ᐅ Brick-and-Mortar Construction vs. Precast Concrete Elements

Created on: 15 Feb 2016 15:52
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sauerpeter
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sauerpeter
15 Feb 2016 15:52
Hello everyone,

Yesterday we visited a show home from Elbe-Haus. During the conversation, we found out that it wasn’t built brick by brick, but rather from prefabricated elements that were simply assembled on site.

Does anyone have experience with this and can share the advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional brick-and-mortar construction?

Thanks a lot.
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sauerpeter
15 Feb 2016 15:56
I have searched online, but I am interested in practical experience. The time savings are not really important to me.
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sauerpeter
19 Feb 2016 10:07
No experience? Generally, I suspect that solid masonry construction (stone on stone) is better. As a non-expert, I imagine that prefabricated components might not fit together as precisely as in solid construction.

As mentioned before, the time savings that construction companies try to advertise don’t really interest me. I’m fine waiting around 7 months or so with solid construction. The main thing is that everything is in good order in the end.

Of course, my primary concerns are thermal insulation and soundproofing. Both seem to balance out more or less. At least, that’s how it appears to me.
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Explosiv
20 Feb 2016 07:17
Hi,
we built with Elbe-Haus in 2014 and are very satisfied with the construction quality.
The prefabricated elements you mentioned are not complete walls but rather floor-to-ceiling masonry sections about 80cm (31 inches) wide at most. We have a single-story bungalow. The truck delivering these parts arrived the evening before installation; the next day, the parts were placed on the foundation slab and bonded more with adhesive than traditional mortar, both to the slab and to each other.
The main advantage, besides speed, is that there are fewer joints, which is better for insulation performance.

The precision fit is so good that the window installer does not need to come back for re-measuring but manufactures the windows directly based on the factory planning, and they fit perfectly. There is nothing to complain about. With walls 36.5cm (14 inches) thick, we were able to achieve KfW 70 standard as of 2014 without additional insulation on the exterior walls.

I can only recommend Elbe-Haus in terms of construction method, adherence to deadlines, and keeping within the budget.

By the way, this construction method is also solid construction—just using larger blocks.
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Grym
21 Feb 2016 10:27
According to the website, these are aerated concrete precast elements. So they are not "precast concrete parts."
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sauerpeter
25 Feb 2016 15:09
Prefabricated elements and precast concrete parts – aren’t they the same? I looked into it more carefully, and it’s actually about system wall elements. About one story high and maybe 1 meter wide (estimated from the photos), joined together side by side like LEGO blocks.

But what exactly are system wall elements? Is it a single element, cast as one piece in the factory, or should I imagine many small blocks (like aerated concrete blocks) that have simply been assembled into one complete element? Does anyone have experience with this?

We’ve scheduled a consultation appointment, but I would like to be informed beforehand to get an idea of the pros and cons. On site, of course, only the advantages will be highlighted.