Wall Materials

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

More popular wall types

Concrete Blocks

• Dense blocks

• Aerated blocks (breeze blocks)

• Hollow blocks

• Patterned blocks

• Decorative blocks

• Making Concrete Blocks

Reconstituted Stone Blocks

• Stone dust, cement & pigment.

Stud walls

• Wood or steel frame, plus

• Walling sheets, any of:

• • Plasterboard (the usual choice)

• • Lath & Plaster

• • Clayboard

• • Fibre cement sheet

• • Fibreboard & hardboard occasionally found, but not recommended

• • Plywood, good for workshops

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

• Hydraulic lime is quick to set

Gabions

• Steel mesh cage

• Filled with stone

• Useful for retaining walls

• Widely used to retain river banks

• Not fireproof

Stone

• Types of stone wall:

• • Sawn (smooth faced blocks)

• • 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

Glass brick

• Transmits light

• Poor Insulation

• White cement mortar usually used for joints

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

• 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

• Some equipment cost, not a lot
• Very fast construction method, used for emergency housing after natural disasters

• Curvy artistic shapes are readily achieved with sprayed concrete

Papercrete

• Mixture of paper, cement, sand, subsoil, plus assorted optional additives

• Papercrete blocks stacked with papercrete mortar and papercrete render

• Lath rendered with papercrete is another way to build papercrete walls

• Many mix variations, some giving high insulation, some high strength

• A wide range of waste materials can be incorporated into papercrete.

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.

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 wood frame can be 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

• 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 with 8"x2" T&G
• 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

See Also

• Mortar Mixes

• Wiki Contents

• Wiki Subject Categories