How to make a concrete house with your own hands - monolithic (filled), pros and cons

A house made of concrete is a modern option for building reliable and durable housing by pouring concrete mortar into removable or permanent formwork. The monolith is created according to a project drawn up in advance, with careful adherence to technology.

Among the main advantages that concrete houses have are high heat-saving characteristics, excellent strength and sound insulation, long service life, the ability to realize any idea and idea, creating a beautiful modern building.

The methods of pouring concrete during the construction of a building differ insignificantly - in one case, the formwork is dismantled after the concrete hardens, in the second it acts as a structural element of a monolithic structure. It is quite possible to carry out all the work yourself by building a concrete house with your own hands. But before you start building a building, you need to carefully study all the features.

DIY concrete house

Concrete is a building material consisting of crushed stone, sand, water and cement. Preparing concrete involves thoroughly mixing the ingredients and pouring it into containers, where the concrete solution subsequently hardens. To build a warm house, special fillers are added to the mixture to improve the quality of concrete. Concrete composition for building houses has many advantages, one of them is the ability to prepare a solution and build a structure with your own hands.

How to build an energy-efficient stone house and move in in one season

My name is Anna, I'm from Irkutsk. I would like to share our family story of building a country house from prefabricated reinforced concrete by myself, my husband Andrey, my teenage son (in the wings) and two workers. Construction began on June 26 last year, and people moved in on December 1.

It was the prefabricated monolith that was chosen not by chance among the many technologies for suburban construction, but after careful calculations and comparisons.

The idea of ​​building our own house did not appear spontaneously – we had been renting a house for five years. Only stone options were considered. I have many years of experience living in a wooden house, which I don’t want to repeat. In terms of finances, making a box from aerated concrete is only one and a half times more expensive than from concrete, but then the question of insulating the walls arises. My husband found Tiltap on this forum and shared it with me. At first I curled my lips and said that I didn’t need the Khrushchev. Next came mathematics (which I am not good at). Andrey, formerly the best mathematician at the school, gave me calculations for various materials. They counted up and down. The homemade prefabricated monolith won and was chosen for construction. We didn't have much money, but we had to build it quickly.

A plot that satisfied all the “wants” was purchased a year before the construction of the house - within the boundaries of a rural settlement near the city, next to asphalt, next to a public transport stop.

Anna and her family did the design themselves, and by the time they acquired the land, the project was almost ready, all that remained was to “tie it” to the area. The main guideline in developing the plans was the combination of the needs of family members with financial capabilities. The result of careful planning was a one-story Chalet-style house with an area of ​​120 m², with high ceilings, with the necessary set of functional spaces and no frills.

Pros and cons of a concrete house

When working with a concrete house, the following advantages are distinguished:

• speed of installation;
• reliability;
• longevity;
• high strength of the structure;
• relatively low financial costs;
• in a monolithic house there are no gaps through which the cold passes;
• soundproofing the room;
• the possibility of using any finishing material on top of concrete;
• the possibility of constructing buildings with your own hands;
• concrete has various geometric shapes, which simplifies the installation process;
• when pouring the solution evenly, the formation of cracks is reduced;
• the use of light mixtures in the composition does not require deepening the foundation.

DIY concrete houses have the following disadvantages:

• the need for additional equipment when working at height;
• due to the metal reinforcement of the walls, the house will need grounding;
• when using permanent formwork, it is necessary to ensure ventilation of the room so that the house can breathe;
• welding the frame will require a lot of labor, which is also necessary for a possible concrete floor;
• a warm house can only be built after proper insulation;
• if the design includes permanent formwork, polystyrene is used, and when burned it releases toxic substances that are harmful to human health.

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Recommendations

To construct a building, you always have to touch on different areas of construction. The following will help the reader create a complete and high-quality home:

If you made a mistake with the foundation or there is a desire to complete the floor, you will have to strengthen the foundation. There is a relatively simple way to raise a house using jacks. The method will help lay the right foundation for the house; covering a house made of foam blocks is a complex procedure, since the walls have a low load-bearing capacity

Concrete slabs and other heavy floors are undesirable materials; At the final stage of construction, it is important to select types of exterior finishing for the house that will create additional protection from the destructive influence of the environment and improve the appearance.

Tools and materials for work

When constructing buildings and structures made of concrete, you cannot do without the following tools and equipment:

• mixer for connecting concrete components;
• containers for mixing concrete mixture with your own hands;
• shovel;
• reinforcement;
• trolley for transferring solution;
• construction hair dryer;
• perforator;
• knife for cutting foam;
• various tools;
• wire cutters;
• roulette;
• wire;
• hammer;
• sand;
• fittings;
• cement;
• concrete mixer;
• crushed stone;
• formwork

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Construction methods

The construction of concrete houses occurs in two ways: using removable formwork and non-removable formwork. The removable method involves individual planning of formwork, the purpose of which is to accurately replicate the contours of the future structure. Removable formwork is made of plastic, metal or wood. This method pours concrete mortar with minimal heat transfer, which allows heat energy to be retained in the room. The non-removable method makes the walls thin, but at the same time retains all its structural properties. This formwork has a thermal insulation layer and built-in reinforcement.

Types of walls and methods of their construction using concrete structures

Nowadays, builders use several different technologies for using this building material. They are grouped this way:

Diagram of the constituent components of concrete.

1. Load-bearing external and internal walls, interfloor ceilings. For the manufacture of these frame elements, monolithic concreting with heavy solutions is mainly used, in which ingredients of certain brands and strength classes are mixed. Accordingly, concrete for such walls and ceilings is reinforced with steel reinforcement.
2. Internal walls and partitions between rooms that are not load-bearing. For their construction, various types of lightweight concrete are most often taken.
3. Technological partitions. These structural elements are produced using blocks of ultra-light aerated concrete.

If we take into account the purely engineering features of the construction of concrete walls, they suggest 3 main solutions:

• construction of a building from prefabricated concrete panels;
• production of frames from standard blocks;
• pouring monolithic type walls using removable formwork.

With permanent formwork

The permanent formwork method has the following types of construction: corner, longitudinal, above the window, under the window. This method of wall construction has an internal layer of thermal insulation, which allows you to save on heating costs. It simplifies the installation of the structure due to its lightness and creates various room configurations.

Thermal insulation of the material is especially important for buildings and structures, because its absence requires the construction of walls of great thickness. The disadvantages include the formation of danger as a result of the release of toxins into the atmosphere, which appear during a fire in buildings.

Construction technology

The formwork is placed on a layer of waterproofing and fastened into grooves; this technology creates a strong pouring of concrete mortar, as a result of which there is no leakage of the mixture at the joints. When pouring the formwork, it is prohibited to use heated solutions; they can form condensation in large quantities, which will increase the humidity of the room. By using permanent formwork, the house is provided with a good layer of thermal insulation, which only requires covering the polystyrene foam boards with facing material.

How to prepare the solution correctly?

In order for a built house to last for many years, it must be built from high-quality materials. Therefore, let’s look at what components are needed to make concrete at home quickly and to ensure that the solution turns out to be of high quality.

For the composition you will need:

• cement and water;
• plasticizers and crushed stone;
• sand.

For the solution, 5 - 20 mm crushed stone is used, its edges are rough and jagged. Water should not contain any additives, and its amount is 20% by weight of cement. If there is more of it, then when it evaporates it will leave a cavity inside the concrete, which will entail a decrease in strength.

The sand must be class 1, which means it contains only 1% clay impurities. The amount of filtration ranges from 5 to 7 m/day. And this coefficient is only for river or sea sand.

To prepare concrete mortar, cement of class M 400 or 500 is used. Other additives do not need to be used.

With removable

Using removable formwork, methods for its insulation are chosen. One option is to insulate the gap with warm plaster; the second method is a well façade. The well facade is a monolithic wall facing with brick, and the gap between them is sealed with insulation. The well facade is the optimal solution for insulation, which provides the walls with breathable qualities. Thus, the house is resistant to overheating in the summer and will keep the room cool, and in the cold season it will keep warm and resist freezing.

Construction technology

The technological process consists of pouring formwork in several stages. Begin laying the solution no more than 50 centimeters of concrete. Leave the mixture to dry, the next layer is applied after the previous one has completely hardened. After pouring the solution, it is compacted using a deep vibrator. Next, move the mold up after the solution has completely hardened.

The concrete mixture is laid until the required wall height is reached. To make the structure strong, reinforcing mesh is installed in the walls. The finishing of the walls and installation of thermal insulation material is carried out one and a half months after laying the concrete solution, waiting for the final strength of the structure. Thermal insulation material can be:

• Styrofoam;
• mineral wool;
• warm plaster;
• extruded polystyrene.

The removable form is made of wood, metal or plastic. When using a plywood sheet, it is cut with a fine-toothed file and drilled on both sides; this method prevents destruction of the coating. When plywood is stored at the bottom of the formwork, it is protected from moisture penetration onto its surface. To ensure that disassembling the formwork does not cause difficulties, the plywood is coated with a special mixture and fasteners are fixed to it.

Varieties of monolith

If initially monolithic houses were only made of reinforced concrete, today there are variations on the theme - instead of DSP they use wood concrete or sawdust concrete, and instead of a reinforcement frame they use wooden racks.

But the essence remains the same - enclosing structures are not assembled or laid out from individual elements, but rather are poured. As a result, monolithic, seamless walls of almost any geometric shape are formed, which frees up the hands of architects. That is, if the abundance of bay windows and arches during construction from block/brick/wood significantly complicates the process, then no special effort will be required when pouring.

Since ordinary reinforced concrete turns out to be too cold, due to its high thermal conductivity and thin walls, foam concrete, polystyrene concrete or expanded clay concrete are used to do without additional insulation. In the first case, the thermal conductivity of the wall is reduced due to the formation of a large number of air pores in the concrete due to foam, in the second - due to the addition of polystyrene or expanded clay granules. But according to its varieties, the monolith is divided not by the type of concrete poured, but by the type of formwork - it can be removable or permanent.

Removable formwork

In the private sector, it is usually made of moisture-resistant or laminated plywood; boards, metal or plastic are less commonly used. The sheets are used whole or cut into pieces, depending on the scale of the fill. The elements are fastened together and, as they are poured, moved to a new location, since only specialized companies can afford to assemble the formwork for the entire house at once. And self-builders fill houses in stages, mainly horizontally. Plywood is deservedly popular, as it holds its shape well and allows you to get a smooth wall surface, and if it is also laminated, then the set can be enough for more than one construction site. As for fasteners, everything is individual.

Plywood 12 mm thick, increased moisture resistance, 2500 × 1200 mm, cut in half along the length (600 mm), four ties per sheet (sheets were drilled through, folded together, 100 mm from the bottom), the top was tied together with bars. Ties with two jammed nuts at one end, 250 mm long, 8 mm in diameter, were lowered into the spindle. Drive-in nuts are driven into the formwork from the outside; you only need to turn it (with a screwdriver) from inside the walls.

Rearranging removable formwork as it is poured is considered one of the most labor-intensive and time-consuming processes, and the fewer operations required, the better.

Advantages of sawdust concrete

Wood processing waste, cement, water, sand and binding components are used to make building blocks from sawdust concrete. Due to the large amount of sawdust, the material is lightweight. The cement in the blocks gives them strength.

Blocks measuring 390x190x190 mm and weighing no more than 20 kg are considered optimal. Often during production, part of the cement is replaced with clay, lime or liquid glass, which reduces the cost of the finished product. By changing the percentage of components, it is possible to produce material of varying density, strength and porosity.

Pros of construction

Although simple and inexpensive components are used in the production of sawdust concrete, this material has many positive properties. Its advantages:

• The wood filler content in the blocks reaches 70%, which indicates their high environmental friendliness.
• Building materials are treated with special compounds that reduce their hygroscopicity. The maximum moisture content in sawdust concrete does not exceed 8−12%. If necessary, this figure can be reduced to 3%.
• Sawdust concrete has good frost resistance, so it can be used without cladding. Frost resistance of buildings (fences, outbuildings) reaches 100 cycles.
• The building blocks have good fire resistance, since the wood-chip filler in them is covered with a sand-cement composition. They can withstand fire for 3 hours.
• The thermal conductivity of the blocks is not much less than that of porous concrete. A sawdust concrete wall 40 cm thick has the same thermal conductivity as a brick wall 90 cm thick.
• The material has good sound insulation.
• The blocks have high tensile and bending strength. It is higher than that of gas and foam concrete. Wood filler and special fiber additives have good reinforcing properties, so sawdust concrete can be used in areas with seismic hazard.
• Sawdust concrete blocks are easy to process. Using a hacksaw, milling cutter or saw with fine teeth, they can be given any shape. The blocks are easy to drill and you can easily drive nails into them.
• The cost of sawdust concrete is lower than that of many other building materials. The price of one wall block with parameters 390x190x188 mm is 3-4 rubles. cheaper than a product of the same size made from sand and screenings. One block replaces 5-7 bricks. Do-it-yourself sawdust concrete houses will cost 2-2.5 times less than brick ones.

Cons of building materials

Despite all the advantages of sawdust concrete, builders note some of its disadvantages. These include:

• High degree of hygroscopicity, which requires additional wall cladding and the use of various additives.
• When building a multi-story sawdust concrete house with your own hands, you need to add more cement to the blocks. This increases construction costs.
• The material shrinks quite a lot, which complicates finishing work.

Useful tips

When groundwater lies high, a layer of clay up to 10 cm is laid at the bottom of the pit.

To strengthen the soil, up to 50% of sand is replaced with coarse and medium fraction crushed stone. It is better to choose cubic and rounded stones, without using layered bulk materials.

It is important to collect soil correctly; wells are made in different places on the site. The water level is determined by neighboring wells or by filling wells made for collecting soil

Heaving soil rises and falls up to several centimeters throughout the year; if the monolithic foundation is weak, cracks will appear throughout the house. It is better to provide a 20% safety margin.

DIY blocks

Strict adherence to technological requirements is a necessary condition for the manufacture of quality products. Sawdust and shavings are used as wood filler, which are taken in a one to one ratio. They should be free of soil, dust, roots and bark.

Fresh wood waste is not suitable for production. They are pre-conditioned for 3 months or treated with lime. Before making blocks, wood waste is sifted through a sieve. A concrete mixer is used to mix the components, since it is impossible to thoroughly mix them manually. To produce blocks you will need the following materials:

• wood waste: sawdust and shavings;
• lime or alumina;
• cement grade M300;
• water;
• additives: liquid glass, ammonia acid, sodium sulfate and others.

There are different types of sawdust concrete, which differ in composition, manufacturing method, amount of binder components and mineral additives. The building material is made as follows:

• mix cement, filler, sand and lime in the required proportions;
• mineral supplements are dissolved in a container of water;
• the resulting solution is added to the mixture of components;
• mix the resulting composition thoroughly.

The resulting mixture should be plastic and homogeneous. To check its quality, you need to squeeze the resulting raw material in your hand. In a high-quality composition, moisture should not appear between the fingers, and the mixture in the hand should not crumble. Otherwise, binders are added to it.

From the resulting mixture, blocks of different shapes and sizes can be made. For filling, special molds with a removable bottom are prepared in advance. The building composition is poured into them in layers and compacted. The blocks are left until completely hardened, after which they are removed from the molds and sent to dry in a place protected from sunlight and rain.

The blocks dry out slowly. It will take several months for them to be fully prepared for installation. To obtain high-quality building materials during production, the following rules are adhered to:

New type of construction

Scheme of a wall made of poured foam concrete.

As usual, a foundation needs to be made for the building. Here we also do it, but again, depending on the soil, it must be made 20-30% wider and deeper than when building a brick house.

Now, to the reinforcement of the foundation frame at the corners and at the junctions of the partitions, you need to attach the following reinforcement frames with tying wire (making them above the pouring level) and fill them with concrete.

In combined construction, columns of the required height (size 40x40 cm) are poured with concrete, at the ends of which protruding parts of the reinforcement are left to make the lintel frame. In this case, the lintels (their size is also 40x40 cm) will seem to hang in the air, and you will get a concrete frame. The gaps can be filled with foam concrete blocks, bricks, or filled with sawdust concrete (the composition for filling the walls is prepared from a mixture of sawdust, cement and sand in a ratio of 1:2:6; practicing builders recommend using large wood chips soaked in lime mortar instead of sawdust).

If we plan to build a second floor, then we continue to do everything in the same way, only the lintels on window and door openings with a width of 40 cm will have a height of 20 cm. In terms of seismic resistance and load-bearing capacity, such a structure will comply with building codes.

Upon completion of this work, you can begin installing the roof and interior decoration of the room. Concrete lintels allow the installation of floor slabs, as they are very durable. The outside of such a house requires decorative finishing.

Reasons for use

When determining the feasibility of using a technology for constructing a poured house, one should compare its advantages and disadvantages.

Like any technology, monolithic housing construction has its problems. First of all, weather conditions create some difficulties in the production of structural elements, especially at sub-zero temperatures in winter. The chemical activity of the water contained in the solution leads to hardening of the concrete. An increase in temperature increases the activity of water; as the temperature decreases, it decreases, which slows down the hardening process. During frost, water freezes and increases in volume, disrupting the structure of concrete and reducing its strength, and this, in turn, reduces the frost resistance and water resistance of the entire building. Therefore, it makes more sense to build a flooded house in the summer, when the air temperature is more stable.

This technology requires the involvement of professional craftsmen. And the technological processes themselves (installation of reinforcement, installation of formwork, pouring concrete) are very labor-intensive and expensive (when compared with masonry work). In addition, the process of pouring concrete is lengthy; it takes 28 days to completely harden. At the same time, brick is more expensive than concrete, especially since it is possible to reduce the cost of the material by preparing the concrete mixture yourself. Hence the conclusion: the construction of a poured house will cost more than the construction of a wooden frame, but cheaper than the construction of a classic brick structure.

Undeniable advantages

Using this technology, interior spaces can be planned without placing emphasis on load-bearing walls, since external walls are load-bearing. You can make different ceiling heights in different rooms, use wide interior openings or arches, and form any curvilinear shapes, which allows architects to create unique images of buildings. There are practically no seams on monolithic walls, hence the absence of problems with their sealing. As a result, increased sound insulation and dust resistance. Since the load-bearing frame is able to withstand various loads, it is possible to erect buildings of various heights and purposes.

Since concrete is a good conductor of heat, poured houses take a long time to warm up. Using external insulation, you can not only eliminate this problem, but also turn it into an advantage: by accumulating heat in your walls, it will cool for a long time and keep it cool in the summer. Until now, only adobe buildings had this ability.

Advantages of buildings

Buildings made of sawdust concrete comply with all sanitary and hygienic standards. They retain heat and have good sound insulation. Sawdust concrete blocks have a large number of pores, which ensures natural ventilation of rooms and maintains optimal humidity in them.

Building a house from sawdust concrete with your own hands is quite inexpensive. You can make the blocks yourself; all the necessary components can be easily purchased in stores. Their production must begin in advance, since the blocks must dry completely.

Depending on the needs of construction, products of different sizes can be made. Sawdust concrete buildings are erected in two ways:

• form sawdust concrete blocks and work with them in the same way as with any block material;
• monolithic sawdust concrete is produced using formwork pouring.

The second method gives an advantage in speed, but the construction of smooth formwork is labor-intensive. Since sawdust concrete is highly hygroscopic, the walls need to be plastered. This is done after the building has completely settled, approximately 8 months after construction.

Dismantling of structures

It is not for nothing that reinforced concrete is considered one of the most durable and reliable building structures. So dismantling them is a very labor-intensive and dangerous process. Before starting any work of this kind, you should prepare a “workplace”.

• First of all, the time for the work is agreed upon. Most methods are accompanied by very loud noise, the formation of dust and construction debris.
• Inspection of the dismantling site: is it possible for equipment to pass through, what tool is best to use, etc.
• Disconnect all existing utility lines and dismantle them.
• Access roads are being laid. It is necessary to prepare the site for the equipment and provide sufficient free space.
• The area of ​​the site where dismantling is being carried out is fenced off.

Only after the preparatory work has been completed and approved, demolition or dismantling begins.

• The explosive method is dangerous to implement. However, if the house needs to be demolished, this method turns out to be the most appropriate.
• To dismantle structures, mechanical devices are used - from wooden wedges to a wedge hammer. Today the method is rarely used.
• Electromechanical involves the use of electric and pneumatic tools. This includes a pneumatic jackhammer, a wire saw, and a diamond drill, depending on the strength and size of the structure. For small scale repairs, for example, a hammer drill will do.
• Electrohydraulic is considered the most acceptable, but is not used for small work inside the building. Based on the action of hydrocline - water with abrasive particles supplied under high pressure. The force of the method is comparable to an explosion, but unlike the latter it does not create a blast wave.
• Combined method means a combination of certain methods.

Dismantling cannot be carried out continuously: it is necessary to sort and remove construction waste as work progresses.

Another important point in dismantling is ensuring the stability of structures during disassembly in order to prevent their premature collapse. Therefore, it is recommended to entrust the dismantling of reinforced concrete elements to specialists.

Read below about the construction of a private country house from monolithic reinforced concrete.

The video below tells about the dismantling of reinforced concrete using a hydrocline:

Construction of foundations and buildings

Houses made of sawdust concrete are lightweight, so they can be built on any soil. The only exceptions are those that are too heaving. The foundation for houses can be shallow. Driven piles or a strip foundation are suitable as a foundation. You can also use a columnar foundation, the supports for which are made of concrete or brick. The choice of foundation type depends on the financial capabilities and wishes of the owner.

The foundation is waterproofed using roofing felt, bitumen mastic or other materials. Additionally, it is sprinkled with sand at a distance of 0.5-1 m to prevent contact with the soil. Brickwork is made to a height of up to half a meter from the base, which will protect the sawdust concrete from melt water.

Block buildings

The walls of houses made of sawdust concrete blocks are erected in the same way as from other types of block materials. The following compositions are used as masonry mortar:

• Adhesive for porous materials. It allows you to create thin seams that prevent heat loss. But it does not make it possible to correct geometric defects of blocks.
• If the wood filler is treated with moisture-repellent agents, then cement mortar can be used for masonry. It corrects uneven blocks well and strengthens walls.

The blocks begin to be laid from the highest corner of the foundation. When laying, the horizontal and vertical walls are regularly checked. Every three to four rows the masonry is reinforced with metal or plastic mesh. The size of masonry joints should be no more than 8 mm, otherwise there will be significant heat loss.

Window and door openings are decorated with timber or channel bars. After the last row of blocks has been laid, a support beam is attached around the perimeter of the walls for mounting the roof.

Bay houses

To speed up construction, monolithic sawdust concrete is often used. To make a monolithic house from sawdust concrete with your own hands, install formwork from steel sheets, moisture-resistant plywood or lumber. The shields are attached to the frame with self-tapping screws. Its optimal height is 60 cm. The formwork is filled with building mixture. After the material has set, the formwork is moved, then the next level is poured. The result is a monolithic wall, which dries and gains strength as a single mass.

Before constructing the foundation, geological tests are carried out to determine the composition of the soil, the level of freezing and the depth of groundwater. The analysis results allow you to choose the optimal type of foundation.

Houses built with your own hands will last quite a long time if the manufacturing technology is followed. The living conditions in them are comfortable. The cost of building houses made of sawdust concrete is much lower than that of buildings made of other materials.

Preparation and calculations

Calculation of the dimensions, reinforcement and amount of concrete of a monolithic strip foundation depends on the dimensions of the base. The amount of concrete and reinforcement is related to:

• type of foundation (only the outline of the house is laid or is there a division inside into sectors);
• brand of concrete;
• width and length of the “tape”;
• thickness and height of the base.

The type of strip foundation is determined by the load level:

1. Recessed - for massive buildings built on soft soil.
2. Shallow - used for light-weight buildings, as well as for fences and wooden houses.

According to the depth of installation, in the shallow version, a concrete belt during low-rise construction is installed 20-50 cm into the ground. In the second case, it is buried below 50 cm.

To calculate the amount of materials, you need to determine the area of ​​the foundation, find the required volume of concrete to pour and the amount of metal that will be required. You will also need to decide on the volume of wood for the formwork.

To calculate the reinforcement yourself, watch the video:

The calculation of the foundation based on the load-bearing load is reflected in the video:

Read more about calculating strip foundations here.

Monolithic work in the construction of houses and walls: types and technology

Modern materials from which housing can be built today amaze with their diversity. Architects offer a lot of projects that combine various materials. And manufacturers offer to buy ready-made projects that are assembled directly on the construction site from pre-labeled parts. However, monolithic walls using technology are completely produced on the construction site, when concrete is poured into pre-set formwork. We will try to figure out how to build a monolithic house with our own hands in this article.

Advantages and disadvantages of monolithic construction

Advantages

• Strength and resistance to damage. The monolithic structure, due to its integrity, is highly resistant to various ground movements, earthquakes and gullies.
• Curvilinear construction. Due to the fact that the formwork can be installed with any curvature of the lines. Building a house from a monolith with intricate walls is a completely feasible task.
• Integrity of the walls. The absence of seams makes the building box warmer.
• All-weather construction. Modern materials make it possible to carry out monolithic work at any time of the year and on any soil.
• Fast construction.
• Relatively low financial costs.
• Uniformity of shrinkage. The constructed monolithic frame of the building does not crack due to uniform shrinkage.
• Any option for interfloor covering. It can be constructed from monolithic concrete, slabs or wood.
• Lightweight concrete mortars. You don’t have to build a heavy buried foundation if insulating additives are added to the concrete solution: slag, expanded clay, perlite, sawdust, etc.
• Finishing and insulation with various materials. You can choose any material that suits you.
• Warm permanent formwork. If you build walls using permanent formwork, then additional insulation is not required, and the thickness of the walls is significantly reduced. In addition, good sound insulation of the premises is created.

Flaws

• When building a multi-story building, you will need a mortar pump or concrete pump. This specialized technique is used to pour concrete mixtures at height. Therefore, it becomes expensive if you build it yourself.
• Pouring monolithic floor slabs requires the installation of special scaffolding.
• When using permanent formwork, supply and exhaust ventilation will be required due to the high humidity in the house. Since the permanent structure is the thermal insulation of the walls, which has zero vapor permeability, and therefore condensation constantly forms.
• Exclusive and complex projects may require the manufacture of special formwork, which requires additional time.
• Mandatory plastering of walls made of permanent formwork. This is due to the low environmental friendliness of the main material of permanent formwork - polystyrene foam. When burned, this material releases substances that are very toxic to humans, despite the fact that it dies out 2 minutes after ignition.
• Reinforced concrete has metal reinforcement and requires mandatory grounding of the entire house.

Advice! If you build walls without using permanent formwork, and carry out monolithic work from warm concrete, and insulate with environmentally friendly materials, you can get your own comfortable, inexpensive and warm home.

Technical features

A monolithic slab is suitable as a foundation for many soils

A monolithic foundation is a reinforced concrete base slab on which the building is located. The technology for constructing such a foundation is not particularly difficult.

Any private developer, even one who does not have special skills in the construction craft, can pour a slab foundation with his own hands.

However, this technology has its own characteristics and nuances, failure to comply with which can cause premature destruction of the foundation and the entire structure.

We recommend: Everything about the construction of monolithic floors - what you need to know for independent construction

Application area

Strip foundation is the best option in most cases

The most common type of load-bearing foundation in private buildings today is the strip foundation. It is universal and quite simple to manufacture. But in some cases, this option may be completely unacceptable. The reason for this, first of all, may be the characteristics of the soil at the construction site.

For example, a high or constantly changing groundwater level, as well as a large depth of soil freezing, will require the construction of a deep foundation. This makes the construction of a monolithic strip foundation economically unprofitable due to the technical complexity of the work and its high estimated cost.

At the same time, pouring a monolithic foundation slab becomes advisable under a number of conditions.

1. Carrying out work on difficult soils, when it is necessary to evenly distribute the load over as large a base area as possible. Slab foundation technology makes it possible to increase the support area, thereby reducing the specific pressure on the ground.
2. The absence of a basement or ground floor in the house design.
3. If necessary, fill the subfloor. In this case, it is possible to use the foundation slab not only as a load-bearing base, but also as a concrete floor.

When choosing a foundation for a private house, you should carefully analyze all the pros and cons of a particular technology. So, if the developer decides to opt for a slab foundation, he must figure out whether all the technical construction conditions are suitable for a slab foundation.

Pros of technology

The technology for pouring such a base is simple; you can do it yourself

The construction of a slab foundation carries a number of advantages for a developer who decides to choose this option for a load-bearing foundation for his building.

Among the main advantages that a tiled foundation has are the following:

1. High strength. The presence of volumetric reinforcement and monolithic concrete pouring make it possible to create a strong foundation slab that can successfully withstand external influences and physical stress.
2. The simplicity of the technology allows you to pour a monolithic foundation slab with your own hands without the involvement of professionals and special construction equipment. Pouring a slab foundation with your own hands can significantly reduce the overall estimated cost of building a house.
3. Low ground pressure. This figure for the base slab is about 0.1 kg per square meter. cm, which is a record for all types of load-bearing foundations. This is achieved by uniformly distributing the weight of the building over the entire area of ​​the support and allows the construction of fairly massive structures on soft soils.
4. The rigid design of the concrete platform allows it to evenly lower and rise in winter and summer, which is especially important for areas with heaving soil. The forces acting on the foundation slab do not lead to its deformation, which helps prevent cracking of the walls of the building. Similar forces acting from below on a strip foundation can simply split it with all the negative consequences for the building.
5. Increasing the pace of construction. The ability to combine the functions of the base and the poured floor allows you to reduce the overall construction time and simplify the entire process. Arranging a slab foundation with your own hands does not take much time due to the simplicity of the design and pouring technology. Before making the foundation, there is no need to carry out lengthy preparatory work on digging trenches and installing formwork of complex shapes.

Types of formwork for monolithic construction

Monolithic construction is always carried out using formwork. Depending on the area of ​​application, there are the following types of formwork:

• For the foundation. Installed on horizontal supports and struts;
• For walls. Installed using brackets, racks and connecting locks;
• For ceilings. It is laid on a prepared structure of volumetric supporting or telescopic racks;
• Tunnel;
• For ring walls with a changed radius.

Using various combinations of formwork types, monolithic work can be carried out for any structural elements of the future building.

Removable formwork

The removable form is made of steel, plastic, wood, aluminum, etc. The different materials from which the formwork is made require an individual approach to operation. For example, plywood - should be stored in a dry place. To make holes in plywood or cut to avoid damaging the lamination and veneer, you must use a fine-tooth saw. Holes for cables and pipes must be made on both sides.

Advice! In order for the removable formwork to easily move away from the hardened concrete, it must be treated with a special solution.

Permanent formwork

This type of formwork consists of polystyrene foam, is ready for use and does not require additional processing. Manufacturers market all sorts of configurations: longitudinal, corner, above-window and under-window, etc. The construction of removable formwork is reminiscent of assembling a construction set, which is then poured with concrete.

General information

Advantages

The advantages include the following:

As you can see, the advantages of monolithic construction of a private house are more than enough.

Removable formwork

The classic scheme involves the construction of a monolithic type house using removable formwork. It represents a form into which concrete should be poured. They are made individually according to the sizes specified in the project. Moreover, if the plan provides for construction that deviates from the standard, then the formwork manufacturing process will become expensive and time-consuming.

Use plywood, metal, wood or plastic forms as the material for creating formwork. In this case, all elements must be fastened with washers and nuts. Once the mixture has hardened, the formwork can be raised and reused.

Permanent formwork

This method of monolithic construction with your own hands is more modern. In this case, the formwork will not just come in the form of a form for the hardening period, but will also become an integral part of the wall and will be responsible for its insulation properties. Use polystyrene foam as the manufacturing material, which has excellent insulating qualities and is durable to withstand pressure on an uncured concrete mixture. The standard thickness of the material on both sides can be from 0.5 to 0.75 m.

Construction using permanent formwork technology is the fastest and cheapest, since you will immediately provide further thermal insulation and the finishing process will be much faster. It will be enough to cover such a surface with panels and the house will look great.

Monolithic construction technology

Today, builders use two technologies for constructing monolithic walls. Each is determined by the type of formwork that is used:

• removable - the structure is disassembled after the concrete has hardened;
• non-removable - the dismantling of which is not provided.

Monolithic walls with removable formwork

Removable formwork can be used repeatedly. As a rule, prefabricated formwork is made of metal and/or wood: metal panels are attached to a wooden frame.

Advice! The most inexpensive option is formwork, which is put together directly on the construction site from boards or plywood.

The form is set to the width of the future wall and the height of the concrete layer (20-200 cm), which is poured simultaneously, as in a mold.

Construction of walls using removable formwork:

1. Assembly and installation of formwork. For this purpose, panels are assembled from bars and boards up to 50 mm thick. The formwork panels are placed opposite each other, panel to panel, and the distance between them is fixed with spacer bars. Opposite panels are fastened with tightening bolts or twisted wire. Next, spacer slope racks are installed in 1 m increments.
2. Reinforcement. For reliability, the wall structure is reinforced by installing a frame made of reinforcement or reinforced mesh (steel or plastic) into the formwork.
3. Pouring concrete. The formwork is poured with concrete mixture in layers (no more than 50 cm at a time). Then the newly poured mixture is compacted with a deep vibrator. After the concrete layer has hardened, the formwork is moved higher to pour the next layer. This is how the construction of the required wall height is repeated.

The concrete gains sufficient strength to carry out subsequent work within five weeks. Only after this period can insulation of walls and façade finishing work begin.

Attention! Construction using technology with removable formwork requires additional insulation of the walls. This is due to the fact that a frame made of 8-18 mm metal reinforcement creates so-called “cold bridges”. And, if you want the house to be warm, then the zero point should at least be closer to the outer surface of the wall, and better yet, outside it (in the insulation layer).

There is an option to create warmer walls using mixtures with lower thermal conductivity (for example, foam concrete, aerated concrete, expanded clay concrete, slag concrete or perlite concrete). However, these materials are less resistant to loads and destruction (suitable for areas with minimal seismic activity).

Using wet or ventilated facade technologies, walls can be insulated with mineral wool, “warm” plaster, expanded polystyrene, extruded polystyrene foam.

In addition to such insulation, you can use the well facade method. It consists in the fact that on the outside of the concrete wall, with a small indentation from it, a brick or tile is made, and the resulting gap is filled with insulation: ecowool, expanded clay, etc.

Monolithic walls with permanent formwork

Permanent formwork is blocks or panels made of various materials that are mounted into a structure, reinforced and then filled with concrete. After the concrete mixture hardens, the structure is not removed, performing the function of insulation.

Thermoblocks made of foam polystyrene are the most popular type of permanent formwork today.

Construction of walls using permanent formwork:

1. Installation of formwork. Formwork blocks made of expanded polystyrene are laid out on the surface of the foundation, and they are connected into tongue-and-groove locks, which ensure the strength of the structure and prevent concrete from leaking out. For one pour, the blocks are laid out to a height of up to 50 cm (otherwise the solution will not harden well).
2. Reinforcement of the structure. There are special grooves inside the blocks for laying horizontal reinforcing rods. After their installation, vertical reinforcement is carried out. At the junction points, the vertical and horizontal rods are connected to each other with knitting wire.
3. Pouring concrete into formwork. The concrete mixture is poured simultaneously to the height of the constructed formwork and immediately compacted with an internal vibrator. While the concrete hardens, you can begin laying out the next row of formwork. As a rule, the time to lay out the next row of formwork is equal to the time it takes for the concrete to harden in the previous row, so the process of building a wall practically goes without stopping.
4. Finishing work. Almost any materials can be used to decorate monolithic walls with permanent formwork. This is necessary to protect polystyrene foam from various damages.

Attention! Warm mixtures cannot be used in technology with permanent polystyrene foam formwork. Only concrete is suitable for this. This is due to the fact that polystyrene foam is a non-breathable material, and warm mixtures, on the contrary, have high vapor permeability; as a result, condensation will accumulate between the layers - a good environment for the development of mold and mildew.

Monolithic houses of portal participants

alexxxxx built his house from monolithic reinforced concrete using removable formwork technology.

alexxxxx

The walls were minimally reinforced (openings, corners and upper layers of floors along the perimeter, trimmings between layers). The concrete was mixed ourselves, proportions 1/2.5/3 (cement, sand, crushed stone). Crushed stone used fractions of 20-40 mm, I regretted a thousand times that I did not buy 10-20 mm, it is difficult to take large ones with a shovel from a pile and it is much easier to bayonet concrete with a small fraction. It took two months with breaks for the main work (the slab was poured last year).

A house for permanent residence, the foundation is a regular slab, 15 cm thick, with ribs of 40 cm, backfilled with 30 cm sand, drainage around the perimeter. The slab was immediately filled with a heated floor contour, six branches (33 m each), water distribution to the bathroom and kitchen, and a sewerage system (grey drains).

The user's walls are 15 cm thick on the first floor and 12 cm on the second, lightweight floor slab (beams 15 cm, canvas 7-8 cm). It was not possible to finish it in one season, so the cast box spent the winter without a roof or insulation, but no cracks or other damage were found in the spring. In the new season, the project underwent changes, and the house acquired an extension using the same technology, but with the addition of a ready-made crushed stone-sand mixture to the concrete. Insulation with expanded polystyrene slabs on the facade (18-20 cm), expanded polystyrene crumbs on the attic floor (30-35 cm).

Another of our craftsmen, cprivetom, preferred permanent formwork made of chipped concrete with PPS as insulation for his one-story monolithic house.

cprivetom

We began construction of a house for a family of six - two parents and four children, a house for permanent residence. I had to tinker with the layout. We treat the house quite utilitarianly, the main thing is that you can live in it comfortably, and decorativeness is secondary. Therefore, the form is simple - without bay windows, tricky corners, ledges and turrets, the roof is gable, the facades are without decorations. Some say you have a “barn” style, but for us it’s a simple “ranch”.

The foundation is a slab, 30 cm thick, lying on a 10 cm layer of EPS, the slabs are laid on a compacted bed of crushed stone (5 cm), the crushed stone is laid on a compacted sand “cushion” (40 cm). The main communications – water supply and sewerage – were previously laid out in a layer of sand. The insulation was covered with glass insulation, a reinforcement frame was laid in two layers with reinforcement under the load-bearing walls (125 mm pitch), and concrete was concreted with a ready-made solution.

cprivetom

Using this technology, you can make one row per day (0.5 m in height). Doing means setting up the formwork and pouring it. But this is in good weather (not this summer) and in the absence of force majeure. The first row requires much more time to mark the wall as accurately as possible and reduce the upper border of the first row along the entire perimeter to one level. Then drill about two hundred holes in the slab to install the bottom row of ties, drive fasteners into the slab to connect the formwork to the wall and prepare for pouring (concrete receiving boxes, gutters). By the time the formwork is assembled, the insulation should already be glued to the inside of the slabs.

Since it was decided to move before finishing the finishing work inside and out, they did without large investments - the facade was painted with acrylic paint using a spray gun. First, cprivetom sawed off all the external ties, then painted them spot-on with metal paint to prevent rusty streaks from forming in the future. The walls were painted in two layers, but he admits that three are better; to protect against moisture, the entire façade was additionally treated with a waterproofing agent.

cprivetom

We like the look of painted chip cement on the façade. From a rough building material, it becomes “soft” (in terms of ease of perception) and textured, vaguely reminiscent of shell rock. You shouldn’t count on the finality of the painting on the inside – all the flaws are more visible at close range.

Both craftsmen are happy with their houses; minor adjustments could be made if it was possible to “rewind the film”, but there are no complaints about the technology itself.

Types of concrete solutions for monolithic construction

In monolithic construction, concrete solutions with different thermal conductivity and vapor permeability are used.

• Concrete. Cold and requires mandatory insulation.
• Reinforced concrete. Requires additional insulation, since the reinforced frame “pulls” the cold.
• Expanded clay concrete. Warm, and the degree of heat retention and vapor permeability depends on the density of the solution.
• Slag concrete. Less durable than expanded clay concrete.
• Sawdust concrete. It is a mixture of cement, water, sand and sawdust. Requires a layer of waterproofing. Quite durable, environmentally friendly, retains heat.
• Arbolit. It is similar to sawdust concrete, but instead of sawdust there are wood chips.
• Foam concrete is a mixture of cement, water, sand and foam former. Warm and breathable material.

Thermal properties of a frame-monolithic building

Replacing an expensive and ineffective load-bearing wall in terms of thermal conductivity with light and warm filler is the main argument for constructing structures of this type. However, in low-rise buildings, the loads on the wall are not so high, which makes it possible to use light and fairly strong elements as load-bearing structures, although in multi-storey construction the gains are more noticeable.

A typically southern style of infilling the frame with blocks.

Frame-monolithic buildings are very popular in the southern regions, as they allow you to replace the load-bearing wall with a thin partition made of a material with low strength, and support the interfloor slab on columns. In regions with harsh climates, a wall made of lightweight concrete usually has sufficient load-bearing capacity to support the weight of the next floor's foundation structures. A self-supporting wall must be at least 40 centimeters wide, which requires the use of aerated concrete or foam concrete of such grades that can bear a serious load.

The problem area is the insulation of concrete columns, crossbars, and the ends of monolithic floors. This task can be accomplished by using highly efficient polymer materials, which allow achieving good results with a small thickness of the product, which means complicating the wall structure. The rigidity of the base, which is a three-dimensional reinforced concrete frame, guarantees the integrity of the external walls, which perform thermal insulation and decorative functions.