Materials & Basic InstructionsAirCrete is inexpensive, easy to make, and easy to work with. It requires only basic skills.
It's easy to make. And, like baking a cake, you have to get the recipe right. The quality and density of the foam is important. Use an accurate postal or kitchen scale to check the weight of your foam. It should be between 80 - 100 grams/liter (about 3 ounces/quart). You can use good quality dish detergent to make the foam with Little Dragon, our continuous foam generator. Look for a high foaming degreaser detergent. We tested Seventh Generation Natural Dish Liquid, Dawn Ultra and Safeway Home concentrate. They all produced adequate foam diluted 40/1 with water. (5 gals water / 2 cups foaming agent). Add the detergent to the water and mix thoroughly. You can also use commercial foaming agents designed for making Cellular Concrete. For more information and a list of sources check out this link. You need an air-compressor rated for at least 2.5cfm@90psi, which is a relatively small compressor. Of course you can use a bigger compressor if you have one. |
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Mix one 94lb bag of cement with 6 gallons (US) water. Put all the water in your container first and add the cement while you are mixing to avoid clumping. When the cement and water are well mixed, turn on the Little Dragon and add foam to the mixture. Add enough foam to make a total of 45 gallons of AirCrete. That's about 30" high in a standard 55 gallon drum. The foam is very light weight and so it wants to float on top of the cement mixture. Our foam injection mixer works great because it injects the foam directly into the mixing paddles at the bottom of the barrel where it is mixed into the cement before it can float to the top.
You can also use a strong drill with a mixing paddle like this one from Home Depot. Just be sure to work the foam down into the mixture until it is mixed thoroughly.
AirCrete needs to be poured into a form and allowed to harden over night. It makes good foundation footings, slabs and sub-floors. Lay plastic down to hold the water so it cures better. In dry climates sprinkle it with water to keep it wet for a few days to help the curing process.
You can also use a strong drill with a mixing paddle like this one from Home Depot. Just be sure to work the foam down into the mixture until it is mixed thoroughly.
AirCrete needs to be poured into a form and allowed to harden over night. It makes good foundation footings, slabs and sub-floors. Lay plastic down to hold the water so it cures better. In dry climates sprinkle it with water to keep it wet for a few days to help the curing process.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Creating Forms
AirCrete is soft enough the next day to use a "cookie cutter" method to make building blocks. Make rectangular wooden frames. Join the corners with door hinges that have removable pins for easy assembly and disassembly. Put a plastic sheet under and around the frames so the AirCrete won't leak out. Apply veggie oil or other release agent to the frames. Fill the frames with AirCrete. After the AirCrete has set over night slice it into blocks with a knife or a long blade made of 16 guage steel.
Finish the outer surface with a thin layer of latex cement and reinforcing fabric. This works very well to produce a crack proof surface and very strong structure. Here's a link to one type of fabric that works well. You can also reinforce AirCrete by adding fiber to the mixture.
There's a lot of stuccos, sealers and coatings available that have good qualities that are worth looking into. Or use a 2/1 mixture of fine sand/cement.
If you don't have your Little Dragon yet, order one from the Store to find out how easy it is to work with AirCrete.
There's a lot of stuccos, sealers and coatings available that have good qualities that are worth looking into. Or use a 2/1 mixture of fine sand/cement.
If you don't have your Little Dragon yet, order one from the Store to find out how easy it is to work with AirCrete.
Resources
Cellular Concrete Technologies - http://cellularconcretetechnologies.com/
AirCrete U.S.A. - https://aircreteus.org/
AirCrete U.S.A. - https://aircreteus.org/