, sawdust, chalk, water, lime, etc.
A construction concrete mixer will be an excellent assistant in preparing the solution. To determine the correct proportions of the mixture, you can use construction scales, or you can get by with a table that approximately determines the amount of ingredients needed:
- Sawdust concrete grade M5 with a density of 500 kg/m³: for 80 buckets of sawdust, 4.5 buckets of M400 cement, 3 buckets of sand, 14 buckets of clay or lime.
- Brand M10 650 kg/m³: 80; 9.5; 12; 10.5.
- Brand M15 800 kg/m³: 80; 13.5; 21; 7.
- Brand M20 950 kg/m³: 80; 18; thirty; 35.
Please note: in the table above, the amount of sawdust is unchanged, but the amount of other components of the building mixture depends on the brand of sawdust concrete. In turn, the brand is determined by the density of the material.
Its construction qualities depend on the density of sawdust concrete. For example, M5 sawdust concrete is an excellent heat insulator, but its strength is low. To build walls, higher grades of material are required, with a much higher cement content. Based on the table, you can calculate the approximate amount of ingredients per 1 cubic meter of sawdust concrete.
The production of concrete-sawdust mixture requires adherence to a certain technology. First, you need to prepare two solutions in two containers:
- dry mixture: sawdust, cement, sand; mix all components thoroughly;
- Dilute clay and lime in water.
At this stage, you can do without a concrete mixer by mixing the mixture ingredients with a shovel. However, you will have to try, because the mass must be homogeneous and plastic. A high-quality mixture is quite dense, it does not spread, but at the same time, when compressed, it does not fall apart into pieces. To achieve optimal density and strength, you can add table salt, calcium nitrate or some liquid glass to the mixture. By the way, these ingredients will increase the resistance of the finished material to fungus and mold. For block sawdust concrete, the same proportions are used as for monolithic concrete.
