Hello everyone,
I am planning the construction of a house with a partially basemented area. The house is built on a slight slope, and the rear half directly adjoins the soil. This means the earth is exerting pressure on the house, and rainwater will likely flow toward the building.
So far, I have spoken with structural shell contractors who work with Poroton masonry. Without exception, they all immediately said that the area in contact with the soil should be formed with cast concrete. That seemed reasonable to me as well.
Recently, I visited someone who plans to build their entire house using a Ytong kit, and their colleague mentioned that it is also possible to build this area with Ytong blocks or that there are solutions available for that.
In general, my question is: What do you think about basements made from Ytong blocks? Are there specific Ytong systems designed for basement construction? Or should this approach be approached with caution?
What is interesting is that this colleague is a certified structural engineer and will definitely handle the structural calculations himself (we have done the plans with an architect who is supporting us through the building permit / planning permission process).
Best regards
I am planning the construction of a house with a partially basemented area. The house is built on a slight slope, and the rear half directly adjoins the soil. This means the earth is exerting pressure on the house, and rainwater will likely flow toward the building.
So far, I have spoken with structural shell contractors who work with Poroton masonry. Without exception, they all immediately said that the area in contact with the soil should be formed with cast concrete. That seemed reasonable to me as well.
Recently, I visited someone who plans to build their entire house using a Ytong kit, and their colleague mentioned that it is also possible to build this area with Ytong blocks or that there are solutions available for that.
In general, my question is: What do you think about basements made from Ytong blocks? Are there specific Ytong systems designed for basement construction? Or should this approach be approached with caution?
What is interesting is that this colleague is a certified structural engineer and will definitely handle the structural calculations himself (we have done the plans with an architect who is supporting us through the building permit / planning permission process).
Best regards
Yes, I’m the one with the wooden basement. It’s wrapped in EPDM (but honestly, that should be done by someone experienced) and is built on a gentle slope. This was necessary to ensure that the water around it drains properly.
By the way, wooden basements are quite common in America – so it’s not a new concept.
If you enclose aerated concrete blocks in a similar protective layer, it should work as well. The question is, what are the benefits? We like our wooden basement because we never had any moisture issues, and it still smells really nice.
Aerated concrete also performs well without moisture (it’s glued together, right?), so I see that as an advantage.
Just ask around – you also have a slope where you are.
By the way, wooden basements are quite common in America – so it’s not a new concept.
If you enclose aerated concrete blocks in a similar protective layer, it should work as well. The question is, what are the benefits? We like our wooden basement because we never had any moisture issues, and it still smells really nice.
Aerated concrete also performs well without moisture (it’s glued together, right?), so I see that as an advantage.
Just ask around – you also have a slope where you are.
guckuck2 schrieb:
However, due to structural requirements, aerated concrete is definitely a last resort for building a basement. Then there is the water issue.
It might be possible somehow, but why rush into this? That is not entirely correct.
Aerated concrete actually has better compressive strength than some other types of stone, such as pumice.
With Ytong, you can build three stories on top of each other, whether there is a basement underneath or not does not matter. There are different blocks with varying compressive strength; the ones used at the bottom are heavier because they have a higher density. Properly waterproofed, this is perfectly fine as long as there is no water pressure. In a specialized forum like this, it is better to avoid cliché statements like "aerated concrete is, due to structural requirements, the last choice for building a basement" anyway.
Q
quattro12311 Oct 2019 14:03Thank you all for the many responses; they have been very helpful to me.
Pamiko schrieb:
That’s not entirely correct.
Aerated concrete blocks have better compressive strength compared to some other types of stone, such as pumice. It can always get worse.
Alex124 schrieb:
If properly sealed, that is completely fine, as long as there is no hydrostatic pressure. The risk is still higher, and potential damage more severe.
Alex124 schrieb:
In a specialist forum like this, This is a user forum, not a specialist forum.
Alex124 schrieb:
One should avoid repeating clichés like "aerated concrete is, due to structural requirements, the last choice anyway for building a basement." Since I apparently offended your favorite building material, please name a stone even less suitable than Ytong for (one-sided) burial.
We’ve already discussed pumice.
Because, as you might have read, this was not about impossibilities, but about what makes sense.
Similar topics