Recent years have seen very rapid development of new technologies. Also in construction, new solutions such as photovoltaics, heat pumps and recuperation have appeared in widespread use. Every year several hundred houses are built in Poland, the walls of which are erected with blocks and blocks of expanded concrete. This material combines the properties of ceramics, aerated concrete and silicates.
Leca® BLOK system
This is a construction system with more than twenty years of tradition on the Polish market and more than fifty years of experience on the Scandinavian and German markets. Blocks and hollow blocks are made of expanded clay aggregate combined with cement slurry, sometimes with a small amount of sand. In other words, they are lightweight expanded concrete products that combine the properties of other wall construction materials. Expanded clay itself is a ceramic aggregate. The blocks of the Leca® BLOK system have a similar weight to aerated concrete products. In addition, they have the properties of ceramics characterized by high durability. Brick castles and churches were built several centuries ago and are still standing today. A lightweight porous material such as aerated concrete and expanded concrete is a structural and thermal insulating material, that is, Leca® BLOK combines the properties of ceramics and aerated concrete. The system also includes solid blocks of expanded concrete that have similar properties in terms of strength and sound insulation as silicate products.
In the Leca® offer you can find blocks of various types
© Leca
Blocks and hollow blocks
The Leca® BLOK system prepares blocks for the construction of foundation and basement walls, blocks for the construction of exterior and interior walls, blocks that allow the construction of walls with high acoustic insulation, and elements of lintels, ceilings,chimney and ventilation systems. In the construction of single-family homes, exterior walls are the most material-intensive structures. These walls made of 24 and 36.5 cm wide blocks require about 15 or 8 cm of thermal insulation, respectively, to achieve the currently required U-value of less than 0.2 W/m2K. Walls made of expanded concrete blocks are distinguished from other products by very good vapor permeability. This feature significantly determines the level of thermal insulation of the building envelope. To better clarify this issue, it is necessary to realize that today we use very tight windows that limit heat loss, but also impede natural air exchange. Supporting ventilation and recuperation systems with vapor-permeable materials for walls helps to achieve proper indoor comfort and prevents the occurrence of the phenomena of fungus in the partitions. In addition, the fact that the walls dry out quickly after the construction period and during the operation of the building affects the actual energy savings required to heat and dry the building envelope. It is obvious that only a dry partition effectively insulates against the cold. There is nothing revealing about it only dry clothing makes us warm and damp clothing intensifies the feeling of cold.
To get the right effect of a fast-drying wall, it is advisable to insulate buildings with mineral wool. Wool wall insulation is non-flammable and not susceptible to nesting of unwanted guests, which are sometimes mice, martens and other rodents.
Leca® BLOK blocks perform well in all weather and climatic conditions. This fact is confirmed by the very large number of houses built with this technology both in cold Scandinavia and hot Spain. In the changeable weather conditions we have in Poland, houses in the Leca® BLOK System also perform very well in the humid climate of coastal areas. Importantly, they dry out very quickly even after periods of intermittent use after the fall and winter.
Keramzite houses
Recently, prefabricated houses have also been promoted and sold on the market under the name "House ofexpanded clay". Keramzite is also added to this type of wall. The structure of the prefabricated wall consists of airtight and strong concrete, in which expanded clay is a material that supports thermal insulation and reduces the unit weight of the wall. The main advantage of such houses is very fast installation. However, the vapor permeability and thermal insulation of walls is better with walls built with expanded clay concrete blocks
The products of the Leca® BLOK system are produced by more than a dozen plants throughout the country. More information about the products on the manufacturer's website and there is also a list of manufacturers that deliver products directly to the construction site in a particular province.
Formore information, visit the company 's LECA POLSKA Sp. z o.o. page on thePdD portal.
