Q-con Autoclaved Aerated Concrete

[buadhai]

Anyone have any experience with this as a building material: Q-CON Autoclaved Aerated Concrete?

A friend of mine on Saipan had a house built out of this stuff which he imported from Thailand. He was quite happy with it.

[jimmi]

Wow mgnewman,

I have heard of material similar to this stuff in the U.S. I have been looking for something like this in Thailand. Thanks for the link. It does make a great building material. I plan on building in about a year. I plan on doing a year of research on building and finding the right people. I am going to go to this company and buy several blocks of this so I can evaluate the blocks.

Thanks, you made my day!!!

[Crossy]

Hi Jimmi

I'm intrigued by this material, at first glance it looks brilliant.

Something similar was being promoted in Italy when we were living there a couple of years ago, unfortunately the advertising was not good, concentrating on a (very pretty) lady buiding an internal wall whilst wearing a suit.

I too intend building, probably in about 18 months. I would be very interested in knowing how you get on, particularly:-

How the overall cost compares to the conventional Thai building techniques.

How your builder reacts to this new material (will he need to wear a suit).

Anyone else out there who has actually used this stuff??

Cheers

DC

[lopburi3]

This has been advertised for years in the back pages of local expat publications but lately seems to have received an influx of advertising money so maybe it will emurge from the nitch market. I have not seen any real compairson with brick wall construction that is normal here (most people do not use hollow cement blocks for homes) so would be careful to investigate fully. Have also seen no mention of surface finishing.

I can't help but have the feeling if I punch it will it crumble like a rice cracker?

[buadhai]

I will try to get in touch with my acquaintance on Saipan who built his home from this or some similar material. As I said, he and his wife (Thai) are very happy with it. Since Saipan is subject to super-typhoons now and then, the material has to be able to withstand winds of over 250 kph, and wind-propelled objects (like coconuts) traveling at near that speed.

Is this the same stuff that one sees advertised on TV now? I think the ad shows a guy inside trying to listen to some commotion going on outside which consists of a burning car that has crashed into his house?

[aletta]

A company that makes autoclaved aerated concrete blocks has just listed on the SET so do a search and you should be lucky.

[buadhai]

Here's another source:

SuperBlock

[thai_norman]

qcon and super block are both very good, but as each piece costs nearly 40 baht it does work out a lot more expensive than red bricks or breeze blocks, ie a breeze block costs 3.5 baht and a red brick .65 satang, most places here now use qcon or similar on south facing walls of the building, with your east and west you generally have big windows so it would be a false saving to use them on those sides, unless you have double glazing and 24 hour aircon, these products are just rendered off as normal brick walls would be, obviously your window frames if wood will still only be 10 cms as will your door frames, so you have to add in additional cost to hide this.

[apetley]

thai norman, thanks very much for the blog. Very informative and smile inducing at the same time, cheers.

[chippendalesam]

Here's another source:

SuperBlock

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mr. Norman is that your blog per-chance? If it is, VERY WELL DONE. I desire to someday (hopefully within 2 years build a house in Thailand), perhaps I could put you to work????? Thanks again for some VERY enjoyable reading.

[roiet]

This has been advertised for years in the back pages of local expat publications but lately seems to have received an influx of advertising money so maybe it will emurge from the nitch market.  I have not seen any real compairson with brick wall construction that is normal here (most people do not use hollow cement blocks for homes) so would be careful to investigate fully.  Have also seen no mention of surface finishing.

I can't help but have the feeling if I punch it will it crumble like a rice cracker? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have seen these Q-con styled houses in Southern Spain. They provide excellent heat insulation in dry and very hot climate. I do not know how Q-con reacts to high humidity. Usually no surface finish applied. The walls are designed 3x 3 meters to provide stability.

[Humphrey Bear]

I would render the external face - keep the thing waterproof.

Wouldn't be keen to use in wet areas, either. (Bathrooms, kitchen)

Do not use for structural purposes - just to stop people walking through your house, stop the draughts and mosquitos.

On a concrete-framed house they are probably good as in-fill for walls, easy to cut chases for electrics and plumbing.

But expensive.

[thai_norman]

humphrey, you really should tile your bathrooms you cheap skate, did you know ceramic tiles are water proof, also easy to clean, and they look so much nicer than green mouldy walls.

[Merriric]

Anyone have any experience with this as a building material: Q-CON Autoclaved Aerated Concrete?

A friend of mine on Saipan had a house built out of this stuff which he imported from Thailand. He was quite happy with it.

[Merriric]

To All, I am building a 1200 sqm factory and would like to use cost efficient, rapid construction, energy efficient and environmentally friendly materials. Does anyone know of any companies in Thailand that have the capability to construct with Aerated Conrete tilt up panels where these are cast on site. See the web link below of a company I have found in Australia that can provide all the technical support and consultant Engineers that can come over to Thailand to train up a company on the use of their technology. http://www.litebuilt.com/

[lingling]

Light weight and good insulation. However, before using them in a house I would buy a few blocks and test:

1) Radioactivity. A huge number of houses in Sweden had to be rebuilt, ventilated or demolished because of some brand of these blocks was based on alum shale with a high uranium content, resulting in radioactive radon gas in the house.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22al...ale%22+concrete

The dangerous one were banned [in Sweden] and they now sell a harmless version, but who knows if the ones sold here are safe... ...after all, asbestos is still the most popular roof material here and is increasing in popularity for walls etc, so if a dangerous material is banned elsewhere it can still be sold in Thailand.

2) ...whether ants, termites etc like to build nests in them. Wouldn't want the walls to be a huge fireant nest...

3) How it reacts to humidity...

Edited March 21, 2006 by lingling

[steveromagnino]

I know Siam City Cement have a few affiliate producers making hollow and foam filled concrete blocks which are lighter, require less finishing work than the red bricks and are supposedly fairly cost effective.

Some of the mass housing projects use these sorts of blocks nowadays.

Do a search on their website methinks....

[shaunmiller]

hey guys, i,m trying to purchase a concrete block, but something bigger than the ones in thailand does anyone have any ideas where to buy something like the one in the pic...thanks