IN Lately more and more often you can hear talk about the so-called thermal house. It may seem like a made-up term from some science fiction novel, but in reality, everything is much simpler. A thermal house is a house built from polystyrene foam. This technology construction is also called fixed formwork.
In this article, we will talk about how to build a house from polystyrene foam with your own hands.
Characteristics of foam blocks
These blocks are hollow boxes. Their dimensions are standard (95x25x25 cm), but for construction internal walls products of a slightly smaller width are used - 95x13x25 cm.
Note! Expanded polystyrene blocks are produced according to the technology of industrial conveyor production. During a work shift, the production line produces about one hundred and twenty blocks.
The advantages of building materials include:
- ease of processing and installation;
- resistance to permanent moisture;
- light weight;
- excellent soundproofing characteristics;
- high-quality thermal insulation due to the multilayer structure;
- resistance to decay and fungus.
It is also worth noting that the foam refers to "breathable" materials, that is, to those that allow air to pass through.
But there are also disadvantages that must be taken into account even before construction begins.
- Foam blocks do not withstand temperatures above 90 ° C.
- The strength of the foam is just an illusion, in fact, it can easily be pierced with a finger. In this regard, the walls will have to be puttied.
- The material is highly flammable.
The cost of one such block is approximately 300 rubles, which is relatively inexpensive. Consider construction costs styrofoam house compared to brick. So, a thermal house is a structure that is already ready for final finishing, which can be covered with both plaster or paint, and siding. In the same time brick house needs puttying and thermal insulation (with the same foam), which, of course, increases construction costs.
In a word, a thermal house is an inexpensive pleasure, because it already includes both finishing and insulation. Moreover, according to GOST, the height of such a house can reach 15 m, which is equivalent to 5-6 floors.
About the environmental friendliness of the material
Most people are sure that polystyrene, like any other "chemistry", is unsafe or even harmful to health. So far, this fact has not been confirmed, but not refuted either. It should be noted that there are a number of requirements, in particular sanitary and GOST, which the manufactured products fully comply with.
But some people are difficult to convince even of obvious things, which is most likely due to a psychological factor. And even the fact that polystyrene is widely used in insulation and interior decoration, as well as in the manufacture disposable tableware, for some reason is not a weighty argument in this case.
Foam house: building instructions
Dealing with the strong and weaknesses material, you can proceed with the installation. But first you need to prepare everything you need.
Stage 1. Tools, materials
The work will require:
- foam blocks;
- finishing material;
- sand;
- wires, pipes;
- metal fittings o12 mm;
- steel wire for bonding;
- cement of the "six hundredth" brand;
- water;
- crushed stone;
- concrete mixer.
Stage 2. Foundation
Building a house starts with the foundation. The best option- ordinary strip foundation, although it all depends on the characteristics of the soil in the selected region.
After pouring, the base is supplemented with a support. For this wooden blocks 50x60 mm in size are laid along the entire perimeter of the foundation. The entire remaining area must be laid with boards of the same thickness.
Note! After laying, the tree is treated with flame retardant and antiseptic.
Stage 3. Assembly of the structure
The erection of a thermal house is similar to the assembly of a designer - the blocks are joined groove to groove, shifted with reinforcement and assembled into walls.
Step 1. The foam blocks are prepared for installation: they are cleaned, leveled and dried thoroughly.
Step 3. Getting Ready concrete mortar. To do this, cement, crushed stone and sand are poured into a concrete mixer in a ratio of 1: 3: 3 and poured with such an amount of water that a liquid mixture is obtained as a result.
Step 4. After driving five rows, a solution is poured into the voids between the layers of blocks. When pouring, it is advisable to tap on the side surface of each block - so the shrinkage of the concrete will be more dense.
Step 5. A part of the wall is assembled from the next five rows of blocks and again filled with mortar. The procedure is repeated until the completion of construction.
Step 6 Sewerage, wiring and other communications are laid directly into the walls of the house, after which it is covered with a roof and the final finishing of the walls is carried out. It is characteristic that the pipeline is recommended to be laid in still hollow walls, while the electrical wiring is supplied through pre-made strobes (there should be no problems with strobe foam).
In choise roofing material also there are no restrictions. In fact, a foam house is a monolithic structure that can withstand any load, so even natural tiles can be used for coating.
Note! It is better to start building a thermal house in the warm season at a temperature not lower than -10 ° C.
Foam blocks retain their original properties for a long time. There is even an opinion that a house built from these blocks, under appropriate conditions, can last up to 100 years.
Stage 4. Finishing
As already mentioned, there are practically no restrictions on the internal / external decoration of the walls of a thermal house. Financially it is more profitable to use decorative plaster or regular paint, and from the inside to make plasterboard sheathing.
The thermal house may look different. The following is an instruction for the construction of an arched building standard sizes: the height of the walls is 3 m, the total area is about 10 m². Of course, such a structure cannot be used as permanent housing.
What will be required in the work
Before starting construction, you need to take care of everything you need. Below is a list of materials:
- foam blocks;
- building level;
- concrete mortar;
- polyurethane foam;
- dowels, self-tapping screws;
- ruler;
- marker.
Construction technology
Step 1. First, the foundation is being built. In this case, there are no differences from the previous version.
Step 2. A beam of 50x60 mm is laid along the entire perimeter of the base, fastening is done by means of anchors. In this case, the design is periodically checked by the level.
Note! To optimize the fastening, you can use any mounting foam, except for the extra class. This is explained simply: this type of foam expands greatly.
Step 3 Side walls bases protruding above the ground are finished decorative stone. The stone is laid on an ordinary concrete mortar and lightly beaten with a hammer.
Step 4. The foundation is covered with a waterproofing layer (suitable polyethylene film). A brick can be placed on top of the film to increase the strength of the foundation and protect against subsidence.
Step 5. Next, the foam blocks are prepared. They are cut and glued in accordance with the previously taken measurements. For the frame of the arch, you need to use only curly blocks, and you can take ordinary thick sheets to fill the walls. Mounting foam is used for gluing.
Note! For fixing, you can also use special glue for polystyrene, but mounting foam is spent more economically. The only drawback of the foam is that its expansion must be constantly monitored, otherwise the tightness of the frame may be compromised.
Step 6 Finished foam arches are attached to the base with self-tapping screws and dowels. To do this, holes are made around the entire perimeter of the foundation (with equal pitch), into which high self-tapping screws are installed. Then, holes are made in the lower part of each arch in the appropriate places, after which the arches are mounted on self-tapping screws.
Note! For ease of assembly, dowels can be inserted into the holes in the arches in advance.
Step 7 Arches are additionally fixed. If mounting foam is used, then it fills the gap between the frame and the base with a thin tube. If glue is used, then all work surfaces are lubricated with it even before the arches are mounted.
Step 8. It remains only to repair the cracks between the blocks with concrete mortar and plaster the walls of the house. For further finishing, as already mentioned, you can use any material - it all depends on financial capabilities and personal preferences.
As you can see, construction foam house- not such a complicated procedure. The main thing is to correctly calculate the consumption of building materials and securely fix the blocks on the foundation. By the way, not only blocks can be used in construction.
Finally. Perforated styrofoam panels
For fixed formwork you can use not only foam blocks, but also large perforated panels, which are interconnected by a reinforcement frame. The panels are attached to the reinforcement with mushroom nuts at the perforation points (such nuts are made from high pressure polyethylene).
The size of each panel is on average 100x300 cm. The gap between the outer and internal slabs(5 cm thick each) it is 15 cm, which is enough to build a house with two or three floors. Products are delivered to the construction site piece by piece or ready-made.
Video - Building a house from foam blocks
Often after buying a large household appliances there are many pieces of styrofoam left that most people simply throw away.
But, with a little imagination and effort, these faceless white pieces can turn into a real work of art. So, what can be done from foam? This will be discussed in this article.
Home garden decorations
In the country, various figurines of animals or birds made of polystyrene look the best, which adorn themselves household plot. They can be made both volumetric and flat. Anyone will be cheered up by cartoon characters or just flowers that will be installed in the garden or near the house as a decoration.
If the site is equipped with an artificial reservoir, then water lilies or cute frogs at the water's edge will set the right tone for the whole composition.
Bird for decorating a summer house
To decorate trees in the garden, you can make birds from this material. To do this, you need a flat piece of foam, on which the outline of a bird is drawn on a stencil and cut out with a sharp clerical knife. The foam decoration blank is covered with several layers finishing putty on all sides and dry thoroughly after each application.
After the figure has dried, all irregularities are processed sandpaper. Next, you can begin to decorate the decoration with facade paint, which is tinted with the desired shades.
Important! The paint will protect the foam from the effects of varnish and will not peel off at the first precipitation.
The dried bird is covered with a layer of varnish. Thus, it turns out unique decoration from foam, which will delight not only the owners, but also the guests of the backyard.
Craft "Mushrooms" to decorate the garden
This type of design is very popular among summer residents. You can make foam mushrooms large and voluminous with eyes or small piles. Any type of foam decoration will look advantageous.
In any case, the foam blank is performed as follows:
- The hat and leg are cut out separately.
- The parts are fixed together with glue, putty or self-tapping screws.
- Mushrooms are covered acrylic paint suitable shade.
- A layer of varnish is applied to protect the foam from environmental influences.
In this way, you can create any figure, if you work a little and think in advance how it will look. Finished decorations are installed on the ground, tree branches, stumps and anywhere the owner wishes.
Styrofoam interior decoration
Not only crafts for the street can be created from foam. The material is suitable for decoration home interior. Often such details are installed in children's rooms, creating entire panels with cartoon characters or the child's favorite stories. It would also be useful to decorate the house for the holidays, for example, for the New Year with the help of a foam Christmas tree or Christmas figurines.
carved lamp
It is not difficult to make such a piece of furniture, but the decoration made of foam plastic looks amazing. They can be supplemented as living room as well as public space. For work, you will need 4 sheets of foam, a clerical knife, a ruler and a marker, silicone-based glue, a foam cutter, a Christmas garland.
Decoration algorithm:
wall decorations
Styrofoam produces incredibly beautiful wall panels that will look advantageous in any room. The hall and the dining room can be decorated with floral ornaments, the nursery with fairy tale characters, and the bedroom with soothing foam carvings.
It's not difficult to do this, you need to cut out pre-drawn details from a piece of foam, paint them as required by fantasy and the basic design, and attach them to the wall in the correct sequence.
In the children's room, a panel with the name of the baby is often made on the wall as a decoration. To do this, you need to cut out each letter or name completely in the format that was previously conceived and arrange it at your discretion.
Interior details
Ikebana looks great this material and a plastic bottle. There are practically no costs for such creativity, but the effect of the decoration is stunning. To create take plastic bottle green and cut off the neck from it so that this part can be put on flat surface. The entire part of the bottle to the bottom is cut into thin straws and small pieces of foam are strung on each. It is better to take the material that consists of large grains in order to use them for this purpose. The bottom is inserted into the part that was cut off and the interior decoration is placed in the desired location.
On New Year or Valentine's Day, you can please loved ones with pleasant handmade souvenirs. To do this, a conceived detail is cut out of raw materials, decorated, covered with sparkles. A hole is made in its upper part so that you can thread a golden ribbon into the decoration, which will add solemnity.
Conclusion
Styrofoam is such a pliable material that, if desired, can be turned into a unique decoration with various functional loads. If you set a goal, then you can create something really valuable and beautiful from unnecessary pieces of material in the shortest possible time.
Such products will bring a touch of originality to the landscape of the site or the interior of the house and keep the warmth of the hands of the master who performed them.
Many embody creative ideas in a variety of crafts from various materials. Styrofoam is great for this. From it you can create garden figures or decorate the house in the form of pictures, vases, etc.
Styrofoam properties
Before manufacturing from this material, you need to know its characteristics:
- Lightweight and easy handling.
- Foam figures are easy to put together.
- For products made from it, good fixation is needed. If in the garden, then strengthen the figurine with cement.
- Styrofoam does not react with cement, gypsum or asphalt.
- Styrofoam is almost not affected by ammonia or organic (mineral) acids.
- Carefully choose dyes (acetone, dichloroethane and benzene), they can destroy the foam product.
Preparing to create a shape
Crafts made of foam can be voluminous or flat. You need to prepare a piece of foam in advance, a stencil or drawing for a sketch. For the product, you will need putty, as well as screws, tools, glue and various paints.
How to make a beautiful craft with your own hands?
mushrooms are excellent garden decor. You can make a voluminous fungus in the center, and around small trees (flower beds). From the foam, cut out the three-dimensional base (leg) of the mushroom. It is better to cut the hat separately, then fix it on the leg with a self-tapping screw (toothpick). Paint with acrylic paint of your choice. withered finished goods cover with oil varnish to protect the material.
The peacock is more difficult to perform, but looks wonderful in the country. A voluminous piece is needed for the body of a bird, and for a peacock's tail - a flat foam. Then the embossed tail is attached to the body. It is necessary to apply putty in three layers, then sand and cover with acrylic varnish.
To create strong figures with volume, you need a foam frame. It is then covered with cement, you can use mounting foam.
Beautiful crafts for the house from foam
Original crafts are made from foam, you can use boxes from a new refrigerator, TV or other household appliances. The packaging material easily turns under the hand of a young master into beautiful snowflakes, colored balls, Christmas trees or animals.
A bouquet can be easily made from a twig base that can be fixed in a plant pot. Fill with artificial flowers.
Foam plastic is convenient for its softness, any detail can be pinned with pins or small skewers.
It is easy to make a ball out of polystyrene foam, glue it with flowers twisted from colored paper, felt, fabric. coffee beans You can also wrap balloons.
Toys
Foam figures attract young craftsmen with ease of execution. Let's conduct a small master class on crafts from foam:
- Select a pattern and apply through tracing paper to a piece of foam.
- Carefully cut out the figure along the contour with a clerical knife.
- Paint with paints, then varnish for protection.
- For decoration, you can fix beautiful elements (ribbons, beads, snowflakes, flowers, etc.).
The wish board is a popular product for kids. You can use the box from the packaging for the picture, board. You can use the decoupage technique, or apply the original drawing. We paint the picture with paints, the frame can be decorated with flagella, etc.
For a picture, you can cut out a round sun, paint it with yellow paint. Clouds, boat cut out separately, paint and attach to the board.
Styrofoam decorative plate
Let's analyze interesting idea and instructions for making crafts. For example, to decorate a beautiful plate you need:
- scissors;
- PVA glue,
- varnish with a brush;
- beautiful napkin with a pattern (pattern);
- acrylic paints;
- foam plate.
Stages of work:
- From the selected napkin, cut out a pattern. In order not to deform the pattern, PVA glue must be applied to the napkin, and not to the plate. Then glue the pattern to the plate.
- With acrylic paints, paint the edges of the plate with a wide brush. When the paints dry, you can cover the plate with clear varnish on top.
- The product is ready, you can decorate the veranda in country house or put on a shelf in the nursery to showcase the child's talents.
Knowing what kind of foam is needed for crafts, when buying any equipment, you do not need to throw away the packaging. It's better to leave it until your child lights up brilliant idea on the embodiment of a toy or other craft.
Photo of foam crafts
There are people to whom the expression "styrofoam house" seems silly and not everyone is able to take it seriously. In some way, this phrase is correct, because it is foam blocks that are used to build a house, which are further reinforced with concrete.
We build a house from foam
Today, a Japanese company offers the consumer kits for building a foam house with their own hands. Such Japanese houses, in their opinion, have a lot of advantages, one of which is resistance to earthquakes. This manufacturing company has loudly called its Japanese homes "housing of the 21st century".
The technical features of such a unique material are shown in the table.
Further in the article, we will talk with you in more detail about foam structures, and tell you how positive qualities can boast of such a skin. We will also reveal the secret of the technology for performing work, after which you will be able to build housing from foam plastic with your own hands.
Advantages of a foam house
We build a house from foam
To tell you about foam plastic buildings, it is worth highlighting a number of advantages that a building made of foam blocks can boast of:
- Foam blocks help build a very warm structure
Such a heater, as it were, envelops reinforced concrete profiles on each side.
- A house made of foam blocks is able to perform the function of a "thermos"
Such a building can adequately hold warm air not only in the cold season, but also to keep cool on hot days.
- Available formwork
Formwork is not familiar to everyone shields that need to be strengthened and exposed. At their core, these are blocks of foam, in the middle of which there is a cavity. According to some characteristics, such a material is very similar to cinder block, and outwardly you cannot distinguish them from each other at all. When constructing a building from block foam, you fill its insides with a concrete mass, having installed reinforcement there in advance.
- Possibility to use fixed formwork
Related article: Decorating the kitchen with false panels
This formwork is presented as a complete material. Technology installation work the same: install blocks, mount reinforcement and pour concrete mortar into it. In principle, such formwork can be presented in 3 varieties: as slabs, blocks or standard panel formwork, which is fixed to each other with specialized jumpers. The use of panel formwork is the most affordable option from a financial point of view, but working according to such a scheme is not as easy as we would like.
The most suitable exit self-fulfillment construction works- the use of blocks that are so reminiscent of a long-familiar cinder block.
Also, the foam and concrete structure has some negative aspects, the most significant of which is the "thermos" effect. You can overcome it only by installing a high-quality system in the house. forced ventilation, which makes the work performed more expensive.
Another, no less unpleasant moment is the environmental friendliness of the structure, which, even with dense clogging with plaster, is out of the question. It is also worth noting the possibility of ignition of the material, after which toxic substances will be released during combustion, which can even kill a person.
As you can see, not everything is as rosy as it might seem at first glance.
We build a house from foam
Do-it-yourself foam house
Basically, all buildings, no matter what material, are built using a single technology:
- the foundation is being laid;
- walls are being built;
- structure is roofed.
The only difference can be seen only when building walls, which we will talk about in more detail a little later.
Well, the technology for performing work is carried out in the following order:
- The base layer of foam formwork is laid on a carefully prepared foundation, which is previously isolated from moisture.
- Immediately, reinforcement is mounted on the foam blocks, which is not mounted in every cavity. Better reinforcement will be required in the corners.
- There can be no question of canceling the bandaging of blocks, so you will have to act in the same way as if you were laying a brick. The foam will need to be laid with a slight shift, and every second tier should be laid perpendicular to the previous one. Such a bundle will not differ in additional strength, but the insulating design features will increase significantly.
- In the upper part of the structure, it is imperative to pour out the armored belt, the height of which should be at least 200mm. For these purposes, most often used panel fixed formwork.
Materials needed:
1. 24 foam blocks measuring meter by meter and 5 cm thick.
2. 60 wooden slats with a section of 2 * 1 cm. Length of at least 2.2 m.
3. 5 cylinders with polystyrene foam.
4. 4 rolls of adhesive tape
5. 60 bolts with a diameter of 6 mm. 3 cm long and 60 7 cm long. 120 nuts and 120 washers. 12 screws with rings.
6. 24 linear meters of polyethylene 1.5 m wide.
7. 6 bags of sand.
8. sheet thin plywood 1.5 * 1.5 m.
9. A strong pole, with a diameter of at least 7 cm, made of wood or iron pipe, not less than 3 m long.
10. Pieces window glass any shape and size (preferably large)
11. Several meters of thin soft iron wire.
12. 12 iron mesh fence posts.
13. 12 running meters iron mesh.
14. Putty for foam.
15. Two door hinges, rings for a padlock and a latch for locking from the inside.
Tools:
Drill with a 6.2 mm drill.
Saw on wood.
Japanese knife.
Iron.
The order of the work.
1. In a selected place, a pole is driven into the ground or buried, so that the height from the surface is at least 2.5 m.
2. A circle with a diameter of four meters is drawn around the pillar.
3. 12 foam blocks are installed in a circle and fastened with adhesive tape around the entire outer diameter of the circle in two places, from below (as low as possible) and from above.
Blocks should stand exactly, so that the corners of neighboring ones coincide in height.
4. From one of the rails, pieces 5 cm long are cut off or broken off and placed two by two on the upper faces of all twelve installed blocks. A second row of blocks is installed on top of them and they are also tied with adhesive tape in two rows, one of which must pass along the very top.
5. 12 2.2 meter rails are vertically inserted into the gaps between the blocks from the outside from above. Each of them should protrude slightly from above.
6. Horizontal and vertical gaps, together with the inserted rails, are filled with foam from a cylinder.
You have to wait until the foam hardens.
Lunch break.
7. When the foam hardened, we got a monolithic dodecagon with a diameter of four meters. In one of the faces of this hexagon, we cut a doorway 60 * 180 cm in size with a Japanese knife. We cut neatly and evenly. Do not throw away the cut part, you will need it.
8. We go inside and along the diameter of the central pillar at a height of 2.5 m. opposite the faces of the foam hexagon, we screw in 12 screws with rings.
9. We take the next 12 rails and, having drilled a hole in them from one end, we connect these rails with screws using screws and nuts with washers. (The free ends of the slats should lie on the upper edges of the six-pointer). Thus, we form the rafters under the future roof.
10. We connect the free ends of the rails extending from the central column with the tops of the rails, which were previously inserted vertically into the gaps between the blocks.
To do this, we apply each rail extending from the pole to the top of the rail installed vertically and, having drilled both rails at this intersection at once, we connect them with a screw. The protruding parts of the interconnected vertical and horizontal rails are cut off with a saw.
11. Now our design has acquired minimal rigidity and it is possible to install a roof. The roof is made in advance of polyethylene. To do this, it is cut into six identical pieces four meters long and then soldered together with a hot iron edge through a newspaper sheet in three pieces so that two panels 4 by 3.5 m are obtained.
12. We mark the center of one panel, put it on top of the central pillar so that the center coincides with the top of the pillar, attach it to the pillar with adhesive tape and straighten the roof along the edges so that the edges hang from the side walls. Then we attach the edges to the walls with adhesive tape along the entire diameter.
Everything, now in our house there is a translucent roof.
13. We frame the doorway with slats on both sides. To do this, we apply rails on the sides of the opening, inside and out, and drill through the inner and outer rail and the foam between them. We put the bolts into the hole and fix the door frame. So you need to do around the entire perimeter of the door.
We fasten the door hinges to the frame of the door. If the holes in the hinges are insufficient, expand them with a drill and fasten them with screws.
14. We make a door. To do this, we cut a sheet of plywood into two identical halves and fasten both halves along the length with two slats. Then we cut off the excess plywood to make the door 65 * 185 cm in size and attach it to door hinges so that it completely overlaps the doorway from the outside.
After that to inside We fasten the doors with screws to the foam remaining after cutting out the doorway. This must be done when closed door so that the foam is exactly in place in the doorway. Further, it is necessary to cut strips from it with a Japanese knife so that it does not fit too tightly to the doorway and allows the door to open freely, without clinging to anything.
15. We strengthen the house from the outside. To do this, opposite each edge, almost close to it, we hammer in the fence posts and attach the fence to it from the outside with a wire. In this case, the edge with the door remains free.
16. We lay the remaining plastic sheet on the ground inside the house, for which it will have to be cut from one of the edges to the middle, so that it can be carefully laid out around the pole and sprinkle it with sand so that the edges along the walls and along the cut stick up. This will protect the house from moisture from below.
All. The house is ready. We cut off with a Japanese knife all unnecessary and unnecessary. If desired, windows can be made in the house by strengthening the glass on the walls with a wire threaded straight through the walls at the corners of the glass. Then a hole is cut slightly smaller than the size of the glass.
17. At the end, all the walls of the house outside and inside are coated with putty, to which dye can be added. This is necessary to hide all the connections and give the house a finished look.
The area of the house will be about 14 m / 2
You can plant ivy around the house and soon it will be completely covered with leaves and flowers.
If you make an insert, wooden, or iron, on top of the central pillar, then it will serve as a base on which you can fix solar panels, wind turbine, satellite dish and other gadgets.
The photo shows another house, but also made of foam blocks.
