AirCrete is a lightweight cement material that is easy and inexpensive to make yourself with the Little Dragon. It is waterproof, fireproof, and insect proof. It offers good thermal and sound insulation. It will not rot, warp, or corrode. Concrete which is hard, heavy and very difficult to work with, AirCrete is easy to work with. It dries enough overnight, it will be brittle so care should be taken into consideration, that it can be cut, drilled and shaped with wood-working tools. You can use nails and screws and it is very easy to repair. It has a very good compression strength and will make excellent foundations, subfloors, building blocks.
You can even pour walls with Air Crete. You can build any style home you want with it, dome houses, square houses, use your imagination, it can be done. Air Crete can be poured or formed into any shape you would like. AirCrete can cut cost of conventional building methods in half, if not more, depending on the cost of the materials you need to make it.
Reasons to build with Air Crete!
The best reason to build with AirCrete is the amount of money you will save in construction, the maintenance, cutting costs of staying cool in the summer and warm in the winter. AirCrete is simply the most practical, high-quality, low cost material there is. It plays a double function as structure and insulator. Millions of tiny closed air cells gives AirCrete its insulating properties. You can form it to any thickness to suit your climate. With 32 ounces of dish detergent with 10 gals of water make enough foam to produce about 70 cubic feet of AirCrete. The foam increases the volume of cement by a factor of 5 to 7 times. It does away with the need for aggregates such as gravel, sand, or rock which can be expensive, take up space on the jobsite and requires lots of room for heavy equipment to deliver and lots of work to deal with those materials.
Domes are very energy efficient. They enclose the most space with the least material. 40 to 50 percent of the energy loss in a conventional structure is around the thermal bridges where the floors and roof meets the walls. There are no thermal bridges in an AirCrete dome home. There is no seams where the floor, walls and roof comes together and stops the outside air from coming in and makes it easier to heat and cool. Not to say that you cannot build the floor and the walls from AirCrete and have a conventional roof system as some people to not want a dome house.
If you are concerned about ecology then AirCrete will be the thing for you. AirCrete has gained a lot of international recognition as an ecological building material because of the resources that it uses. AirCrete has a reduced environmental impact and is only getting better as greener alternatives to portland cement continue to be developed and used.
.jpg)
A small flame can become a problem very quickly in a conventional wooden home. Once the fire gets into the walls and the spaces between the stubs they will act like chimneys that allow the fire to easily spread and engulf the entire structure. If the fire doesn’t destroy your stick built house, the fire department will likely destroy it in the process of trying to put out the fire. AirCrete is fireproof. You can build a outdoor ovens and fire pits and things of that nature with it. It will not burn.
Water damage is a never ending threat to wood, adobe, cob, straw bale, compressed earth and even metal buildings because of the rust. AirCrete is waterproof, you can build a boat with it. It will not rot, rust or breakdown in water. If you want to have a natural roof and cover you home with vegetation, no problem! Put a sprinkler on top to keep it moist and cool in the summer, that is not a problem! AirCrete is waterproof.
.jpeg)
Insects and rodents are another annoying threat. They will find every nook, crack and cranny to get into your home. Conventional homes are have lots of seams, joints and layers that make great places for pests to get into and also make a home. Regardless of the quality of the home, as your home gets older it will become much easier for pests to get into and live.
In most places in the world homes are fumigated and sprayed with toxic chemicals to control termites, cock roaches and many other pests. It’s a never ending battle. I’m not sure what’s worse the pests or the chemicals. It’s a hopeless situation for most homes in the south and many places like that in the world that have high humudity and are wet for long periods of time, like the tropics. With tight windows and doors an AirCrete dome home it is hard for any of these types of pests to get into your home. It’s comforting to know that nothing is going to crawl into your bed while you sleep soundly.
Natural disasters, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, floods, volcanic eruptions. A dome is the strongest structural shape bar none. The fragile shell of an egg would break and crack under the slightest pressure if it was flat on the side but from the top point of the egg to the bottom it is strong. That strength comes from it’s dome shape. A dome is strong because it distributes the forces equally in all directions throughout the entire surface. Architects and engineers have know this for centuries. Some of the oldest standing buildings in the world are domes.
“Sick house syndrome” is a term that is used to describe the problems caused by the off gassing of many construction materials. AirCrete is made of natural materials. And it’s a perfect base to put on natural plasters such as a lime plaster.
Many animals build their home in a single day. Yet most of us spend the best years of our lives in debt because of our homes. It doesn’t have to be that way. Building an AirCrete dome home is easily achievable for just about everyone. Especially if you get together and do it together others. It’s easy to learn. And the tools you can find will do most of the work for you.
Work becomes fun when we help each other out. It can and may be one of your life’s most enjoyable and memorable events. Building your own home with friends and family and then building their homes is a satisfying event in everyone`s life that not many people experience. The best thing is that it can be done debt free. It will take some hard work and learning as you go experiences, but it can be a great relief knowing that there is no mortgage to have to pay or stress about.
The amount of cement required for a cubic foot of AirCrete depends on the density of the AirCrete. A 94lb bag of cement produces about 40 gal or about 5.5 cubic feet of AirCrete of a density of 19 lb per cubic foot.
All images came from Google images or was my own photos. Some of the images and the information came from this website.
http://www.domegaia.com/ Here is where you will find the tools you need to make your own AirCrete to build with. If you go to his store and buy anything tell Hajjar that I sent you over and you will get a discount on purchases. Just put BASICS TO LIVING in the memo box on the order form.
Do not forget to Follow, Upvote and Resteem!
Thank You For Reading and Have A Great Day!
Wow, excellent information! Once we move and are off grid, we are planning to build a monolithic dome for all these positive reasons you listed. Can't wait! Upvoted and resteemed for ya! (I'm figuring this thing out. lol)
That is great! We are planning on domes here also!
Thanks for this article. Can you comment on the best materials to use for windows and doors for an aircrete structure?
You can use regular doors and windows, just use a 2x6 or 2x4 depending on the thickness of the blocks you are using. If you are doing arched then you will need a bender to make the doorways and windows. Bend EMT pipe and make the forms and pour AirCrete in them. That is the nice thing about AirCrete it is up to your imagination.
I'll definitely be looking into that. Not sure we can do the dome shape. Have you tried this yourself?
I would love to do the dome shape. Can you say "Hobbit Home?"
Would be great to build a Hobbit Home. Cover with topsoil and plant clover and flowers, the bees will love it.
I have not built using this yet. I have a Little Dragon, mixer and bender. I have been getting the foam to the right consistency. Will be making blocks soon.
Great info and thank you, will share to a couple of my fb pages for you.
Thank You for sharing.
so cool!
It makes great houses, pump houses for well and even an outdoor oven.
Love to hear about new materials that are moving towards a more efficient and environmentally friendly concept. Have upvoted and followed!
I am researching them now. As soon as I get the info I will put out a post. Thanks!
WOW .... great info ... .so when will you be arriving to build us one ? haha
That is an experience you need to do for yourself! LOL
I recently saw a step by step dome build with mud and straw...I think it was on facebook...it was pretty cool as well...wonderful informative post! We currently have storage containers we are converting...just at the beginning...windows are in and that is about it...I will do a post on it soon! Keep off of the knee. :) MJ
Blessings,
Melissa
Those are good too. They also use earth bag for domes also, but that gets heavy after a while. I am off everything thing right now. Broke my foot Saturday night while doing a walk around on property. Start getting projects moving and something happens to stop them.
Oh my goodness...hope i did not jinx you ...oh man ..i feel so sorry for you ..well we can now trade ideas...I just got out a wheel chair ..that was May,june, probably should have stayed in it for July now i am in a boot...it still hurts and swells...I swam like a dummy and the paddling hurt it again.a couple of weeks ago...i am usually so active so steem has been my salvation...My husband laughs and says i do not walk "i hobble" I broke both feet...4th met and 4th and 5th...Take it easy mike...Slow and steady wins the race.
Joy,
Melissa
Stepped on a board on the porch made from pallets and it broke and I fell. It is sore and swelled up real bad. Hurts like crazy to move it. Using ice on it all the time, It is starting to feel better. Still hard to walk, yes I do the slide, shuffle and hobble. I know how you feel. There is now plywood over the pallets. LOL
oh man....so sorry ..on the bright side ...you will be stuck to steemit like I am ...maybe you can make some Cents out of it
yeah, that was a pretty bad pun, but could not resist. Keep smiling,
Melissa
LOVE IT BROTHER!! RESTEEM!! GOD BLESS!!
Thanks, brother! Hope all is well with you.
I'm also into dome houses, glad to see soul-mates here! Big up!
My wife got me to thinking about it and it seems like the best way to build.
Great general article, but looking for more instructional information on how to use aircrete casting blocks, slipforming, etc
Thanks again
I will be doing a more detailed post when we start making blocks. Weather is to cold here right now. So waiting for it to warm up.