Thank you for sharing and setting us folk up to follow the right paths. Looking forward to your conclusions. Especially looking forward to the point you both get to construct your slip forms for the wall sections of your home. Your videos are priceless :)
This is outstanding aircrete content! I absolutely love seeing these tests being done. So little is known about structural properties of DIY aircrete, and that makes it pretty hard to know what to do with it as a building material. It's a lot stronger than I though it would be given that it has no reinforcement. I'm looking forward to seeing the tests of the cellulose mix and the wire reinforced version. Thanks so much for documenting and sharing all this. Keep up the great work! :)
Thanks! Yes after watching other people struggle with making consistent aircrete batches, we were pretty unsure if it would be suitable to build with. I'm thankful for the knowledge others have shared, but we still had a lot of unanswered questions. It's been interesting to try, and we are really impressed with aircrete and it's qualities. Thanks for joining us! 😊
Great video and testing modality. In the next video will you be sharing images of the retaining wall that was built with the excess foam from each test batch? Regarding your corner drop tests, you could orient a block that tested well and mark the two sides that flanked the test drop with tape or chalk and orient all remaining blocks based on those marked lines. Wishing you both a great week. Cheers
Thanks! I am excited to show the wall, but am trying to get the test result videos out first. Maybe I can put a sneak peak of it at the end of the next video. Good point, he marked the spot on the floor for the long boards, but not for anything else. Wishing you a wonderful week as well! 😊
This is a great video, especially from a civil engineering perspective. What a great way to test the strength of materials. Man Red has such a wealth of knowledge on how to do things. And he uses old school instruments which is even better.
Thanks! The testing has been fun! He really wanted to do some compression tests, but couldn't figure out a good way to do it without spending a lot of money. These tests don't tell us everything, but they do give us a pretty good idea of what makes the different mixes stronger or more brittle. We hope to figure out how to do some insulative tests on the different samples soon.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid So regarding the insulation tests, I always wanted to try and build a plastic box that is insulated all around, adding a pot of boiling water inside and then putting the test material inside. Vapor and heat will rise amd you can compare the results with the aircrete and have a baseline say with a piece of drywall. You can measure how much water has been lost. Thermal resistance is definitely a tricky thing. I also thought of putting insulation on top of a bbq and putting a baking dial within the opposite end to measure the temperature. That would cover conductive heat transfer.
Looks like fun! One question how long did all you samples cure for? I found in my testing a big difference between 3 weeks and 4 weeks. You need 4 weeks of curing for maximum strength.
The samples were kept wet and cured for 7 days. Each sample was tested on the 8th day. It's more of a comparison test between the different mixes than providing absolute strength. We are testing to see if we can find a mix that we would be comfortable to use to build our house. 🙂🏠
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid I look forward to seeing your test with the thickener added. When you do that test please do one test using 6 gallons of water compared to the 5 gallons of water you use. I'm not sure if that will make a difference with the thickener I always us 6 gallons of water when I make Aircrete. Also I add the thickener to the water and mix it before adding cement.
We used our old sample forms and made them into two that are 9 × 4 1/2 × 45 inches tall. We used our regular recipe and poured one sample with the thickening agent and one without. Getting tall forms watertight is difficult, so some leaked out, but besides that, neither sample seemed to sink. We left them in the forms that are lined with plastic for a full week, it's easier to keep them wet that way. We plan to unbox them tomorrow. I'm not sure that it was a great test with them leaking out the bottom, and having to fix it and add in more aircrete, but we'll see what they look like tomorrow, and we'll probably try again at some point.
Will you be doing another round of samples and tests? Would be interesting to see how a sample of low-foam AND sand would do. And i wonder if the increase in strength for sand or less foam correlates equally with lower thermal performance. Your videos are great! Thanks so much for putting in the work and sharing the results with us!
Yes based on these results we are planning to test a few more variations. We need to fill up the garden wall and keep practicing and learning anyway. We were curious if sand would make aircrete strong enough to use on the floor, it did pretty well, but adding sand made it a lot harder to mix, and it was a lot of work to sift the sand. Definitely a good idea, but it depends on how ambitious we feel, and whether we think one of our other mixes will work for the floor. The denser stronger mixes are less insulating, but still better than regular concrete. Thanks for watching! 😊
I wish you were doing a surface strength test. The impact test measures toughness, but doesn't answer the question of how many PSI it can support (e.g. for a floor). @AircreteHarry was just using a force gauge with max hold. He was seeing numbers of around 100-200PSI after a couple weeks of curing. Those gauges are $100-$150. This might seem low compared to the 2000+PSI rating from concrete, but aircrete trades strength for other properties. Even 100PSI would be fine for a residential floor if it was topped with tile or laminate.
That would be interesting, but probably not something we want to buy right now. Based on our results, I think we have some mixes that would make a pretty good floor. We use 5 gallons of water rather than the 6 or 7 that some recommend, and it seems to make a pretty strong product that isn't easily dented. We are posting the video tomorrow that shows the last few test samples from this batch, and the conclusions from our testing.
Portland cement has changed formula's to be more environmentally friendly by june 2024, and there are environmental signoffs. So, all prior tests, might need to be done again.
It would be really interesting to see you make a completed "beam" of wall section and test that. In other words, if you plan to put .5" of plaster on the interior walls, and .5" of stucco on the outside, make the full 7"x7" beam consisting of .5" plaster, 6" aircrete, .5" stucco, and test that. I bet the strength at least doubles in the load failure test. At any rate, it will give you a better real world estimate of the strength of a completed wall section. Just a thought I wanted to throw out there before the test form goes in a scrap pile somewhere... :)
Great idea! We plan to test different plaster mixes on the garden wall. While we are at it, it would be pretty easy to save out some long bricks from our next test samples, and coat them in plaster. 😊
Ya, there are so many variables and mix options! I'd like to know as well, but i imagine it takes not only a lot of time to make them, but then adding the curing time and time to test, then make videos about it. He's doing amazing work for just him and his wife working in a garage!
We tested a few more samples, those will be shown in the part 2 testing video. Eventually we also plan to test adding a few other inexpensive fiber reinforcements. We have two videos of making the samples, here is the first one th-cam.com/video/iN3oSbtBr38/w-d-xo.html
Are you going to skin the blocks with a textile reinforcement? If so, what are you planning on using? I'm still working out a system on paper and have not been able to find a cost affective fabric/mesh to create a strong outer/inner skin that will work.
Yes, but we haven't looked into it yet. We plan to experiment with a few different materials on the garden wall, but have no idea yet which ones we even want to try.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid I would stay away from polyesters. There have been 1 year studies showing severe breakdown of the fibers in the alkaline cement. I can send you a study if you like with images. The roofing fabric everyone is using is polyester and I have grave concern for the long term strength. I'm currently leaning towards unspun polypropylene as a cheap source - think white packing fabric used on new couches. For me it has to be cheap or free, especially if we are talking multiple layers. Think furniture store recycling. PP weed block may be another source or PP agricultural fabrics. Canvas would be a good strong option but its pricy.
I watched a video from the Happy Heresiarch where he poured a thin layer of regular cement/sand mix then a thicker layer of aircrete on top of that and so didn't get a cold joint but got a strong panel that was hardfaced. I've done a test where I made a 4x4 panel and put in 1" of cement then put in 2x2 wire mesh just into the cement then applied the aircrete for a total of 3.5". It's curing and I hope to see if this would be suitable for a tilt wall construction. th-cam.com/video/-sa7jcDeqjI/w-d-xo.html My plan isn't for load bearing walls as I am using 4" steel pipe columns every 4 feet going up 20' for my north wall and a flat sloping truss roof with the south exposure being 10 foot tall. I plan on 3'10"x10 (6" thick) panels between the columns.
His video on the nature of foam helped us figure out the issue with our the pressure regulator. I wish he would post more videos. His videos are great, & he seems to know a lot. Cool! It takes a lot of thinking and figuring to do something new and different. Our first idea was to do panels, but then decided we would rather try pour in place walls, so that's what we are going with. We'll see how it works out, and figure it out as we go. We are not doing load bearing walls either, we were considering it, but never felt really great about it, because we get some crazy strong winds and didn't want to worry about the roof blowing off. Fortunately we don't get tornadoes here, but high sustained winds and microbursts. Red came up with an idea on how we plan to support the house. We bought the materials this week, and will be sharing it soon. Best wishes on your build, it sounds awesome! 😊🏠
It is a lot of numbers and information about aircrete, that some people might want to know. 😅 I had the videos lined out and in order, so he had to talk fast to keep up. The next video we are working on now is definitely a slower pace, and things are explained a little more. Thanks for watching! 😄
Thank you for sharing and setting us folk up to follow the right paths.
Looking forward to your conclusions.
Especially looking forward to the point you both get to construct your slip forms for the wall sections of your home.
Your videos are priceless :)
It's fun to share what we are learning. Thanks so much! 😊
This is outstanding aircrete content! I absolutely love seeing these tests being done. So little is known about structural properties of DIY aircrete, and that makes it pretty hard to know what to do with it as a building material. It's a lot stronger than I though it would be given that it has no reinforcement. I'm looking forward to seeing the tests of the cellulose mix and the wire reinforced version. Thanks so much for documenting and sharing all this. Keep up the great work! :)
Thanks! Yes after watching other people struggle with making consistent aircrete batches, we were pretty unsure if it would be suitable to build with. I'm thankful for the knowledge others have shared, but we still had a lot of unanswered questions. It's been interesting to try, and we are really impressed with aircrete and it's qualities. Thanks for joining us! 😊
These videos are so descriptive. Probably the best channel for aircrete.
This is awesome! Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to the next one
Thanks so much! 😊
Thanks for all the detail. Really excellent info. Looking forward to next set and the total results
Thanks for watching, it's coming soon! 😊
interesting testing thanks for sharing and i hope you have a great day as well
Thanks, and you too! 😊
Great video and testing modality. In the next video will you be sharing images of the retaining wall that was built with the excess foam from each test batch? Regarding your corner drop tests, you could orient a block that tested well and mark the two sides that flanked the test drop with tape or chalk and orient all remaining blocks based on those marked lines.
Wishing you both a great week. Cheers
Thanks! I am excited to show the wall, but am trying to get the test result videos out first. Maybe I can put a sneak peak of it at the end of the next video. Good point, he marked the spot on the floor for the long boards, but not for anything else. Wishing you a wonderful week as well! 😊
This is a great video, especially from a civil engineering perspective. What a great way to test the strength of materials. Man Red has such a wealth of knowledge on how to do things. And he uses old school instruments which is even better.
Thanks! The testing has been fun! He really wanted to do some compression tests, but couldn't figure out a good way to do it without spending a lot of money. These tests don't tell us everything, but they do give us a pretty good idea of what makes the different mixes stronger or more brittle. We hope to figure out how to do some insulative tests on the different samples soon.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid So regarding the insulation tests, I always wanted to try and build a plastic box that is insulated all around, adding a pot of boiling water inside and then putting the test material inside. Vapor and heat will rise amd you can compare the results with the aircrete and have a baseline say with a piece of drywall. You can measure how much water has been lost. Thermal resistance is definitely a tricky thing. I also thought of putting insulation on top of a bbq and putting a baking dial within the opposite end to measure the temperature. That would cover conductive heat transfer.
Looks like fun! One question how long did all you samples cure for? I found in my testing a big difference between 3 weeks and 4 weeks. You need 4 weeks of curing for maximum strength.
The samples were kept wet and cured for 7 days. Each sample was tested on the 8th day. It's more of a comparison test between the different mixes than providing absolute strength. We are testing to see if we can find a mix that we would be comfortable to use to build our house. 🙂🏠
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid I look forward to seeing your test with the thickener added. When you do that test please do one test using 6 gallons of water compared to the 5 gallons of water you use. I'm not sure if that will make a difference with the thickener I always us 6 gallons of water when I make Aircrete. Also I add the thickener to the water and mix it before adding cement.
We used our old sample forms and made them into two that are 9 × 4 1/2 × 45 inches tall. We used our regular recipe and poured one sample with the thickening agent and one without. Getting tall forms watertight is difficult, so some leaked out, but besides that, neither sample seemed to sink. We left them in the forms that are lined with plastic for a full week, it's easier to keep them wet that way. We plan to unbox them tomorrow. I'm not sure that it was a great test with them leaking out the bottom, and having to fix it and add in more aircrete, but we'll see what they look like tomorrow, and we'll probably try again at some point.
Good testing. Thanks for sharing
Thanks!
Will you be doing another round of samples and tests?
Would be interesting to see how a sample of low-foam AND sand would do.
And i wonder if the increase in strength for sand or less foam correlates equally with lower thermal performance.
Your videos are great! Thanks so much for putting in the work and sharing the results with us!
Yes based on these results we are planning to test a few more variations. We need to fill up the garden wall and keep practicing and learning anyway. We were curious if sand would make aircrete strong enough to use on the floor, it did pretty well, but adding sand made it a lot harder to mix, and it was a lot of work to sift the sand. Definitely a good idea, but it depends on how ambitious we feel, and whether we think one of our other mixes will work for the floor. The denser stronger mixes are less insulating, but still better than regular concrete. Thanks for watching! 😊
Very thorough 👌
Thanks!
I wish you were doing a surface strength test. The impact test measures toughness, but doesn't answer the question of how many PSI it can support (e.g. for a floor). @AircreteHarry was just using a force gauge with max hold. He was seeing numbers of around 100-200PSI after a couple weeks of curing. Those gauges are $100-$150.
This might seem low compared to the 2000+PSI rating from concrete, but aircrete trades strength for other properties. Even 100PSI would be fine for a residential floor if it was topped with tile or laminate.
That would be interesting, but probably not something we want to buy right now. Based on our results, I think we have some mixes that would make a pretty good floor. We use 5 gallons of water rather than the 6 or 7 that some recommend, and it seems to make a pretty strong product that isn't easily dented. We are posting the video tomorrow that shows the last few test samples from this batch, and the conclusions from our testing.
Portland cement has changed formula's to be more environmentally friendly by june 2024, and there are environmental signoffs. So, all prior tests, might need to be done again.
I'm so glad we backed out of building our house with aircrete. There are much better, cheaper, and easier materials to build with.
Nice video
Thanks!
It would be really interesting to see you make a completed "beam" of wall section and test that. In other words, if you plan to put .5" of plaster on the interior walls, and .5" of stucco on the outside, make the full 7"x7" beam consisting of .5" plaster, 6" aircrete, .5" stucco, and test that. I bet the strength at least doubles in the load failure test. At any rate, it will give you a better real world estimate of the strength of a completed wall section. Just a thought I wanted to throw out there before the test form goes in a scrap pile somewhere... :)
Great idea! We plan to test different plaster mixes on the garden wall. While we are at it, it would be pretty easy to save out some long bricks from our next test samples, and coat them in plaster. 😊
What was the composition of the samples? Did you consider admixture like thickeners styrofoam or fibers?
Ya, there are so many variables and mix options! I'd like to know as well, but i imagine it takes not only a lot of time to make them, but then adding the curing time and time to test, then make videos about it. He's doing amazing work for just him and his wife working in a garage!
We tested a few more samples, those will be shown in the part 2 testing video. Eventually we also plan to test adding a few other inexpensive fiber reinforcements. We have two videos of making the samples, here is the first one th-cam.com/video/iN3oSbtBr38/w-d-xo.html
Are you going to skin the blocks with a textile reinforcement? If so, what are you planning on using? I'm still working out a system on paper and have not been able to find a cost affective fabric/mesh to create a strong outer/inner skin that will work.
Yes, but we haven't looked into it yet. We plan to experiment with a few different materials on the garden wall, but have no idea yet which ones we even want to try.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid I would stay away from polyesters. There have been 1 year studies showing severe breakdown of the fibers in the alkaline cement. I can send you a study if you like with images. The roofing fabric everyone is using is polyester and I have grave concern for the long term strength. I'm currently leaning towards unspun polypropylene as a cheap source - think white packing fabric used on new couches. For me it has to be cheap or free, especially if we are talking multiple layers. Think furniture store recycling. PP weed block may be another source or PP agricultural fabrics. Canvas would be a good strong option but its pricy.
can you share low foam mix ratio. thanks
Mix 94 lb bag of portland cement with 5 gallons water, and fill with foam to 36 gallons.
I watched a video from the Happy Heresiarch where he poured a thin layer of regular cement/sand mix then a thicker layer of aircrete on top of that and so didn't get a cold joint but got a strong panel that was hardfaced. I've done a test where I made a 4x4 panel and put in 1" of cement then put in 2x2 wire mesh just into the cement then applied the aircrete for a total of 3.5". It's curing and I hope to see if this would be suitable for a tilt wall construction.
th-cam.com/video/-sa7jcDeqjI/w-d-xo.html
My plan isn't for load bearing walls as I am using 4" steel pipe columns every 4 feet going up 20' for my north wall and a flat sloping truss roof with the south exposure being 10 foot tall. I plan on 3'10"x10 (6" thick) panels between the columns.
His video on the nature of foam helped us figure out the issue with our the pressure regulator. I wish he would post more videos. His videos are great, & he seems to know a lot.
Cool! It takes a lot of thinking and figuring to do something new and different. Our first idea was to do panels, but then decided we would rather try pour in place walls, so that's what we are going with. We'll see how it works out, and figure it out as we go. We are not doing load bearing walls either, we were considering it, but never felt really great about it, because we get some crazy strong winds and didn't want to worry about the roof blowing off. Fortunately we don't get tornadoes here, but high sustained winds and microbursts. Red came up with an idea on how we plan to support the house. We bought the materials this week, and will be sharing it soon.
Best wishes on your build, it sounds awesome! 😊🏠
I hope you are wearing your safety boots. Don't want you dropping something on a toe or two. LOL have a great day.
Yes, glad the bricks didn't fall on him! That would hurt a lot! 😅 Thanks, & you too!
My goodness, my head hurts
It is a lot of numbers and information about aircrete, that some people might want to know. 😅 I had the videos lined out and in order, so he had to talk fast to keep up. The next video we are working on now is definitely a slower pace, and things are explained a little more. Thanks for watching! 😄
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid please I was not being critical at all
No offense taken, I always appreciate your comments! Thanks for watching! 😊