Making an AIRCRETE Garden Wall & Height Test
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- čas přidán 12. 11. 2021
- Reveal of our first 2 aircrete garden wall sections. Making an aircrete wall around our garden, and what we are learning. Practice batches for aircrete home build.
Our aircrete videos playlist:
• AIRCRETE Videos Playli...
Aircrete recipe we use:
In barrel mix
5 gallons water
94 lb bag of Portland Cement
Foaming soap solution:
5 gallons water
1/4 c. (4oz) Drexel
1 T. Glycerin
Foam weight 80- 100 grams per quart.
Mix into cement slurry enough foam to make a 45 gallon batch.
27" x 40" garden area. We are using 7 ft tall t-posts, pounded 1 ft into the ground. Red made 24 ft long 2 ft tall forms. We added chicken wire for reinforcement. The aircrete wall portion will be finished with a reinforcement and plaster.
We plan to use 4 ft tall wire fencing for the top portion of the wall, and cover the entire top of the garden with chicken wire or bird netting. The gap between the shipping container and the ground will be fenced with chicken wire.
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That's funny! Your approach to Aircrete is the same as mine, grab what you need and give it a go, never could sit still in school.
Thanks for documenting your journey and sharing it. You're learning a lot ....and so are we. Love what you're doing!
Yes we are! Glad it's helpful & thanks for watching! 😊
Really neat to see the progress you are making!
Thanks so much! 😊🧡🏜️
coming together nicely. Thanks for sharing
Thanks! 🌱🌞
Looks like the Lizards approve of their new Garden Home going up, also looks like a major learning Curve on the mixing of batches, a lot of work involved, hope Youi get it all sorted and have great success when it comes to the House Pours.. Take care and stay safe out there! .. 👍🤠
They especially loved it when the forms were on. I'm sure they like the change of temperature too. 🦎 Thanks! I think we have about made all of the possible mistakes, and almost have it figured out. 😊🏜️
Great use for the test surplus aircrete. Good luck with the build.
Thanks! 😊
Another great summary of your project. Gotta love the lizards... keeps insects away taunting the dog. Wishing you both another great week.
Thanks so much, and wishing you a great week as well! 😊🏜️
🦎😍
It’s really cool what you guys are doing! It’s looking awesome. But I have to say my favorite part is the lizards and the bird at the end. 😃❤️❤️❤️❤️👍👌🏽
Thanks! It will be really nice to have a larger garden area, that we can keep the critters out of. The bird was very interested in the camera, we got a lot of footage of it 😄 and the lizards love the wall. 🧡😊
Thank you for the video.
Thanks for watching! 🙂
Interesting how all these tests work out, not to mention the new garden enclosure. Taking a whole lot of care before the big job.
Thanks! Yes, excited that we should have the garden fenced and ready for planting next spring. 😊
Love these air Crete videos! So much value and thankful for it. Curious how a little vibration would effect the quality of the cast. I also know this would cost more money but if people had 4 x 8 acrylic and potentially 1/8 to 1/4 thick. These are bendable and pliable and would probably leave a nice sheen on the casting much better than polyurethane.
Thanks! When the batch turns out well the material fills in the forms very well. It falls pretty easily so I wouldn't recommend vibrating it.
That sounds like it could be worth a try. 😎
I really like what you and your wife were doing with the aircrete prep. The key to this aircrete is getting it right from the start. I have been viewing different videos for 1 1/2 years covering the last four years of alternative buildings. I am a DIYer entrepreneur type but circumstances have held me back from my Aircrete structure. Thank the man upstairs I was finally able to start. You deliberately dont mention the specifics like drill type, where you brought your equipment? I recognize the domegaia foam machine with your modifying the foam injector. HoneyDo s' is more versatile, not a plug just preference. The additives (glycerin) you put in the the mix ratios to help with stabilizing the foam.??>? What was the foam agent 7 generation, Drexel (doesn't Need), Dawn etc.. These things I know but I dont have a video. The purpose is to help other with specifics.... Not leave them scratching their heads. You could have easily hit the 1/2 mil views with a little more meat in the taco! I really like your home building video but I'm going the Dome route. Thanks again for some great videos.
Here is a link to our playlist. We include the details of everything we are using in our Cost and Tools video. czcams.com/play/PLW_v9VWGwCM_gdAXzuKTr8J13rTZ1DSpx.html
We didn't like the original mixer, and went back to using the drill in reverse for most of our test batches. He shows the drill in one of the videos. Glycerin is cheap and we already bought some, so that's why we are using it. We have heard that the glycerin tends to be at the top of the Drexel, and it's hard to get it mixed in well, so figured adding some extra might help. Aircrete is definitely tricky to get right, and we have definitely found that it's hard finding good information about it. We are sharing what we are learning as we go. Best wishes on your projects. 🙂
Adding cut up fiberglass mats made it at least four times stronger when i was messing around with it
Yes, we were planning to add fiberglass mesh to the outside and then stucco over it.
I did notice is that the poly add and pulp can act like a clot that helps reduce leaking.
That would help. 🙂 Pouring the shorter walls in the dirt seemed to help stop leaks too.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid Yep. I used to use play sand but I think any sand would do, if a leak would start I'd pack some sand on it from the outside and hold it for a few minutes that usually slowed it if not stop it completely.
I wonder if the bubble holes in the older layers allow the new liquid layer to “soak in” and create a better bond. Pretty cool.
Yes, it'll probably help the plaster bond pretty well. Thanks 😊
This is impressive, I can't wait to see how it works. Good luck
Thanks! 😊
Oh, the despair of seeing an aircrete leak after what seemed to be over-preparation! Haha, looking good! I wonder how the 2 samples would compare in ur tests, comparing the additive value
It was good practice for our house walls. The dirt was pretty good at stopping up the leaks on the ground.
With the big air pockets they weren't testable, but both looked about the same. We have since poured some into our regular test sample boxed, but we are pretty sure it's been getting too cold at night and they froze some even though they were covered.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid spray foam is pretty good/fast way of sealing the forms/ joints as well
Great.☘👍🙋♀️
Thanks for watching! 😊
You can weigh a known volume to gauge if you're at an acceptable consistency
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Consider, and research, how you might cast your aircrete slabs laying flat, with one large exposed surface, instead of inside of vertical molds. There is already a technique for making tilt-up full concrete wall panels, and your aircrete panels would be much lighter and possible for you two to tilt up. Then your drying process might be less mysterious and shorter. For a structure, I would also suggest making the slabs quite a lot thicker, like 8 or 12 inches thick. Then you really get insulation value out of them. Thanks so much for sharing your process.
We had considered doing panels, but couldn't think of a great way to lift them into place or a good way to connect them together. Aircrete is much lighter than concrete, but a panel would still be pretty heavy. Aircrete can also be quite brittle, and would have the tendency to break or crack if moved. Some seemed to say it was possible to pour the walls in place, so that seemed like a better option, but I don't think it would have worked. Aircrete is just so incredibly thin and will leak out of even the smallest crack.
Making aircrete also seems to be a temperature sensitive process, it doesn't come out right if it's too hot or cold outside. It would need a controlled environment, but it's not very practical for a DIY build of a whole house. Making aircrete was an experience, hope people can learn something from it. 🙂
Exciting to see the progress well done to ye. What was the thickener you added and do it have any effect. We are trying, fibre reinforcement, accelerators, super plasterciser, and if all goes well some homemade graphine for fun. Cheers from Ireland.
Thanks! No one is quite sure what's in the thickener. It's something Aircrete Harry sells on his website. We are planning to try a couple more batches with fiber reinforcements also, hopefully we can keep the samples from freezing. Best wishes on your projects! 😊
Ooo homemade graphine? Are you posting results on a blog or channel? Post a link if you have one please. 😁
@@davidprins9401 I'll keep you in mind if i get that far, loads of tests to do with fibres, SBR, hardeners, mesh wire and the list goes on....its for an outdoor boundry wall so bottom needs to be tough and the rest lightish...having fun with the kids nothing too serious just hope this will save me from lifting 100kg panels looking forward to ending with the graphine tests
@@MrPaulnestor preciate it 😁 have fun
My experience, if it's there it will find away to leak out! Lol Can be very frustrating but you live you learn and keep moving forward.
Yes, definitely wouldn't want it to leak out of a big wall pour since it made such big air pockets.
Aircrete is very thin. I think you'll have leakage issues if you use a slip form technique. And it'll be a lot more annoying when you're 8 feet up. Since aircrete is so light, you may consider a tilt-up technique to build your walls. Or you can make huge bricks - like 2 ft x 4 ft. And since your forms will only be 8" or 12" deep (the thickness of your wall) you won't have as much pressure and you can spend more effort making it tightly sealed since it will be re-used many times.
He hasn't decided what type of form he wants to make yet, but I'm sure it's going to be a real challenge to keep the aircrete from leaking out. That was our original idea, then it was to pour the first 4 feet, and do blocks after that, but now we are hoping we can pour the walls on the whole thing. We'll see how it goes and improvise if needed. 🙂
I wonder how well it would work to build a full height form, then pour in 2 or 3’ lifts. Might be worth running a couple of tests, one similar to the garden wall with 2 or 3 layers, and another with concrete bonding agent between the layers? Lifts would also be a good way to easily lay horizontal rebar or wire as you go.
Major difference between wall one and wall 2 in lizard volume when
de-junking or removing forms. Is this due to any identifyable parameters?
Great narration, somewhere between Christopher Kimball from Americas Test Kitchen & Bob Ross.
They especially loved hiding under the plastic and the wooden forms. The patched section had a gap between the board and the wall, so I figured some would be hiding under there, and I was right.
Thanks! We are both from Colorado, and New Mexico. 🙂🦎
DIY Tiny Homes size: "HORIZONTAL way", flat on the floor: 12 feet [H] x 8 feet [W] x about 4 inches [thick] + aluminum SCREEN. Do not cut but keep the "screen edge" protruding; this will connect to the next; or unless you may do it this way that the edge was made like deep "H" shape like putting a "lego" puzzle; which means the other edge of the wall looks like an "L"; meaning the edge is about 10-12 inches thick high. Look at Lego puzzles. At the edge of the side of 12 feet wall; and, on the side of 8 feet wall were hallow many "H" in order to attach the roof and floor. You cannot go wrong with a lego design, it will hold! It would be nice to sell Air-crete lego at Home Depot or Low Stores?
😎
thx for your testing and posting. i hope to build soon myself and your test shows you cant trust aircrete from batch to batch. so i will try styrocrete = (1/2 batch aircrete + blockfill styropellets) looks close to same strength with no deflation. post and beam to carry roof weight and styrocrete between post with stucco. what are your thoughts? p.s. dont put window near woodstove it will burn/melt
That sounds good! Best wishes on your project! We are still learning and experimenting. We are thinking we need to mix the Drexel better before each batch because the last 1/3 of the bottle looks a little different. We intended to mix it more often, but forgot most of the time. We are also planning to put up a structure that is load bearing and we will also use it to attach our forms to. Good point about the window. 🙂
Let us know how the styrocrete goes!
Hi :) thanks for sharing ... Please what kind of foam do you use ?
We used Drexel soap and the Little Dragon foam machine.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid thanks !!
@ Red and April
May I ask what happened with other channel/videos? Was wanting to re watch the solar stuff. Thanks.
Yes, It was really sad, but we decided to delete our original channel. There were some issues going on out here, and we thought it could be related to having the channel. Things have quieted down, so we decided to come back and show our house build. As I get a chance, I hope to edit and bring back a few more of our older videos. 🙂🏜️
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid
Sorry to hear that, unfortunate. I just started watching a new aircreat channel i just happen to find and was like "wait a minute, these folks seem familiar". Hope to see some old stuff but totally understand. Thanks and good luck
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid sorry to hear that
Since I and others are trying to learn from each other it would be wonderful if you'd put in the description what additives you test and perhaps even the recipe quantities.
Ex: you mentioned thickener but don't say what you used. I watched a couple of Aircrete Harry videos where he did the same thing so it's kind of frustrating.
Sorry about that, the recipe is mentioned in most of the other videos, and I just now made sure it's in the description of every video. We use a standard aircrete recipe, but we use less water 5 gallons instead of 6, and add 1 tablespoon of glycerin, because it's cheap and might be helpful. We don't know what is in the thickener either, it's the one aircrete Harry sells. At this point we can't really say whether it was helpful or not since the batches leaked out and had big air pockets.
We have been using a little portable water softener for all of the water in our batches. We haven't seen anyone else use one, so we didn't know if it would work, but it seems to be working well.
Aircrete recipe:
In barrel mix
5 gallons water
94 lb bag of Portland Cement
Foaming soap solution:
5 gallons water
1/4 c. (4oz) Drexel
1 T. Glycerin
Foam weight 80- 100 grams per quart.
Mix into cement slurry enough foam to make a 45 gallon batch.
I agree it's really annoying when people seem to have information about how to make good aircrete that they are not sharing. We have come across that a lot. Aircrete is a challenge for sure. We plan to keep sharing as we learn more.🙂
What thickening agent did you use?
Aircrete Harry
Is that the stuff he sells to go higher or the other stuff.
He calls it thickening agent, or high pour. His experiments showed that regular aircrete using 7th generation dish soap will pour just as high. So now he says it makes aircrete stronger. It didn't seem to make any difference with our test samples, but the results were inconclusive.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid I have been looking for someone besides him that can justify the expense.
Why the chicken wire?
We thought it might add some support.
You really don't want a smooth surface, like you got from using plastic, if you are planning to plaster it. I suggest you rough up the surface before putting your plaster and mesh on it. It'll be okay for awhile but will spall over time if you don't.
True, It mostly made the forms come off easier and it made it easier to keep the aircrete wet. We are going over the whole wall with a rasp before putting the cloth and plaster on.
Did those lizards approve of your work ?
I think so, but they liked it better before we took the forms off. 😊🦎
O
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