Name of Building Block

[toryboy1979]

Can anyone please tell me the name/type of the building block in the picture attached. I am in the planning stage of house building and proposing to have a two skin exterior wall - the inside will be red brick and the outside this particular block which I am being told is a better quality than the block used for building a perimeter fence wall.

Attachment

[KittenKong]

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclaved_aerated_concrete

Siporex is the common name I know it by.

[wayned]

Also Q-Con

[MJCM]

Or another brand is Diamond Block, I will use these for my house.

They come in different sizes, 7.5cm width, 10cm width, 15cm width or 20 cm width

[kamalabob2]

That is a thin, autoclaved aerated block. My house has 12.5 thick exterior walls and the inside room walls are 7.5 thick. CPAC was the brand name in 2007, but that company was renamed as Q-Con, when SCG bought the Q-Con company. Super Block, Thai Con, Diamond Block, are other brand names for very similar autocalved blocks also known as Hebal Blocks. The price can vary greatly between builders merchants and it does cost more the farther you are from the plants that make these blocks. I have never felt the need to have a 2nd wall of any sort of bricks, and never had any water issues with the single wall 12.5 exterior wall. My wife is a wonderful cook, but she likes to sing karaoke. Hence the 7.5 interior walls between rooms has proven a blessing for me. Assuming you are building a house and not just a room additon, and are close to a good builders merchants store, and not 35 minutes from that store, if you are paying more than 17 baht for 7.5 thick autoclaved blocks you are not shopping at the right stores. If you pay more than 49 baht for 20 thick by 60 long by 20 tall you are shopping at the wrong store. The "glue" that goes between each block is not expensive and the special render that coats both sides of the autoclaved blocks is not expensive. You can get a technical representative from Q-Con or Diamond Building products to come to your house build site at no charge for training in Thai, of your Thai staff on the proper building process with AAC blocks. Any good builders merchant at no charge to you can send your house building plans to the AAC block manufacturer and in less than one week send you back a complete list of how many blocks you should buy given the size indicated on your house building plan, even taking windows into account. You can buy window lintels from Super Block or Q-Con for above doors and windows OR you can use traditional reinforced concrete lintels. CPAC sent reps to my house build in 2007 and I have seen reps from Diamond Building Products go to Farang houses under construction in 2014 and 2015. I know that Q-Con also offers this valuable, yet free service. Some of the blocks will crack when sloppy delivery drivers unload them with a truck crane. No worries as your house building staff will need to saw some blocks and none need go to waste. You can compare the total cost of think AAC blocks with 7 thick, 7.5 thick, 10 thick, 12.5 thick, 15 thick or 20 thick blocks. The standard size I have seen at Home Mart, Global House, Thai Watsadu in Buriram is 20 high, by 60 long. My PEA bill last month was under 2400 baht with too many bedrooms, too many televisions, too many water pumps, too many bathrooms, but not needing to use any of the eight air conditioners as it was so cool due to the autoclaved wall blocks and good overhangs on the verandas. My wife is building a very compact sensible house in her village and she has 7.5 AAC blocks in her house building budget as even a village educated woman sees the value of autoclaved wall blocks and how it makes the house comfortable and saves every month on the PEA electric bill. You can in fact easily do curved walls and they just install the blocks vertical instead of horizontal.