The Leca brand is a leading manufacturer of building materials based on expanded clay. They can be used to create all walls in a residential or public building. Keramzite concrete elements are also used to make ceiling blocks, lintel fittings, ventilation ducts and chimney housings.
Estate of houses from Leca BLOK
© LECA
Walls based on expanded clay
There are many materials for house construction on the market today. The most popular are: ceramic, aerated concrete and silicate. Recently, however, we are returning to the large slab, but also to wood and clay.
Is it possible to find a material on the current market that combines several characteristics of leading materials at the same time? Scandinavians already 60 years ago relied on expanded clay. Keramzite concrete blocks and wall blocks have similar thermal insulation and strength to wood, plus, like ceramics, they are non-flammable and do not require constant maintenance. In Poland, the Leca® BLOK System has existed for more than 20 years. The most popular in this system is the Leca®BLOK 24 hollow block, but it is worth remembering that the manufacturers of these products offer a complete system of elements, allowing you to build a healthy and warm house at a reasonable price.
Leca Polska sp. z o.o. exercises technical supervision over the Leca® BLOK system, which includes, among other things: foundation blocks, wall blocks, blocks for walls with high acoustic insulation, floor elements, chimney and ventilation elements. These products are widely used in the construction of healthy, comfortable and warm houses, both single-family and multi-family.
Leca® BLOK foundation walls
Leca® BLOK foundation block was created for demanding investors who want to reduce the price of the implementation of the investment, and at the same time do not accept any compromises in the construction of foundation and basement walls. 1 m² of wall built with Leca® BLOK blocks is twice as light as a wall made of typical concrete blocks, and moreover - four times better thermal insulation, which also means savings in the course of building operation. The expense of expensive insulation of walls in the ground and in the plinth zone is also eliminated, which also reduces the price of the investment. The advantage of Leca® BLOK foundation blocks is also the larger format than in the case of concrete blocks, which reduces the consumption of mortar and reduces the cost of transportation. At the same time, their light weight makes the work faster and easier.
Leca® BLOK foundation block
© LECA
Leca® BLOK 24 and 36.5 blocks - vapor-permeable exterior walls
The Leca® BLOK system blocks owe their excellent vapor-permeable properties to the use of expanded clay balls, which are bound together by cement. This structure makes them have small channels in which moisture does not accumulate, but is pushed out through the wall thanks to the pressure difference arising as a result of different temperatures in the room and the outside environment. To facilitate the passage of moisture to the outside, walls made of Leca® BLOK block should be insulated with materials that are as vapor-permeable as possible, such as mineral wool. With just 15 cm of wool with λ = 0.04 W/mK, it is possible to achieve a U for the wall below 0.2 W/m2K.
Leca® BLOK 24 block owes its popularity to its excellent parameters - first of all, very good thermal insulation and highest vapor permeability. The 24x24x50 cm blocks are designed for the erection of external walls that will provide a healthy microclimate and save heating costs. Thanks to the fact that the walls built with Leca® BLOK 24 blocks dry quickly, there are no conditions for the development of mold and mildew, and at the same time the partition achieves excellent thermal insulation properties. These blocks can also be used for internal structural walls.
Another type of external walls can be built using Leca® BLOK 36.5 blocks, which are currently the best product in the system in terms of vapor permeability and thermal insulation. In order to achieve a U below 0.2 W/(m2K), it is enough to have an insulation layer of gr. 8 cm with λ = 0.04 W/mK. These blocks can also be used to erect interior structural walls.
Leca® BLOK 36.5 block
© LECA
Acoustic interior walls
In addition to external walls, which can be made using Leca® BLOK 24 or 36.5 blocks, and foundation walls from Leca® BLOK foundation blocks, the system also produces Leca® BLOK blocks for making acoustic interior walls. These products are mainly used in multifamily construction although they are also increasingly finding their way to the construction sites of terraced, semi-detached and single-family buildings. There are several solutions to choose from, allowing to achieve an acoustic insulation of R'A1 above 50 dB. These are:
- Leca® BLOK acoustic block 22KKS (also recommended for multifamily construction, for erecting walls separating apartments from corridors and stairwells). The wall made of these blocks meets the additional thermal requirements for walls separating apartments from passageways, obtaining U = 0.858 W/(m2K) (required U < 1 W/(m2K)).
And blocks for walls between apartments in multifamily construction
- Leca® BLOK acoustic block 18 g;
- Leca® BLOK acoustic block 24/20.
Acoustic blocks are used in all those buildings that are located near airports, busy arteries, industrial plants. They are great for separating bathrooms from bedrooms or demarcating different living areas, such as a child's room from rooms where elderly people live.
They can also be used to build exterior walls for acoustic insulation against environmental noise.
Leca® BLOK acoustic block 22KKS
© LECA
Partition walls
For the construction of partition walls, all the materials described above can be used, but there is not always a need for them to insulate from the cold or noise. In such a situation, Leca® BLOK 12 blocks will be perfect, which can also be used to make an external curtain wall in the construction of three-layer external walls.
Leca® BLOK 12 blocks
© LECA
System solutions included in the price
In addition to foundation blocks, Leca® BLOK 24 and 36.5 blocks and acoustic blocks, the manufacturer's offer also includes expanded clay concrete lintels U 24 and U 36.5, chimney systems, ventilation systems and Teriva ceilings. In addition, the company also offers expanded clay for warm mortar in the erection of exterior walls. In this mortar, in addition to cement and lime, there is Leca® KERAMZYT for mortar (instead of sand). The use of the mortar helps minimize thermal bridges at joints and improve the thermal insulation of the wall.
Complementing the Leca® BLOK system is Leca® KERAMZYT - a lightweight aggregate with versatile applications for, among other things: substrates and insulation of floors on the ground, thermal insulation of foundation walls, drainage, construction of green roofs, support of retention systems and garden work.
A list of Manufacturers supplying products to construction sites is available under the "Where to buy" tab at www.lecadom.pl
For more information, visit the company's LECA POLSKA Sp. z o.o. page on the PdA portal.
