Hello everyone,
After careful consideration, we have decided to build a house using the "Lego" principle. Unfortunately, we have found very few suppliers online (actually only one) that also offer some level of support. It is important to us to always have a contact person available and to have someone present during the wall casting process. So far, we have only been able to find the company Argisol for this.
Do you know of any companies in the northern German region that offer this building method?
When I look at websites like VariantHaus or similar, it seems they only provide the materials, and the builder is then left completely on their own.
After careful consideration, we have decided to build a house using the "Lego" principle. Unfortunately, we have found very few suppliers online (actually only one) that also offer some level of support. It is important to us to always have a contact person available and to have someone present during the wall casting process. So far, we have only been able to find the company Argisol for this.
Do you know of any companies in the northern German region that offer this building method?
When I look at websites like VariantHaus or similar, it seems they only provide the materials, and the builder is then left completely on their own.
Hello,
thank you for this informative thread!
I am also interested in building with formwork blocks. However, I still have a few open questions... Maybe someone here can help...
Project: I want to build a multi-story commercial building myself, with freestanding exterior walls, meaning there is only an internal wall branching off every 8-10 m (26-33 feet). With sand-lime bricks or aerated concrete, you would need to plan a reinforced concrete support every 3-5 m (10-16 feet). So you couldn’t just lay the blocks freely but would constantly have to cut them. Also, in commercial construction, you could often use large blocks and therefore finish more quickly.
Is my assumption correct that with Neopor you don’t have spacing issues because you basically have a reinforced concrete wall?
Do the intermediate floors provided by system suppliers have a suitable load capacity (for water tanks, about 500 kg/m² (102 lbs/ft²)) for spans of 6-7 m (20-23 feet)?
Instead of interior plaster, I want to use drywall panels. That way, I can avoid external contractors here as well. Does anyone have practical tips on this?
For the exterior, I want to combine brick slips and WPC cladding. Do you apply the brick slips directly onto the formwork blocks, or should they be plastered first?
In addition, I want to use “muscle equity” construction and issue an invoice from my company A (purpose: sales and installation of building materials, technical products, and drywall systems) to my company B for my labor. Only this way can my own work be considered for subsidies.
Do you need a master craftsman certificate for Neopor like with traditional masonry, so that I can forget about it? Or possibly only for the concrete work?
Thanks in advance to anyone who has advice or answers 🙂
Best regards
Tycriss
thank you for this informative thread!
I am also interested in building with formwork blocks. However, I still have a few open questions... Maybe someone here can help...
Project: I want to build a multi-story commercial building myself, with freestanding exterior walls, meaning there is only an internal wall branching off every 8-10 m (26-33 feet). With sand-lime bricks or aerated concrete, you would need to plan a reinforced concrete support every 3-5 m (10-16 feet). So you couldn’t just lay the blocks freely but would constantly have to cut them. Also, in commercial construction, you could often use large blocks and therefore finish more quickly.
Is my assumption correct that with Neopor you don’t have spacing issues because you basically have a reinforced concrete wall?
Do the intermediate floors provided by system suppliers have a suitable load capacity (for water tanks, about 500 kg/m² (102 lbs/ft²)) for spans of 6-7 m (20-23 feet)?
Instead of interior plaster, I want to use drywall panels. That way, I can avoid external contractors here as well. Does anyone have practical tips on this?
For the exterior, I want to combine brick slips and WPC cladding. Do you apply the brick slips directly onto the formwork blocks, or should they be plastered first?
In addition, I want to use “muscle equity” construction and issue an invoice from my company A (purpose: sales and installation of building materials, technical products, and drywall systems) to my company B for my labor. Only this way can my own work be considered for subsidies.
Do you need a master craftsman certificate for Neopor like with traditional masonry, so that I can forget about it? Or possibly only for the concrete work?
Thanks in advance to anyone who has advice or answers 🙂
Best regards
Tycriss
Hello everyone,
I would like to share my experience with Euromac2 wall, roof, and ceiling systems. It all started with an information day in France, where we visited the factory. It left a good and solid impression. The manufacturing and storage were well organized. There was no technical briefing, only the salespeople explained everything. Euromac2 was promoted as the best system—very fast and without disadvantages. 100% airtight. No need for a breather membrane. Just plug the elements together and pour concrete. You get the feeling you can build your house in 3 days. I believe that’s the trick of the system, but more on that later.
First of all, I must say, you won’t be able to build an inexpensive house in one week. It’s a lot of work and definitely not faster than a team of three masons from Moldova... Whether the construction runs smoothly depends 100% on the architect and the structural engineer. If the planning is not perfectly adapted to the system, you’re in trouble. That was the case for me. I built a bungalow 19 x 10.5 meters (62 x 34 feet) with a staggered single-pitch roof and a concrete slab covering half of it. Just for the walls and ceiling, 2400 kg (5,300 lbs) of steel were planned—that was a nightmare. Above the windows, I had a reinforcement cage with five 12mm (0.47 inch) bars integrated into the ring beam, which included four 12mm bars. In the corners, there were six 12mm bars bent at 90 degrees each. Ring beams ran over all load-bearing sand-lime brick walls (all my walls are load-bearing), etc. I had to assemble all the cages myself on site because they were 20 x 10 cm (8 x 4 inches) and had to be integrated into the Euromac2 blocks. Just handling the steel with my two helpers took us several weeks. You just stand there and curse about how to get the darn steel into the Euromac2 walls.
There was zero planning support from Euromac2 beforehand. They did provide a folder with all data, but it didn’t include anything like this. The salesperson told me he had kicked his own structural engineer off the site... so much for that. By the way, the salesperson himself had started building in early 2020. He only recently finished laying the screed—which doesn’t exactly support the “build fast” claim. The architect was not very understanding of Euromac2 either. I’ll also share some pictures of the steel and the plans. Euromac2 should have provided precise advice, for example, cages only 10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 inches) so they can be slid into the blocks and manufactured off-site by the steel fabricator.
Now, about the construction process.
The blocks were delivered at the end of November. The next day, the site supervisor arrived with the alignment props. He came around 11 a.m., and we started unloading. There was about a 2-hour instruction session, and then the first blocks were assembled. The day ended quickly—it was dark by 4:30 p.m. The next day, we set up all the alignment props and placed a few more blocks. I had two masons with me. They started working on the sand-lime brick walls, while I continued alone with the Euromac2 blocks. What annoyed me was that, according to the supervisor, the blocks didn’t have to be leveled. You just always plug in two blocks and screw them together. This resulted in the third block not fitting properly because the bottom was slightly off level, and it protruded at the top, especially around the window. So, we had to dismantle, realign everything, and tighten again.
Another annoying thing was inserting the sliders and tightening the blocks with the wooden wedges on the alignment props. Every block must be fastened to the alignment props. Often, the problem was that where the wedge was supposed to go, there was steel inside, so it didn’t fit. Or the sliders couldn’t be inserted because there was steel at the slider locations as well.
It took us one month for all the interior walls and the Styrofoam blocks. Then it was New Year. I spent the whole of January on the 100 m² (1,076 sq ft) ceiling and all the steel in the ceiling and walls. When we wanted to pour concrete, the supervisor was on vacation for two weeks. Then came the snow. When the snow was gone, the supervisor was on vacation again, and then the snow came back... frustrating. On February 26, we finally poured the concrete, which ended in a small disaster.
The supervisor had inspected all walls when placing the ceiling and said, in his opinion, everything was perfect and ready for concreting. On the day of pouring, I had a foreman, a helper, and the Euromac2 supervisor on site. We had a few hours left and went over everything. It was said to be perfect. The first concrete truck mix was adjusted by the supervisor; the concrete was perfect, flowed reasonably well through the steel cages, and stopped near the windows. The supervisor hadn’t checked the second truck—the driver apparently added plasticizer and a lot more water. The consistency was much thinner. We poured anyway, and immediately the first block on an interior wall was pushed out. We had to brace it with planks. Then, right afterwards, another interior wall pushed the outer wall outward. The Styrofoam walls were cut, and the sand-lime brick interior walls were resting against them. The concrete pressure was so high that the exterior wall shifted. The screws in the alignment props broke. Concrete flowed into the bathroom. Then, further along, a slider at a floor-to-ceiling window broke out, letting concrete flow into the living room. At the next standard window, the supervisor had poured concrete almost up to the top; suddenly, all the concrete flowed out of the window opening onto the floor slab. Nerves were frayed. Two people cleaned up while two kept pouring. Ultimately, this happened because the mixer was not properly adjusted despite the supervisor being present.
In addition, it was said that all wall connections should have been screwed with 10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 inches) wooden battens, and all sliders at places where blocks were cut should have been additionally braced with planks—that is, the window reveals should have been braced on the sides. I had heard something about the battens at the very beginning but had forgotten. There was never any mention about the sliders. In my opinion, the supervisor failed and didn’t do his job properly. He saw that no battens were installed and didn’t say a word. Well, now I have several slightly crooked walls and had to hand-fill 2 cubic meters (2.6 cubic yards) from above to fully fill all walls.
Pouring the ceiling went smoothly afterward.
Then we moved on to the gable walls, where six reinforcement bars had to be used as ring beams. The bars ran straight under the roof purlins and then curved upward again. Hard to describe—just look at the plans. Getting the steel in there and then pouring concrete was a complete nightmare: six 12mm bars in a 15 cm (6 inch) block. Moreover, it was fair enough that the blocks were not laid level at the bottom. At the top, the blocks no longer fit. After about 3 meters (10 feet) height, there was a gap of around 2 cm (0.8 inch), and you couldn’t plug them in anymore. A real mess. Anyway, everything worked out, and we used tons of steel again before pouring concrete almost a month later on March 22. That didn’t go smoothly either—it was too much steel. We had to add plasticizer and vibrate heavily; otherwise, the concrete wouldn’t flow properly through. There were four spots where no concrete reached, which we had to fill later.
Installing the roof went quickly and went well. It is not 100% airtight. There is a light gap between the purlins and the elements caused by the joint that is always present. I foamed that gap. At some corners, water leaks through in heavy rain (without roofing).
All in all, the structural engineer destroyed me. When I see what others did with their ring beams compared to what I installed, I now have a real bunker. Even the supervisor said there was way too much steel, which he had not seen before. Whether the construction runs well or badly depends on the structural engineer and architect—if they don’t fully understand the product, forget it. And Euromac2 provides no support. The salesperson stopped contacting me on his own initiative. They are just salespeople, and it’s not as cool as they describe. The supervisor didn’t even know the Mercedes among the roller boxes from Beck and Heun that cost nearly €5,000. He had never installed one before, and so on and so forth.
Now, to probably the most important point: the price (gross).
The roof cost €22,000 for 270 m² (2,900 sq ft) = €81/m² (about $7.50/sq ft)
The ceiling cost €5,400 for 89 m² (958 sq ft) = €60/m² (about $5.50/sq ft)
Wall elements cost €25,800 for the following:
Jumbo 35 cm (14 inch) = 137 pieces = €81.32 each net
Standard 35 cm (14 inch) = 29 pieces = €24.33 each
Jumbo 25 cm (10 inch) = 41 pieces = €57.34 each
Standard 25 cm (10 inch) = 9 pieces = €17.13 each
Standard 40 cm (16 inch) (with 20 cm (8 inch) concrete core) = 144 pieces = €27.20 each
Ceiling edge formwork = 30 pieces = €23.18 each
Small parts for sliders and lintels about €700
Alignment props from the supervisor €500
The Jumbo block covers roughly 1 m² (11 sq ft), cost €81.32, and requires 150 liters (40 gallons) of concrete. Concrete costs about €110 per cubic meter (27.5 gallons), so €16.50 more for concrete. This puts the wall price at €116 per m² (about $11 per sq ft) for materials only, excluding labor. What you save, of course, is insulation.
I used 50 m³ (65 cubic yards) of concrete in the walls and ceiling, which cost €7,378 including two pumps. The steel was €1,650. Purlins for the roof including fastening cost €7,500. Interior sand-lime brick walls including labor €11,000.
The total shell construction without windows and doors came to €80,528 (gross), and I did everything myself or had no costs for the Styrofoam blocks—for a 165 m² (1,775 sq ft) bungalow. Where this is supposed to be cheaper and faster, I have no idea.
The ceiling ended up being too expensive. A precast reinforced concrete panel system is cheaper and much faster.
The roof is also more expensive than standard insulation. Due to the lower structural load, you need thicker purlins, which wipes out the savings on the rafters. It’s not truly airtight (100%) either.
It takes forever until the blocks are set and ready for concreting. There are thousands of work steps. Even the masons who built the interior walls were not very impressed with the product. My neighbor started building his townhouse last week: Monday earthworks and sewer, Tuesday pouring the foundation slab, Wednesday starting the masonry, and by Friday evening the supports for the precast ceiling were already in place—with only three workers from Poland. That’s how it should work. He used Poroton blocks and a facing brick facade; it will take about a week more until the facade is complete. If he had used Ytong, he’d be done in a fraction of the time, just like me with Euromac2.
The masons cost me €25 per hour (about $27), including invoice. Every work step was done properly and quickly. You just can’t let a mason work with Euromac2 blocks. You have to be more precise, and they simply don’t know the system. You are 100% on your own when starting with this, and every other trade is afraid of it at first. The electrician is worried about working with styrofoam, the roofer is unsure how to install the roof, and so on. By the time you have carried, installed, and aligned your alignment props, half the ground floor will be up with three masons. Euromac2 requires a lot of extra work around the blocks—with the props, sliders, fastening, the steel, as well as bracing for concreting. All sliders need to be braced, all transitions to interior walls must be braced, etc. Where the three masons raised the entire floor in 3 days, you spend that much time just on the auxiliary tasks. Pouring concrete also takes a full day. Until the supervisor arrives, you can only start around noon. The pouring takes about 3 hours plus cleanup—that’s a full day off work wasted.
I would advise anyone against such a system unless they have a structural engineer/planner who knows it inside and out. Only then can it work. And if even the salesperson doesn’t have a competent planner or engineer, you won’t find one either. I would have planned and built my second house very differently—in a quarter of the time and at a significantly better quality... When you build with bricks, you are done when the block is set. The product itself is good; everything around it is terrible. Euromac2 should provide their own engineers and planners or at least connect you with some so the construction goes smoothly. That is my honest opinion. Often, homeowners tend to sugarcoat everything just to avoid admitting it was a wrong decision.
Best regards,
Daniel
I would like to share my experience with Euromac2 wall, roof, and ceiling systems. It all started with an information day in France, where we visited the factory. It left a good and solid impression. The manufacturing and storage were well organized. There was no technical briefing, only the salespeople explained everything. Euromac2 was promoted as the best system—very fast and without disadvantages. 100% airtight. No need for a breather membrane. Just plug the elements together and pour concrete. You get the feeling you can build your house in 3 days. I believe that’s the trick of the system, but more on that later.
First of all, I must say, you won’t be able to build an inexpensive house in one week. It’s a lot of work and definitely not faster than a team of three masons from Moldova... Whether the construction runs smoothly depends 100% on the architect and the structural engineer. If the planning is not perfectly adapted to the system, you’re in trouble. That was the case for me. I built a bungalow 19 x 10.5 meters (62 x 34 feet) with a staggered single-pitch roof and a concrete slab covering half of it. Just for the walls and ceiling, 2400 kg (5,300 lbs) of steel were planned—that was a nightmare. Above the windows, I had a reinforcement cage with five 12mm (0.47 inch) bars integrated into the ring beam, which included four 12mm bars. In the corners, there were six 12mm bars bent at 90 degrees each. Ring beams ran over all load-bearing sand-lime brick walls (all my walls are load-bearing), etc. I had to assemble all the cages myself on site because they were 20 x 10 cm (8 x 4 inches) and had to be integrated into the Euromac2 blocks. Just handling the steel with my two helpers took us several weeks. You just stand there and curse about how to get the darn steel into the Euromac2 walls.
There was zero planning support from Euromac2 beforehand. They did provide a folder with all data, but it didn’t include anything like this. The salesperson told me he had kicked his own structural engineer off the site... so much for that. By the way, the salesperson himself had started building in early 2020. He only recently finished laying the screed—which doesn’t exactly support the “build fast” claim. The architect was not very understanding of Euromac2 either. I’ll also share some pictures of the steel and the plans. Euromac2 should have provided precise advice, for example, cages only 10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 inches) so they can be slid into the blocks and manufactured off-site by the steel fabricator.
Now, about the construction process.
The blocks were delivered at the end of November. The next day, the site supervisor arrived with the alignment props. He came around 11 a.m., and we started unloading. There was about a 2-hour instruction session, and then the first blocks were assembled. The day ended quickly—it was dark by 4:30 p.m. The next day, we set up all the alignment props and placed a few more blocks. I had two masons with me. They started working on the sand-lime brick walls, while I continued alone with the Euromac2 blocks. What annoyed me was that, according to the supervisor, the blocks didn’t have to be leveled. You just always plug in two blocks and screw them together. This resulted in the third block not fitting properly because the bottom was slightly off level, and it protruded at the top, especially around the window. So, we had to dismantle, realign everything, and tighten again.
Another annoying thing was inserting the sliders and tightening the blocks with the wooden wedges on the alignment props. Every block must be fastened to the alignment props. Often, the problem was that where the wedge was supposed to go, there was steel inside, so it didn’t fit. Or the sliders couldn’t be inserted because there was steel at the slider locations as well.
It took us one month for all the interior walls and the Styrofoam blocks. Then it was New Year. I spent the whole of January on the 100 m² (1,076 sq ft) ceiling and all the steel in the ceiling and walls. When we wanted to pour concrete, the supervisor was on vacation for two weeks. Then came the snow. When the snow was gone, the supervisor was on vacation again, and then the snow came back... frustrating. On February 26, we finally poured the concrete, which ended in a small disaster.
The supervisor had inspected all walls when placing the ceiling and said, in his opinion, everything was perfect and ready for concreting. On the day of pouring, I had a foreman, a helper, and the Euromac2 supervisor on site. We had a few hours left and went over everything. It was said to be perfect. The first concrete truck mix was adjusted by the supervisor; the concrete was perfect, flowed reasonably well through the steel cages, and stopped near the windows. The supervisor hadn’t checked the second truck—the driver apparently added plasticizer and a lot more water. The consistency was much thinner. We poured anyway, and immediately the first block on an interior wall was pushed out. We had to brace it with planks. Then, right afterwards, another interior wall pushed the outer wall outward. The Styrofoam walls were cut, and the sand-lime brick interior walls were resting against them. The concrete pressure was so high that the exterior wall shifted. The screws in the alignment props broke. Concrete flowed into the bathroom. Then, further along, a slider at a floor-to-ceiling window broke out, letting concrete flow into the living room. At the next standard window, the supervisor had poured concrete almost up to the top; suddenly, all the concrete flowed out of the window opening onto the floor slab. Nerves were frayed. Two people cleaned up while two kept pouring. Ultimately, this happened because the mixer was not properly adjusted despite the supervisor being present.
In addition, it was said that all wall connections should have been screwed with 10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 inches) wooden battens, and all sliders at places where blocks were cut should have been additionally braced with planks—that is, the window reveals should have been braced on the sides. I had heard something about the battens at the very beginning but had forgotten. There was never any mention about the sliders. In my opinion, the supervisor failed and didn’t do his job properly. He saw that no battens were installed and didn’t say a word. Well, now I have several slightly crooked walls and had to hand-fill 2 cubic meters (2.6 cubic yards) from above to fully fill all walls.
Pouring the ceiling went smoothly afterward.
Then we moved on to the gable walls, where six reinforcement bars had to be used as ring beams. The bars ran straight under the roof purlins and then curved upward again. Hard to describe—just look at the plans. Getting the steel in there and then pouring concrete was a complete nightmare: six 12mm bars in a 15 cm (6 inch) block. Moreover, it was fair enough that the blocks were not laid level at the bottom. At the top, the blocks no longer fit. After about 3 meters (10 feet) height, there was a gap of around 2 cm (0.8 inch), and you couldn’t plug them in anymore. A real mess. Anyway, everything worked out, and we used tons of steel again before pouring concrete almost a month later on March 22. That didn’t go smoothly either—it was too much steel. We had to add plasticizer and vibrate heavily; otherwise, the concrete wouldn’t flow properly through. There were four spots where no concrete reached, which we had to fill later.
Installing the roof went quickly and went well. It is not 100% airtight. There is a light gap between the purlins and the elements caused by the joint that is always present. I foamed that gap. At some corners, water leaks through in heavy rain (without roofing).
All in all, the structural engineer destroyed me. When I see what others did with their ring beams compared to what I installed, I now have a real bunker. Even the supervisor said there was way too much steel, which he had not seen before. Whether the construction runs well or badly depends on the structural engineer and architect—if they don’t fully understand the product, forget it. And Euromac2 provides no support. The salesperson stopped contacting me on his own initiative. They are just salespeople, and it’s not as cool as they describe. The supervisor didn’t even know the Mercedes among the roller boxes from Beck and Heun that cost nearly €5,000. He had never installed one before, and so on and so forth.
Now, to probably the most important point: the price (gross).
The roof cost €22,000 for 270 m² (2,900 sq ft) = €81/m² (about $7.50/sq ft)
The ceiling cost €5,400 for 89 m² (958 sq ft) = €60/m² (about $5.50/sq ft)
Wall elements cost €25,800 for the following:
Jumbo 35 cm (14 inch) = 137 pieces = €81.32 each net
Standard 35 cm (14 inch) = 29 pieces = €24.33 each
Jumbo 25 cm (10 inch) = 41 pieces = €57.34 each
Standard 25 cm (10 inch) = 9 pieces = €17.13 each
Standard 40 cm (16 inch) (with 20 cm (8 inch) concrete core) = 144 pieces = €27.20 each
Ceiling edge formwork = 30 pieces = €23.18 each
Small parts for sliders and lintels about €700
Alignment props from the supervisor €500
The Jumbo block covers roughly 1 m² (11 sq ft), cost €81.32, and requires 150 liters (40 gallons) of concrete. Concrete costs about €110 per cubic meter (27.5 gallons), so €16.50 more for concrete. This puts the wall price at €116 per m² (about $11 per sq ft) for materials only, excluding labor. What you save, of course, is insulation.
I used 50 m³ (65 cubic yards) of concrete in the walls and ceiling, which cost €7,378 including two pumps. The steel was €1,650. Purlins for the roof including fastening cost €7,500. Interior sand-lime brick walls including labor €11,000.
The total shell construction without windows and doors came to €80,528 (gross), and I did everything myself or had no costs for the Styrofoam blocks—for a 165 m² (1,775 sq ft) bungalow. Where this is supposed to be cheaper and faster, I have no idea.
The ceiling ended up being too expensive. A precast reinforced concrete panel system is cheaper and much faster.
The roof is also more expensive than standard insulation. Due to the lower structural load, you need thicker purlins, which wipes out the savings on the rafters. It’s not truly airtight (100%) either.
It takes forever until the blocks are set and ready for concreting. There are thousands of work steps. Even the masons who built the interior walls were not very impressed with the product. My neighbor started building his townhouse last week: Monday earthworks and sewer, Tuesday pouring the foundation slab, Wednesday starting the masonry, and by Friday evening the supports for the precast ceiling were already in place—with only three workers from Poland. That’s how it should work. He used Poroton blocks and a facing brick facade; it will take about a week more until the facade is complete. If he had used Ytong, he’d be done in a fraction of the time, just like me with Euromac2.
The masons cost me €25 per hour (about $27), including invoice. Every work step was done properly and quickly. You just can’t let a mason work with Euromac2 blocks. You have to be more precise, and they simply don’t know the system. You are 100% on your own when starting with this, and every other trade is afraid of it at first. The electrician is worried about working with styrofoam, the roofer is unsure how to install the roof, and so on. By the time you have carried, installed, and aligned your alignment props, half the ground floor will be up with three masons. Euromac2 requires a lot of extra work around the blocks—with the props, sliders, fastening, the steel, as well as bracing for concreting. All sliders need to be braced, all transitions to interior walls must be braced, etc. Where the three masons raised the entire floor in 3 days, you spend that much time just on the auxiliary tasks. Pouring concrete also takes a full day. Until the supervisor arrives, you can only start around noon. The pouring takes about 3 hours plus cleanup—that’s a full day off work wasted.
I would advise anyone against such a system unless they have a structural engineer/planner who knows it inside and out. Only then can it work. And if even the salesperson doesn’t have a competent planner or engineer, you won’t find one either. I would have planned and built my second house very differently—in a quarter of the time and at a significantly better quality... When you build with bricks, you are done when the block is set. The product itself is good; everything around it is terrible. Euromac2 should provide their own engineers and planners or at least connect you with some so the construction goes smoothly. That is my honest opinion. Often, homeowners tend to sugarcoat everything just to avoid admitting it was a wrong decision.
Best regards,
Daniel
Similar topics