Styrofoam brick

How about building a house out of polystyrene foam? It's fast, cheap, warm, and economical. Where's the catch?

The technology of building buildings from foam plastic blocks appeared in Ukraine relatively recently, in the late 90s. However, in Western Europe, foam plastic has been used for building for over forty years. From the outside, a house built from foam plastic bricks is no different from a traditional one. The advantage of foam plastic blocks is that they are resistant to moisture, bacteria and microorganisms, their installation can be carried out very quickly, and houses built using this technology are characterized by low energy consumption. So why don’t we trust this technology? Probably, we just don’t like to experiment.

What's the secret?

Foam blocks have an empty space in the middle. This space is filled with concrete. The result is two foam walls, each 5 cm thick, filled with a 15 cm layer of concrete (25 cm wide is the most common size of foam blocks). Manufacturers often offer their customers foam blocks of other sizes, in particular with thicker walls, which improves the thermal insulation of the building.

Foam walls have a strong structure and have good thermal insulation - their heat transfer coefficient U fluctuates between 0.11-0.28 W / m² K.

Construction of walls from foam blocks requires the use of vertical reinforcement in the corners of the building and around windows and doors. In addition, layers of horizontal reinforcement are required in the lower layers of the walls and under the windows.

All from one manufacturer

Manufacturers offer ready-made systems for construction from foam blocks - standard elements of different shapes and purposes. Each element has its own name. Foam structures can be covered with any roofing material.

If you are building a house with a basement, take into account that basement walls can also be built from foam plastic, as this material protects the building well from groundwater.

Foam blocks are not suitable for building ceilings. It is best to use wooden ceilings in this case.

Installation of windows and doors, ventilation and chimney installation is carried out in the same way as in the case of traditional technologies.

Wall decoration

Walls made of polystyrene foam can be finished in a variety of ways. Most often, such walls are plastered (it is necessary to use a fiberglass mesh).

Also, foam walls can be finished with clinker bricks or siding.