The AirCrete Has Been Done For Two Days. Cutting It With Woodworking Tools. Does It Float In Water?
We made that test batch of AirCrete two days ago. The rain let up and gave me a window to go out and play with it for a minute and I wanted to share.
I just grabbed two of the blocks that were on the pallet and took them to cut and play with. On was really full of air and one was from the bottom of the barrel and it was just mixed some more before we poured it into the container.
As you can see the thinner on looks like it has less are in it because we mixed it more without adding any more foam. It is a little bit heavier than the bigger one is. It is a lot smoother and it really looks like a chunk of concrete. The other block has lots of air mixed in with it from the foam and I can pick up that block with one hand.
I wanted to see if woodworking tools would cut these to blocks without tearing up the blades. So I went and found an old miter saw that the box for it had got misplaced or lost. Then I went to work cutting these blocks. The bigger block cut really easy with that saw, along with the smaller one. I had no problems cutting either one.
I cut a chuck out of the bigger of the blocks and it was really easy to do. I had no problem cutting it. The miter box saw having a lip on top of the blade so I could not cut all the way through it with that saw. But I did get a good size piece out of it.
I then wondered if it would float like everyone that told me it would. So I went and got a 5-gallon bucket and filled it half full of water and dropped it into it. I thought it would just sink to the bottom as we all know it is still concrete, right! Well, to my surprise it popped right back up just like a cork. IT DOES FLOAT!
The smaller block I cut also, I used a reciprocating saw to cut a section off of it. I made a video of it but my arm holding the block, blocked the camera so you cannot see it all that well. It started to rain again and I did not have the time to make another video. I am new at all of this so it will be trial and error to get things right. I will be making another video of it and I will post it so you can see that it will cut that block with woodworking tools too. Here is some cut views of that block.
It had the foam bubbles broke up smaller in it from mixing it more and I thought it would be really heavy but it is not as heavy as you would expect it to be. The saw had no trouble cutting it whatsoever. Although it did not float in the bucket as the water was not deep enough. But I think it will still float just sit lower in the water.
I will get some more video of this at a later time when the breaks in the rain are not so short. It has been fun doing this and it will take some trial and error to get it all right and ready, so we can build with this material. There really is no one teaching this method in the U.S. (most are in Mexico and other places overseas) because most building codes will not allow it in the U.S. If you look and talk to the county planning and zoning they will work with you lots of the time. If you find a county in the U.S that will let you then it is nice to build with instead of the traditional way of building. That subject will be coming up in the series of "You Want To Homestead" posts that I am doing.
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STOPWhat a neat process for making blocks for building! Why won't some codes allow for it?
It is the traditional thinking by many and the fact that you are not buying wood and insulation and everything else that goes with building a conventional house from the big corporations.
Very cool! Thanks for going all science lab on it and sharing the results! Maybe you can do some comparison tests as far as strength (roll a truck over perhaps) I had never heard of this stuff but it is definitely peaking my interest as an artist. I imagine an aircrete sculpture, if it is not excessively fragile, would be much easier to handle than one cast from solid concrete.
Nice work whats the ingredients then? Look quite durable also intriguing 💯🐒
This was just Portland Cement and water and soap foam. You can add other things to it. Next, I think we will be adding PVA fibers to it.
Cool have you considered adding hemp fiber instead of the cement? 💯🐒
The cement is the main binder. The hemp fiber would give it strength, just as PVA fiber does. Without the cement, there is no crete and would not work. Hemp fiber has been hard for me to find at a reasonable price.
Right on! Its an expensive commodity unfortunately. Here in the UK you need to pay a small fortune for a licence to grow it. Small steps hey 💯🐒
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Awesome! Thanks for the update. I need to remember to show this to my son as well. Its a fascinating project!
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If this material floats I wonder how well it would work in areas that flood (such as where I live in Houston). I can just see an entire structure getting lifted up and carried away. I suppose there must be ways to anchor this down.
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You are adding a certain fabric cloth to it and it becomes all one big structure. When sitting on a foundation water would not be able to get under it.