ᐅ Concrete house without additional insulation – monolithic

Concrete House Without Additional Insulation – Monolithic

Hello everyone,

We are planning to build on a sloped plot of land (18m (59 feet) * 70m (230 feet)). The project is a single-family house over two levels (basement and ground floor) with about 200 sqm (2,153 sqft), plus an approximately 100 sqm (1,076 sqft) secondary apartment in the attic. The building will face almost 100% south.

We have visited model homes in Bad Vilbel. However, due to the “extreme” slope of the site (combined with the narrow plot), we decided to work with an architect. The initial floor plan is already available.

My question is specifically about the construction method. We prefer a house with exposed concrete. Both outside and mostly inside, the concrete should remain uncovered. For example, the living, dining, and kitchen areas would only have a wooden floor, while the walls and ceilings remain concrete. On the other hand, the children’s rooms would be plastered or wallpapered.

One proposed option for the exterior walls is as follows: concrete / insulation / concrete. An alternative is a monolithic concrete wall made of lightweight concrete that contains expanded clay pellets to improve thermal insulation and heat storage. These walls are quite thick (50–60 cm (20–24 inches)). Searching online, you find related terms such as insulated concrete, Liapor concrete, lightweight concrete, etc.

For the exterior walls in some single-family house projects, the following materials were used:

a) Liapor lightweight concrete LC8/9 with a bulk density class D1.2 and exposure classes XC4, XF1 / wall thickness 50 cm (20 inches) / U-value 0.68 W/m²K

b) Liapor lightweight concrete LC8/9 with bulk density class D1.1 and exposure classes XC4, XF1 / wall thickness 50 cm (20 inches)

This house was also featured on TV (Stefanie and Boris Alexy in Bad Kohlgrub)

c) Liapor insulated concrete with aggregate size 0/8 millimeters (0/0.3 inches) with F3 4/8 millimeters (0.15/0.3 inches) and Liaver expanded glass 1–4 millimeters (0.04/0.15 inches) / wall thickness 45 cm (18 inches) / formwork work completed in four days / Lambda 0.32 W/mK

(Urs Sigrist “maison art” in St. Erhard)

What I cannot find are the costs associated with this type of construction. I hope this is not a bad sign J.

What kind of costs should be expected? As a layperson, this seems like a fairly affordable method: quick formwork, no additional insulation, no plastering or cladding required on the exterior, and partially no plastering, wallpapering, or painting needed indoors on walls or ceilings.

Thank you very much!