Archive through February 06, 2009

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Author Message (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Thursday, February 05, 2009 - 12:26 pm:    Has anyone used autoclave aerated concrete in a project? What is your experience or have you heard? On the residential front, there is a company MHE-Pacific (http://mhe-pacific.com/design_services.php) now bringing this to home construction in Hawaii (there a house now being built in Kalihi that will be finished next month), and it seems to have a lot of positives going for it (true - hurricane-, termite-, fire-, sound-, mold-, earthquake-, moisture-proof, and sustainable, to boot). So you'd think cost would be more, but word (I'm told) is that it is 10-30% cheaper than wood or steel. You may think, well, what about installed cost? Well, quick erection time is one of the benefits being touted. What's the catch? Brian E. Trimble, CDT Senior Member Username: brian_e_trimble_cdt Post Number: 20 Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Thursday, February 05, 2009 - 10:34 pm:    I would contact someone from the International Masonry Institute www.imiweb.org. They have been researching and promoting AAC for about a decade now. It does have a lot of advantages from a performance standpoint, but there aren't that many manufacturers in the U.S. Also check out the AAC Producers Association - www.aacpa.org And be careful about batting the term "golden brick" around. There is nothing that can match all of the attributes that a true clay brick has! Brian Trimble BRICK Industry Association Dave Metzger Senior Member Username: davemetzger Post Number: 302 Registered: 07-2001 Posted on Friday, February 06, 2009 - 04:04 pm:    We used AAC for a commercial project several years ago (based on desire of the building owner). AAC ended up being used only for certain interior partitions. It was not used as backup for stone cladding in exterior walls, because AAC did not have adequate pullout resistance for stone anchors. And it was not used for interior perimeter partitions around the theater in the building, because AAC did not have adequate mass (we used normal weight CMU for these partitions). Need to take into account in installation: costs of routing the AAC for conduit; costs of plastering the AAC. We have not used it on another project.