ᐅ Basement and aerated concrete blocks – does it work?!

Created on: 10 Oct 2019 17:27
Q
quattro123
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
M
Milo3
18 Oct 2019 10:51
Yes, that’s not up for debate. Ask why they don’t do it? I really don’t understand that. You save 10,000€ now to invest 15,000€ or more later. Haven’t you ever heard that a damp basement can be very, very expensive and the house might not even sell because of it?
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Pamiko
18 Oct 2019 11:00
Building the above-ground parts or basement stone by stone is the standard construction method here. With proper waterproofing (which, of course, will be checked by a certified expert), I don’t see any problems.

However, we are already at a stage where such a fundamental change would no longer be easily feasible. Therefore, the question is whether either of the two types of stone would be better suited here for any reason.

Still, out of curiosity: how do you handle the transitions when only individual (partial) walls of a floor are made of concrete and the rest are built with stone? I imagine that would be very complicated.
M
Milo3
18 Oct 2019 11:09
Transitions are quite straightforward. There are special tracks and anchor hooks, sealed with reactive sealing. The concrete joints are welded shut. You will need the expert more often for this. Just because everyone is doing it this way in this building area doesn’t necessarily mean it is the correct method. It ultimately comes down to a matter of money.
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Pamiko
18 Oct 2019 11:25
I’m not talking about the development area, but our region. I actually don’t know anyone with a concrete basement. Everything is built with masonry...
M
Milo3
18 Oct 2019 11:32
Which region is it?
G
Grantlhaua
18 Oct 2019 14:02
Why Ytong? You must have already looked into bricks, right? Personally, I wouldn’t build a house using hazardous materials, so Poroton would be my only choice. (Besides, my predecessors are right about the concrete basement.)