ᐅ Lightweight expanded clay aggregate (LECA): Advantages and Disadvantages, Thickness, Suppliers
Created on: 17 Jan 2023 10:29
M
Mar_Mar
Good morning everyone!
My husband and I (both rather paper people) are planning to build a fairly large semi-detached house and are navigating through the jungle of options. We want a solid construction and have spoken with various suppliers. The available options regarding blocks are aerated concrete, Poroton, and expanded clay (prefabricated), all 36.5cm (14.4 inches) thick and built as monolithic walls. Of course, each consultant believes their own material is the best, so I would be interested in your opinions and experiences.
“Actually,” we would rather not build with aerated concrete/Ytong because our naive assumption about moisture absorption (sponge effect) during construction and later when drying out the house seems negative. However, I can understand the argument for its easy workability.
Poroton would be our “favorite,” but I get the impression that many companies really resist using it because of a lot of waste, losses during transport, and comments like “you don’t notice a difference,” etc. Then there is also the split between filled and unfilled blocks.
And then there is expanded clay. Our “new favorite with a question mark.” It seems very interesting because it somehow combines the best of both worlds: dry straight from the factory, quick, even cheaper. BUT if it’s so good, why don’t more people build with it and why are there relatively few suppliers? That makes us skeptical. I’ve read and researched a lot that it often cracks and that its insulation properties are not the best compared to Poroton. We were told that an unfilled 36.5cm (14.4 inches) Poroton block is comparable in properties to a 42cm (16.5 inches) expanded clay block.
We are lost in this jungle of U-values, lambda, etc. Can you support us?
By the way: insulation is more important to us than soundproofing.
Thanks so much!
My husband and I (both rather paper people) are planning to build a fairly large semi-detached house and are navigating through the jungle of options. We want a solid construction and have spoken with various suppliers. The available options regarding blocks are aerated concrete, Poroton, and expanded clay (prefabricated), all 36.5cm (14.4 inches) thick and built as monolithic walls. Of course, each consultant believes their own material is the best, so I would be interested in your opinions and experiences.
“Actually,” we would rather not build with aerated concrete/Ytong because our naive assumption about moisture absorption (sponge effect) during construction and later when drying out the house seems negative. However, I can understand the argument for its easy workability.
Poroton would be our “favorite,” but I get the impression that many companies really resist using it because of a lot of waste, losses during transport, and comments like “you don’t notice a difference,” etc. Then there is also the split between filled and unfilled blocks.
And then there is expanded clay. Our “new favorite with a question mark.” It seems very interesting because it somehow combines the best of both worlds: dry straight from the factory, quick, even cheaper. BUT if it’s so good, why don’t more people build with it and why are there relatively few suppliers? That makes us skeptical. I’ve read and researched a lot that it often cracks and that its insulation properties are not the best compared to Poroton. We were told that an unfilled 36.5cm (14.4 inches) Poroton block is comparable in properties to a 42cm (16.5 inches) expanded clay block.
We are lost in this jungle of U-values, lambda, etc. Can you support us?
By the way: insulation is more important to us than soundproofing.
Thanks so much!
11ant schrieb:
Did you recently move here? The locals in the Eifel and Pellenz regions, extending into the Neuwied Basin, have, for centuries, preferred this traditional local building material. I myself live in a monolithic house made of it, built a long time ago with walls even 30 cm (12 inches) thick. From a resident’s or user’s perspective, I don’t know of any significant differences compared to lightweight expanded clay aggregate (LECA). Under a microscope ;-) there are some differences, but you don’t notice them in everyday life. It’s a good idea to follow the recommendation of the shell construction builder (see "11ant Steinemantra"). Yes, exactly. In the Eifel, this still seems to be a common building material, as confirmed by the shell construction builder. We were just surprised because there is so little information about it online. Thanks very much for the information!!
Bobby007 schrieb:
We were just surprised because there is so little information available about it online. We plow our fields ourselves, and then we have the pumice to look at, so we don’t need the internet for that...
Bobby007 schrieb:
In the Eifel region, it still seems to be a common building material, including for the shell contractor. ... or as Frank Sinatra says: "they have an awful lot of coffee in Brazil" ;-)
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
X
xMisterDx8 Jan 2024 22:28"Very well insulating" needs to be qualified somewhat. A lambda value of 0.10 is acceptable. Ytong ThermStandard has 0.09, ThermSuper achieves 0.08. Poroton reaches similar values with its insulation bricks.
J
jens.knoedel8 Jan 2024 22:31xMisterDx schrieb:
The term "very good insulation" needs some qualification. A lambda value of 0.10 is acceptable. Ytong ThermStandard has 0.09, ThermSuper reaches 0.08. Poroton achieves similar values with its insulating blocks. Is that necessary if you can achieve at least KfW 55 without external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS), according to your statement with this "inferior" block? In that case, the S-class is also fine—after all, there is still Bentley and Rolls Royce.
jens.knoedel schrieb:
Do you have to reach at least KfW 55 standard without external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS) when using this "poor" brick (according to your statement)? In that case, the S-Class is also fine – after all, there are still Bentley and Rolls Royce. So I don’t need to add additional insulation to the brick to meet KfW 55?
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