Making AIRCRETE Test Batches | Sand, Low Water, & Low Foam Recipes
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- Making and unboxing our first aircrete test batches. Mixing test samples: low water, low foam, & fine sand for our first aircrete test samples.
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Our basic recipe
5 gallons water
94 lb bag of Portland Cement
Foaming soap solution:
5 gallons water
1/4 c. (4oz) Drexel
1 T Glycerin
Fill barrel with foam to make 45 gallons
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Grams per quart. Now those are my kind of units.
This is great to see the tests and comparison of mixes!
Really enjoying watching your videos on this project. Between y'all's videos and MAN about TOOLS' strength-testing videos, I feel like I am going to have instant success when I start my aircrete projects that I have planned. Thanks you two!
Thanks for joining us, and glad it's helpful! We just tested the first samples today, and got some surprising results. Excited to share once we get them all done. 😊🏠
Excited to see what mixture you end up going with!
Thanks! 😊🏠
Have you considered you going a rubber mallet and tapping / vibrating the forms to eliminate side wall bubbles? In larger forms we used our saws all without a blade to vibrate walls when we were pouring concrete.
Loving your scientific method. When you post your final results will you include the recipe variations.? You should submit for publication a pamphlet, articles or a book detailing your findings, testing modalities and results. Wishing you both a blessed week. Peace
That is a possibility, but probably shouldn't be done too much with aircrete. I think I was just over mixing it trying to get a really thick moose, which is how people describe the proper consistency of aircrete. I tried to get advice from some of the veterans, but didn't get much response. We are pretty sure the thinner mixtures will perform better, and they settle into the forms very nice, without much encouragement. Our testing should show us which consistency is better for strength. We are excited to share our test results, when we get them all done. Thanks!😊🏠
Looks like y’all are getting better and better! 😃❤️👍
Yes, it's going really well! Thanks 😊❤️
Doing a great job with the test sample batches. Looks like a lot of work. Hopefully you craft the perfect batch.
Thanks! Mixing batches and pouring them in the garden wall isn't bad. Getting the test forms ready every day is a bit of a hassle, but not too bad. Excited to start testing soon. 😊
vibrate the form to get it to settle
great information
We ended up not using aircrete to build our house. Here's our playlist if you want to know more
AIRCRETE Videos Playlist | Making, Mixing, Tools & Testing: ua-cam.com/play/PLW_v9VWGwCM_gdAXzuKTr8J13rTZ1DSpx.html
Even failed mixes can be a success, I've mixed Aircrete for one project and found it to be a complete failure but later another project comes up and that mix works perfectly for it! Important to write everything down 😃!
Yes, we have everything written down for testing. The low water and sand mixes are sure a pain to mix, but I figure they will be a lot stronger. We plan to start testing today on our first samples. 😊
I wonder how things like temperature, humidity, air pressure, etc. affect the outcomes
@@dustinabc temp has a huge part, at least with Drexel, if it's cold the foam comes out wetter and can cause the mix to collapse.
We have pretty wide temperature variations here from day to night but we haven't ever had both samples collapse. We have been making the batches in the afternoon when the temperature was in the low 80° and our night temperatures have been getting down into the 30°s! Batch #3 sat out uncovered on the first night. It was windy all night and we almost got down to freezing 33.4°, but it held it's shape perfectly.
This is super interesting! Look forward to seeing your progress and final product.
Thanks! We are pretty impressed with aircrete, and are excited to finish and share our test results. 😊
interesting and enjoyable. thanks for sharing and have a great day
Thanks so much! You have a great day as well! 😊
Great videos. Thank you for taking the time to post these 🙏🙏
Thanks! 😊
Thanks for sharing your tests. Very clear and well done video. You are having better luck on your mixes than I have had. I am pretty sure it is the hardness of my water. I am going to Lowes and getting a hardness tester.
Thanks so much! We just recently heard a few people online mention the importance of using soft water for aircrete, because hard water can't make good suds. We thought maybe we could get some kind of filter to soften the water, but found that isn't an option. We tried researching to see if a water softener would work for aircrete, but couldn't find anyone who had tried it, so we decided to just go ahead and buy one and try it out. It is working great! Our well water is in the low 200 range for hardness. After the water goes through the softener the test strips show it at 0! Best wishes on your projects! 😊🏠
You could add water first then your mix, alot easier, tap forms with hammer or get a concrete vibrator.... fill first 2 long ones and scrape excess into small box then fill as needed...less waste.......have done alot of cement and concrete work....on production type work like this labor/material gone to waste
Lots of very good info ! Thanks
Thanks! Be sure to check out our other videos, aircrete turns out to be even more difficult to get right than we thought. The colder temperatures were likely to blame.
Good info, the perils of aircrete one might say ;)
Thanks! We are learning a lot, and hope it will be helpful to others too. 😊
What a great job!
Thanks! 😊
Boy, we thought we had subscribed. Saw we made seed a bunch of your content. Checked and resubscribed.
Thanks for joining us! 😊
For low water mix using a water reducing additive or super plastizer, ask at the local concrete plant if theres no supplier locally. .
I love this testing content! Thanks for sharing this with us, and keep up the good work. :)
Thanks! Excited to share the results from our first test samples soon! 😃
Foam concrete should not collapse until it's setting time OPC cement needs 12 hours to set just reduce the setting time by adding some little amount of quick lime, and also use HPMC in cement slurry.
Low water mix : the cement is taking the water from the foam.
Very interesting to watch. But some hard work for you people I think. Hope you have figured out the best product to build your home with. 🤞👍
Thanks! Now that we are getting it figured out, it's pretty fun. The heavy batches are much harder to work with, but the standard mix isn't bad at all. Aircrete is pretty light, which makes it nice to work with. 😊
Yeah....once you figure it out, then it's fun all the way. Waiting to see your home take shape..👍♥️
Following along
Thanks so much! 😊
tuyệt
Thanks for posting your tests. Awesome video! Have you tried using carnauba wax on the wood molds? Works great as a release agent, less clean up too.
Thanks for joining us! We haven't, but sounds interesting. We have been using gallon jugs of cheap canola oil. We probably won't need to oil our wall forms if we cover them in plastic, but we aren't exactly sure how we are going to make them yet. 😊
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid think of it as a surf board, the wax builds up and it takes longer to wear off. And you'll notice the clean up time as well. I'm surfer its how I discovered the trick.
Concrete is a chemical reaction try using warm water. Might help the cement set up so it wont sag or you can use an accelerator. Also try letting the cement set up a little before mixing in the foam.
Warm water would likely be helpful when mixing batches of aircrete on colder days, but unfortunately it's not real easy to heat large amounts of water using solar power. There are probably other ways to heat water, but we didn't look into it. The foam is pretty fragile and hard to mix in even when the cement is very wet.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid look into wood fired water heaters. One guy took the fan blade out of an office tower fan and used that. It's a squirrel cage blade about 30 inches tall. In Mexico the water heaters are 30 gallon and are fired by wood. About $250.
Someone told me adding magnesium from feed stores can prevent the bubbles from collapsing
Do you think the night time temperature change could be the reason the final batch didn't turn out as expected?
Considering it was holding up at first, and that air (bubble) pressure can be dramatically affected by temperature, it seems a possible cause of the "failure".
Also, have you been covering up the samples while in the forms? I went to a tiny giant lifestyle aircrete workshop last year, and it seemed the sooner we got the aircrete covered with plastic and protected from the wind, the less it would deflate.
Just one sand sample collapsed and the other one didn't. I think it was more because of the weight of the extra sand, the soap just couldn't quite hold it up, but I bet it will be a pretty strong sample. Not that it couldn't be done, it just didn't work this time. The mixes with sand are a lot harder to make, and mix. We do have pretty wide temperature variations here from day to night but we haven't ever had both samples collapse. We have been making the batches in the afternoon when the temperature was in the low 80° and our night temperatures have been getting down into the 30°s!
I am finding your videos very helpful. Have you notice any difference between hard and soft water use?
Soft water is known to make more suds, and we have heard of other people who have had issues with using hard water in aircrete. We didn't know if the water softener would work or cause other issues, but our batches are doing great, and the soap is performing very well. We did one batch with hard water, but that was before we were maintaining an even stable pressure on the air compressor, and the foam was too wet, it was more of a flop than our other flopped batches. 😄
Try mixing in type 2 or 3 wood glue with the cement before mixing with foam. The wood glue suspends the sand and cement and makes it a little flexible...
Great information. Looking forward to the testing
Thanks! The testing has been interesting, excited to share the results! 😊
If I am following along correctly, you are using foam as the basis of your water component of your cement mix. If I am mistaken, please correct my assumption
For a full sized batch we mixed 5 gallons of water with one bag of Portland cement, then added enough of the proper density foam to make 45 gallons.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid TY, if I can scrimp out enough $$$ I will try using aircrete and styrofoam beads in my build. How well does this system work in an old portable mixer, will the foam hold up?
I have heard of some people having success using a cement mixer, but we didn't try it. Aircrete is pretty finicky stuff.
I assume you have seen Steven Williams method of making styrocrete, if not, you should check it out. Best wishes! 😎
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid TY
Should be taping the sides to knock out the bubbles
When the batch turns out well, the mixture seems to settle into the cracks and corners, and they don't get big bubbles. Taping might be helpful for the batches that are a little too bubbly, or foamy. We are hesitant to do much tapping, because we don't want to pop too many bubbles.
Have you watched “ Stephen Williams” channel? He said making aircrete was hard so he added styrofoam and used a mortar mixer? Seems like a good idea, high R value , faster,easier.
Yes, he's doing some interesting stuff. Collecting all of that styrofoam would be a huge task, and then finding a place to put it would be another issue. Also, with the strong winds we get here in the spring, I don't know how we would be able to keep the walls standing long enough to get them plastered. Mixing batches of aircrete is actually pretty fast and easy. We are excited to start testing our samples! 🙂🏠
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid thank you looking forward to it.
Could I make a stacked water feature out of this mix?
Does it need 'sealing' and with what?
It should work fine, if you can get good quality aircrete. It's tricky! Aircrete is typically coved in a mesh cloth and plaster, but for something that isn't too big, or doesn't need to hold too much weight it might be fine without it.
Wow you are so creative and work hard. How long do you have to water the blocks and covering again? Have great day
One week is what is recommended for concrete to cure to 90% or so of it's maximum strength, so that's how long we are keeping our aircrete test samples wet. It is ideal to keep it wet for a full month. Thanks, you too! 😊
Wanna build a sauna hut . I may try Air Crete for it .
Good luck!
I've been told sand weakens aircrete.
Also, what are your thoughts on adding shredded styrofoam to your aircrete?
What about vermiculite or perlite?
Can you do a sample with each?
We hope to finish up and show the results of the testing in the next week or so. We were testing sand to use in the floor to give it more compressive strength. We were trying to stick with add-ins that would give strength rather than more insulation, since aircrete on it's own does pretty good there. We did consider perlite, but didn't get around to trying to find some, and weren't real interested in using it anyway. I would have to look up vermiculite, not sure what that is. 🙂
Can you please show us your foam generator?
Is it DIY?
The second video in this playlist shows what we used. AIRCRETE Videos Playlist | Making, Mixing, Tools & Testing: ua-cam.com/play/PLW_v9VWGwCM_gdAXzuKTr8J13rTZ1DSpx.html
As you can see in from the last video in the playlist, we didn't end up using aircrete to build our house. We decided it was too risky, more labor, and not cost effective.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid Thank you very much
Do you know about concrete vibrators? They may help alot
We have found that when the batch turns out right, it fills in the forms nicely. A vibrator might help some with the over mixed batches. The larger pockets are often due to leakage or bubbles popping and combining with each other.
Viel Erfolg ...🌺🌸🌸🥳🏵️🥀💐 مشترك جديد
Domegaia’s formula is 6 gal of water to 94 lb of Portland cement.
Lower water makes stronger concrete, that is why we are choosing to use less water in our mix. Tiny Giant Lifestyle recommends using just 4 gallons for poured aircrete walls. Recipes can be adjusted depending on what properties are desired and what you want to use them for.
Hate to say it. If it was easy domegaia wouldn't make any money teaching it... plus the buildings they show off from Tielind are mad of sinder blocks..
I've only been able to get there mixture to work right the way they say twice.... had to figure my own way.... it takes twice as much Drexel as recommended, WATCH OTHERS, they mix. it drops and they add more foam to the line, mix and pore. Less water more cement, or half the water and type III... the only time I got more volume then expected. Better than type I or II... I wonder also on additives such as flyash's affects on the batch.... Any chunks or sand can be a problem and some plants are really bad about contamination with sand gravel or fiber.
Yes, I have seen people adding more foam, which makes the aircrete weaker. Our test have shown that lower foam makes a much stronger product, it won't go as far, but it will be much stronger. They also only use 3.5 inch thick bricks! I asked one guy about his dome was doing, and he said they are having issues with it cracking. It's tricky for sure, I feel like we are starting to get a handle on it, but still have more to learn. If you can use soft water, you don't need as much Drexel.
@@RedandAprilOff-Gridit doesn't have to be that strong. Its insulation too. The stronger the mix the lower the Rvalue But still that's beyond the point... Its almost impossible to get good batches evey time with the mix from domegaia.... something else is missing to address set time and temperature.
Will you be experimenting with adding fibers to the mixes?
Just one, we decided not to try anything that would add a lot of extra cost. We'll show the rest of the test batches in the next video.
Do you know if it is possible to make aircrete that is thick and slow to run
I think the channel, "Honey Do Carpenter" has started adding sawdust to thicken the aircrete. He says it works well.
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid Makes sense, makes sense to not put it in as a clump but slowly add it in as mixing.
Thank you for letting me know.
Was the last batch, 1to1 ratio that failed was that due to temperature chances?
That is possible, usually the batches that fall do so more quickly, that one hung on for a long time. Seems like it almost made it, but the weight of the sand eventually pulled it down.
great channel new sub
Thanks, and thanks so much for joining us! 😊
How do you plan to form up your eventual finished walls?
He has some ideas, but first we need to test how deep we can pour the aircrete at a time. We bought some of Aircrete Harry's special thickening agent, so we'll see how it works. 😊🏠
That is a lot of trial and error. Is there a formula already available for this? I appreciate the scientific methods, but gee whiz. Thanks for sharing
I watched all of the videos I could find, most people weren't having consistent success with it either, and the ones that appeared to know how to make it weren't sharing the full details. It was hard to find good info, we bought a pdf with recipes for basic aircrete and instructions. The foam and water can be adjusted, and add-ins can also make it stronger. We wanted a fairly strong product even if wasn't as insulative, so that's what we were going for.
You sifted the sand too fine concrete, sand is coarser than what you did .Gravel supply places have concrete sand where i live , again perhaps a concrete supply place may sell you a few 5 gallon buckets of sand
With aircrete you have to use very fine sand, or it will collapse. Little bubbles are all that is supporting the sand.
You pay up to $150 for each steel barrel? I get mine for free at the local fuel companies; it saves them a disposal fee
Cool! We checked everywhere in town, and everyone was sold out, and didn't know when they would be getting more in. We got one free from a friend.
When you find a blend that works for you, the following may be of interest: ua-cam.com/video/qc4AgQkPzfk/v-deo.html Another Arizona family using aircrete in a steel stud form. Wishing you both a safe weekend. Peace
Steel studs are pretty expensive, we'll be showing what we plan to use to support the house soon. Thanks! Wishing you a wonderful weekend as well! 😊
02:11 fine to have a girl with you that does´nt think her time is too prescious too be with you in your adventures
This whole off-grid thing was more my idea than his, but he wasn't too hard to convince. 😄🏜️
@@RedandAprilOff-Grid
Ahhh, thats the other way round, ya little beast! Even the better! :-)
I am just working on a very small-scale aircrete Prozessor from scratch for continuous pouring of aircrete, similar to Gibran's son's build. Quite tricky though ... ;-)
Of course I'm subscribed to your channel waiting for new stuff you come up with!
Greatings from Kärnten! (= Carinthia, in the south of Austria, which is supposed to be somewhere in the middle of Europe)
07:49 Sorry to have to say this as I like your videos and sorry for my poor English, but don't you think it's way impolite to keep these imperial measurements up, which are very difficult to get a feel for the proportions and not even a fifth of your followers will actually know?
So if you have 5000 people watching your video, maybe 4000 need to look up what those measurements could mean EACH TIME, instead of just looking up yourself, and then nobody else has to do it? Many UA-camrs have that certain extra politeness ...
It wasn't intended to be impolite.
Our UA-cam statistics show that the majority of our viewers are from the US. He did put the metric weights and measurements in our first 2 testing videos.