Offering Solutions for
Environmental
Responsible and Affordable
Home Construction
Offering Solutions for
Environmental
Responsible and Affordable
Home Construction
High efficiency Heating & Cooling
and the best insulation on the market will cut cost of living by half, lowering the environmental impact per household and increasing overall comfort for the residents. Sophisticated Floor heating is efficient and indisputably the most pleasing way to create a comfortable and healthy environment and reduces energy cost and natural resources. The surrounding AAC Concrete acts as a solid, maintenance free enclosure material and serves as energy storage to balance peak-hour thermal demand throughout the day.
MODERN CONSTRUCTION METHODES APPLIED TO YOUR BENEFITS
We usually install floor heating throughout the home and use high efficient solar tubes as energy converters to create a comfortable and healthy living environment.
And for the lighting we use LED light fixtures which can be run by a single car battery for several days if needed.
Aerated Concrete is a type of precast concrete composed of all natural raw materials producing great benefits and better energy efficient performance. As early as 1914, the Swedes discovered a mixture of cement, lime, water and sand, just like regular concrete but adding aluminum powder. This last material gives the Autoclaved Aerated Precast Concrete expansion properties.
How Aerated Concrete Is Manufactured
Aerated Concrete is a lightweight pre-cast concrete that contains air bubbles throughout the material to generate the low-density lightweight material in an autoclave oven.
It is so manageable that can be cut with a saw blade and can be drilled easily. Because of its characteristics, the concrete must be tested for compressive strengths, moisture content, bulk density test, and shrinkage test. The concrete can be used on walls, floor, roof panels, blocks, and lintels.
The Properties of Aerated Concrete
Aerated concrete blocks are solid lightweight blocks joined together with an adhesive and reinforced with steel for additional strength. AAC has incredibly high insulation values and provides an excellent soundproofing barrier and for such reason, they are used in above-grade construction. The precast autoclaved aerated concrete wall units are large-size solid rectangular prisms, which are to be laid using thin-bed mortar. Installed units shall be protected against direct exposure to moisture using a coating material.
Aerated Concrete Benefits and Applications
Some of the benefits that you will get when using autoclaved aerated concrete are:
- Excellent thermal protection, approximately 1.25 per inch. The thermal conductivity of AAC is 6 to 7.5% that of conventional concrete, making it energy-efficient.
- AAC will have lower energy costs because it has a greater thermal resistance.
- Excellent soundproofing material and acoustic insulation.
- Aerated concrete provides fire and termite resistance.
- AAC is manufactured in a variety of form and sizes.
- AAC blocks store and release energy over time.
- The aerated concrete is recyclable.
- Route chases can be cut to install electrical and plumbing rough-in.
- Extremely lightweight precast blocks stacked like conventional CMU.
- Shipping and handling more economical than regular concrete or CMU.
- Panels are available in thicknesses of between 8 inches to 12 ", 24 " in width, and lengths up to 20 feet.
- Blocks come 24”, 32”, and 48” inches long, between four to 16 inches thick, and eight inches high.
- Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Drawbacks
- Aerated concrete as any other material has also some disadvantages:
- Consistency in quality and color may be difficult to obtain.
- Unfinished exterior walls should be covered with an exterior cladding to protect them from wear and tear.
- If installed in high humidity environments, interior finishes with low vapor permeability and exterior finishes with a high permeability are recommended.
- Aerated Concrete Material Cost
- Autoclaved aerated concrete walls installed as CMU can cost approximately $3.50 in 8” x 8” x 24”, depending on the complexity of the project. Labor cost might be lower because it is easier to install and easier to handle.
- These costs might change from zone to zone depending on the labor costs and building code requirements.
- Building Codes Acceptance of Aerated Concrete
- Aerated concrete has been accepted by many building codes and international standards such as:
- ASTM C1386 (Precast Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Wall Construction Units)
- ASTM C 1452 (Standard Specification for Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Elements)
- ACI 523.5R, which is a guide for using autoclaved aerated concrete panels
How to Install Aerated Concrete
Aerated concrete can be easily installed with a thin-set mortar and can be easily finished by paint, plaster, cladding, or siding materials. Autoclaved aerated concrete can be finished on interior surfaces by plastering, tiles, painted, sheetrocked or just left exposed. Concrete Comparison
Concrete Properties
Concrete
Density (PCF)
Compressive
Strength (PSI)
Fire Rating (hrs)
Thermal
Conductivity
(Btuin/ft2-hr-F)
Aerated Concrete
25-50
360 - 1090
≤ 8
0.75 - 1.20
Traditional Concrete
80-150
1000 - 10000
≤ 6
6.0 - 10
The Flooring System
The Flooring System
Ideal for residential, commercial, and institutional construction, INSUL-DECK built floors are not only more comfortable, quieter and super energy efficient, but can also provide safety from hurricane level winds, fire and floods. Next to the temperature storing capabilities of concrete in combination with integrated low energy radiant floor heat our floors are the most comfortable and energy efficient solutions available today and tomorrow and require no maintenance for generations to come.
Ideal for residential, commercial, and institutional construction, INSUL-DECK built floors are not only more comfortable, quieter and super energy efficient, but can also provide safety from hurricane level winds, fire and floods. Next to the temperature storing capabilities of concrete in combination with integrated low energy radiant floor heat our floors are the most comfortable and energy efficient solutions available today and tomorrow and require no maintenance for generations to come.
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All about GLAS
All about GLAS
What Is Insulated Glass?
Insulated Glass is the combination of two or more panes of glass sealed with air, or inert gas between the panes. The construction of an insulated unit is designed to help control energy transfer from outside to inside or vice versa. It accomplishes this by controlling:
- Conduction – Heat flow through a solid material, i.e. frame, or glass
- Convection – Heat flow by the movement of a fluid or gas
- Radiation – Energy transmitted from heat source (sunlight)
The selection of materials and the design of an insulated glass unit will determine how a unit can save energy. An Insulated unit consists of:
- Spacer
- Desiccant
- Sealant
- Airspace
- Glass
Spacers are the material used to separate the two panes of glass. Spacer can insulate by using materials that reduce the “conduction” from the outside pane of glass to the inside pane. Using metal systems where the metal does not touch the glass and is cushioned by a bed of sealant limits the conduction that can occur. Intercept Spacer is an example of this type of system.
FIGURE A - INTERCEPT Spacer
Some more dense materials that do not include any metal, like siliconized foam spacer, can further improve the inside pane’s temperature. Edgetech’s SuperSpacer is an example of a foam spacer.
FIGURE B - SuperSpacer Unit
Desiccant
Desiccant is a drying agent that is inside the spacer material to absorb all of the initial moisture inside the unit.
Sealant
The two panes of glass must be hermetically sealed together using a bonding agent like hot-melt butyl, silicone, polysulfide, etc. The sealant bonds the inside pane to the outside pane and creates the sealed airspace which creates the insulation effect. The dead air space further lowers the conduction effect.
Airspace
As stated above, the dead air improves the conduction effect. However, convection can occur, which is the air turning over inside the unit and raising or lowering the temperature of the inside pane based on the outside conditions. The convection effect is minimized by trying to maintain optimal spacer thicknesses based on the design of the unit. In general, a ½” airspace is proven to minimize the convection effect. To further improve the energy performance, the use of an inert gas like argon, or krypton, which is heavier than air, can greatly limit both the conduction and convection effects. To take it further, a “Triple Glazed” unit can combine three panes of glass and two airspaces for some of the best energy performance.
FIGURE C - Triple Glazed unit with SuperSpacer
Glass
Most of the insulated unit is glass. The glass that is selected is the only component that can have an impact on all three types of heat transfer. The use of tinted glass, like bronze or gray, can absorb energy and not allow it to pass on to the inside of the house. More prevalent is the low emissivity glass, or low-e.
Low-E glass is designed to reflect radiant heat and can be used to reflect heat outside in cooling climates or reflect heat inside in heating climates. Low-e is also referred to as spectrally selective, which means it selectively allows only certain waves to penetrate through the pane of glass. By controlling the temperature of the outside pane of glass, it not only reduces radiant heat gain or loss, but also minimizes convection and conduction by helping to maintain the ambient temperature. The images above are thermal photographs of a foam spacer unit with clear glass on the left and a foam spacer unit with low-e glass on the right. The greens and blues show cooler temperatures, while the yellows and reds represent warmer temperatures, demonstrating the ability of low-e glass to control the heat.
