Wall Materials

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There are many alternatives to bricks & cement for walls. Each one has its own set of properties.

More popular wall types

Concrete Blocks

Dense concrete block
Medium density block
Aerated or AAC block, less accurately known as breeze blocks.
- fast & easy to work with
- less sound absorption
- must be rendered when otuside to protect against frost damage
Hollow concrete block
Patterned & decorative blocks used for garden walls
Making Concrete Blocks

Reconstituted Stone Blocks

Stone dust, cement & pigment.

Partition Wall

Wood or steel frame, plus walling sheets, any of:

Plasterboard, the usual choice
Plywood or OSB, good for workshops. Can be plasterboard covered for fire protection
Lath & Plaster, common in historic properties
Clayboard
Fibre cement sheet

See

[[Stud wall]
Stud wall noise reduction

Lime

Lime & sand mortar with various building blocks
standard mortar on historic buildings
Sometimes used on new builds
white appearance
lower embodied energy than cement
disposed of lime mortar becomes a normal part of the soil (chalk), thus eliminating the waste issue of cement mortars
lower compressive strength makes it unsuitable for high rise buildings
Non-hydraulic lime is very slow setting, and can be stored unset indefinitely if air is excluded
This slows down the build rate a fair bit, hence its unpopularity
Hydraulic lime is quick to set

Gabions

Steel mesh cage filled with stone
Useful for retaining slopes that don't support a house
Widely used to retain river banks
Not fireproof, so not usable for habitable accommodation (it can be fireproofed, but is then subject to hidden rusting)

Stone

Types of stone wall:

Sawn (smooth faced blocks)
Coursed, blocks of mixed sizes a multiple of a unit of height
Hammer dressed (rough faced blocks)
Rubble walls (random sized uncut stone)
Dry stone walling (no mortar used)

Poured concrete

Poured into wooden forms in situ
Shuttering ply is mostly used
Diesel is an effective release agent
Polystyrene moulds are sometimes used, the polystyrene staying in place as insulation

Glass brick

Transmits light
Insulation not as good as double glazing
White cement mortar usually used for joints
Glass blocks require steel reinforcement in some of the joints, and an expansion strip round the outside

Strawboard

A one piece sandwich of plaster, card, straw, card, plaster
Low cost
Good sound insulation
Very poor strength, which can make fixing things to the wall problematic
Poor strength makes it possible to fall through one of these walls
Used between bedrooms in some cut price modern builds
Brand name Stramit

Less popular wall types

Dry Block Walls

Concrete blocks are stacked with no mortar
Wall is then covered with glass fibre reinforced render (fibreglass must be ASR resistant)
The render is a structural element
Quicker & weaker than a mortar laid block wall

Adobe

Clay suboil, sand, straw or dung etc
Blocks

Cob

Subsoil, sand, straw, lime
Continuous construction, no blocks involved.

Cast Earth

Subsoil & gypsum
More info

Sprayed Concrete

Concrete is sprayed onto a form
Tyrolean sprayer usually used, though it can be done by hand
Very fast construction method, used for emergency housing after natural disasters
Curvy artistic shapes are readily achieved with sprayed concrete
Wet cellulose insulation can be similarly sprayed

Papercrete

Mixture of pulped paper, cement, sand, subsoil, plus assorted optional additives
Many mix variations, some optimised for insulation, some for strength, some for minimal cost
A wide range of waste materials can be incorporated into papercrete
Main article

There are 3 main ways to build walls with it:

Papercrete blocks stacked with papercrete mortar and papercrete render
Papercrete poured into plywood shuttering
Lath rendered with papercrete is another way to build papercrete walls. A tyrolean sprayer is often used

Earthcrete

Subsoil & cement
Good for paths
Good under gravel drives to prevent muddy sinks

Superadobe

Bags filled with stabilised earth used as building blocks
Barbed wire included in wall joints for earthquake resistance.
http://www.calearth.org/

Rammed Earth

Aka pise de terre
Earth, sand, gravel, clay
A stabiliser is also needed in our wet climate, such as cement, lime or animal blood.
Continous build, no blocks
Poor strength requires thick walls

Roman concrete

Lime, pozzolan, sand & stone.
Cooked rice has also been found in exceptionally long lasting mortars of this type

Sod

Turf strips are stacked.
Contains topsoil, grass and roots.
The plant fibres stabilise & reinforce the soil
Rendered, often with mud plaster.
A low material cost walling option if enough grassed ground is available
Earth constructions require large roof overhang to keep them sufficiently dry

Straw Bale

Bales are stacked & the wall plastered
Bales may be load bearing, or a separate timber frame is used with bale infill.
Very low cost
Very fast construction method
Good thermal insulation
Excellent sound absorption.
Leaks must be repaired immediately to avoid rot
Can be built by children
Makes very thick walls
Render & plaster cover prevents combustion

Rice hull bag walls

Steel mesh forms each side of the wall
Space filled with polypropylene bags of rice husks
Barbed wire included in courses
Good insulation
Quick construction

Mudbrick

Unfired clay bricks
Short life expectancy, around 30 years

Earthship

Stacked tyres are filled with rammed earth, wall then mud rendered
No material cost
Ugly
Bulky

Drinks can walls

Interior non loadbearing wall
Drink cans are stacked with wet concrete between them, forming a concrete lattice wall
Wall is plastered, the plaster attaches to the ring pulls

Hollow Ceramic Blocks

Lightweight lattice-like fired clay blocks are stacked, with or without thin bed mortar
Wall then rendered

Ceramic Pots

Plant-pot like ceramic pots are stacked
Wall then rendered
Popular in Spain

Half Timbered

Vertical wood studs with close spacing
Mud plaster infill
Historic construction method for external walls

Wattle & Daub

Timber stud framework
Woven twig fencing panels (wattle)
Plastered with mud plaster (daub)
Historic construction method for internal & external walls

Dungwall

Fence posts infilled with 8"x2" T&G boards
Primarily used to retain earth
When not nailed to the posts, they require force on one side to keep them in place
Fast to build
Rot prone, unpopular in Britain