Which facade is better for a house made of aerated concrete. Facing with decorative panels. Clinker tiles for aerated concrete walls

You can use different materials to build your own home, but aerated concrete is especially popular. It has excellent thermal insulation properties and allows you to get a truly warm home; the main advantages are added: low cost, speed of installation, speed of construction and safety for others. There are few disadvantages, and one of them is the limitation in the choice of materials for finishing (for example, the usual use of cement plaster is not suitable, it cannot be coated with film-forming paints). How then to cover the outside of a house made of aerated concrete, and what materials are better to choose for it or alternatives from foam blocks or gas silicate?

Why not every material is suitable for finishing

Aerated concrete blocks are distinguished by their porous structure (the pores are evenly distributed throughout the block, approximately 80% filled with air or gas), hydrophilicity (the ability to absorb moisture) and increased vapor permeability (this unique ability of porous concrete ensures the rapid removal of moisture from the room). When sawing blocks during the construction process, open pores appear on the surface and, if they are not covered with a suitable protective layer, they will become wet, oxidize under the influence of rainwater, fill with dust, and darken. As a result, the house will lose its visual appeal and lose thermal insulation properties. Be sure, when choosing what to cover the outside of a house made of foam blocks or aerated concrete, you should take into account the described physical features material, and do not use finishes that prevent the diffusion of water vapor from the room to the outside. It is important to maintain the wall’s ability to “breathe”.

Thus, in the exterior decoration of a house made of gas silicate blocks, you should not use cement mortar, foam plastic, or film-forming paints.

What facing materials can be used

Having excluded prohibited materials from the list of applicable materials, you can choose the best way to cover the outside of a house with foam blocks from the following list:

  • siding;
  • lining;
  • face brick;
  • decorative rock;
  • mineral plaster (specially designed for aerated concrete);
  • grouting the joints followed by the use of façade textured paint (vapor-permeable).

Features of cladding with siding, imitation timber, clapboard

The most convenient, reliable, and fastest in terms of completion time is the exterior finishing of a house made of foam blocks with sheet panels, i.e. siding, imitation timber, clapboard. In this case, a ventilated façade is created and it is possible to provide additional insulation for the house (for example, using mineral wool - the cheapest, most practical and durable material).

Before lining a house with foam blocks from the outside, a wooden sheathing is made on the walls of the building, onto which the sheathing sheets are then attached.

Application vinyl siding, imitation timber or lining allows you to create an attractive and fashionable exterior of the building in the shortest possible time. These materials are durable and can be installed on our own, they do not require additional decoration. They are recognized as the most optimal and rational solution for different designs(for example, they are suitable for the question: how to sheathe the outside of a cinder-cast house).

Brick cladding

Among the options for sheathing foam block house outside, facing brick is recognized as one of the best. It has the highest strength and durability among all existing facing materials; such a house will be especially warm (which is especially important). But the use of bricks should be foreseen at the design stage and a more durable foundation should be built, because the weight of such a structure will be much greater.

Considering that the vapor permeability of cellular blocks and bricks is significantly different, a gap of about 3 cm should be left between the blocks and the facing masonry (this can easily be provided by a special protective sheet that protects the foam blocks from the masonry to protect them from splashes of cement mortar). For the gap (it is also called the “air gap”), ventilation must be provided; for this, it is enough to leave several empty seams in the upper rows of the masonry (under the eaves). Also, when choosing aerated concrete or brick for finishing the external walls of a house, you need to worry about waterproofing the base.

Application of plaster compositions

If you choose the best way to cover the outside of a house with aerated concrete, based on the price component, then it will be cheaper to use a special plaster composition developed specifically for cellular concrete instead of sheet panels or bricks. Mineral plasters are perfect; they do not contain quartz sand, but are based on a lightweight filler (this can be perlite sand and some others), which ensures vapor permeability to the material. The quality and strength of the plaster remains high, providing excellent resistance to mechanical damage and impact environment and the formation of shrinkage cracks. Such compositions are applied in a thick layer, carefully smoothing out all the unevenness of the walls being coated.

Having chosen plastering, in the question: how to sheathe the outside of a block house, do not forget about the need for mesh reinforcement in problem areas (at block joints, kinks and joints of profiles, corners of the building facade, in the area of ​​window openings).

Painting facade textured paint

For decorating the walls of a house made of foam blocks, aerated concrete and gas silicate, façade textured paints, their advantage is a wide color palette. You can replace the paint with a thin layer of special vapor-proof putty (such as “Prospectors”), after the coating dries the wall will look neat appearance. At the same time, do not forget about pre-grouting the joints and eliminating surface unevenness.

When choosing and performing the exterior finishing of a house made of aerated concrete blocks, it is worth taking into account the properties of this material so that the cladding does not contribute to the deterioration of the technical characteristics of this material. Since aerated concrete belongs to the category of cellular lightweight concrete, it has high thermal insulation characteristics, but this material absorbs moisture quite easily, so the exterior decoration of the house must reliably protect wall structures from atmospheric moisture and the formation of condensation. In our article we will list all the finishing options for an aerated concrete block.

Features of the material

When choosing the finishing of a house made of aerated concrete, it is worth considering specifications and properties of this material. So, its advantages include the following:

  • Since the specific gravity of aerated concrete is small, when arranging a house, you can get by with a lightweight foundation. In addition, the laying of wall blocks can be done independently without the use of construction equipment. Due to its light weight, transportation of this material is facilitated.
  • Cellular concrete is an easy-to-work material. Blocks can be cut and drilled hand tools. Right on construction site the block can be given the desired shape. In addition, in an already constructed building, you can easily tap walls for laying communications.
  • The high thermal insulation characteristics of the material lead to the fact that a wall with a thickness of 200 mm is equal in thermal conductivity to brick wall 500 mm thick.
  • Since the structure of the material is porous, a favorable atmosphere for humans is formed in the house due to air microcirculation and humidity is regulated. With this property, aerated concrete is very similar to wood.
  • A building made of aerated concrete can rightfully be considered environmentally friendly housing.

When choosing how to decorate a house made of aerated concrete blocks, you should take into account the disadvantages of the material:

  • The main disadvantage of this product is its increased fragility. The blocks do not withstand shock loads well, and their compressive strength is low. If the block falls during transportation, it is likely to split or crack.
  • High hygroscopicity means that the material actively absorbs moisture both through direct contact and atmospheric moisture from the air. At the same time, the product becomes heavier, its thermal insulation characteristics deteriorate, and its strength decreases. A wet block may collapse after freezing. During masonry work, the block quickly absorbs moisture from the solution, which reduces the elasticity of the mixture and makes it difficult to work with.

Important: as you can see, the shortcomings of this material confirm the fact that walls made of aerated blocks are a draft version that needs immediate external and interior decoration. Next we will look at the most suitable options for external cladding of aerated concrete walls.

Clinker

Clinker brick is high strength material, made from special shale clay. A house lined with clinker tiles takes on a finished, respectable appearance. Clinker contains oxide dyes and additives. The mixture is passed through an extruder. The flat blank is then cut into individual tiles. They are fired in a tunnel kiln at a temperature of 1300°C. As a result, the material acquires the following characteristics:

  • high frost resistance;
  • excellent fire resistance;
  • the product can be given any color and texture;
  • the material has high strength;
  • tiles are considered environmentally friendly;
  • clinker is resistant to sunlight;
  • it is a chemically neutral material;
  • durability.

The main advantage of external finishing made of clinker bricks and tiles is the variety of shapes, textures and colors of the products. As a result, you will be able to realize any architectural idea in facade decoration, make columns, decorative elements, arches. From clinker you can make not only the outer layer of the house, but also a fence, a gazebo, a canopy, a barbecue, and a fireplace inside the house.

Advice: if it is very important for you to decorate the facade, then better material You won't find anything better than clinker tiles.

However, any material has disadvantages and clinker is no exception. Due to its increased density, it has high thermal conductivity, so it is advisable to additionally insulate the walls of the house before cladding. The second disadvantage is the high price.

There are two ways to tile a house with clinker tiles:

  1. If you want to additionally insulate the facade, then first slabs are attached to the walls thermal insulation material, for example, polystyrene foam. Then a vapor barrier membrane is fixed on top of them. It will protect against moisture and condensation. After this, clinker brick cladding is performed at a short distance (3-4 cm). The facing layer must be connected to the aerated concrete masonry walls using anchors, clamps, long nails or dowels with wire. The installation step of these elements is 0.5 m.
  2. If the thickness of the aerated concrete walls is sufficient, then additional insulation will not be needed. In this case, clinker tiles are laid close to the walls. Elements for connecting the cladding layer to the walls can be laid during the process of aerated concrete masonry or installed later during the cladding process.

Plaster

If you decide to plaster the outside of a house made of aerated concrete, then you should know that the finishing process will consist of several stages. The final result depends on the quality of each of them. Thus, the process of plastering aerated concrete walls includes the following steps:

  • First, thermal insulation material (foam or extruded polystyrene foam) is attached to the walls. Usually, a special adhesive composition and dowels with caps. This layer will increase the thermal insulation of the house, protect against noise and atmospheric moisture.
  • After this, using the same glue, a reinforcing fiberglass mesh is attached to the insulation. It is needed to improve the adhesion of the finishing layer to the heat-insulating material.

Attention: when choosing a mesh, you should give preference to products made from chemically neutral material. This will protect the facade from the appearance of traces of rust.

  • Now you can begin to apply the finishing plaster layer. For better adhesion, the surface of the previous layer is primed with a special compound. Next, the facade is plastered using a high-quality composition with antiseptic additives. After this, the surface of the walls is painted with facade paints.

Vinyl siding

Facing material such as siding is quite popular. On sale you can find cladding panels made from different materials(metal, fiber cement, vinyl, wood). The most popular because of its reasonable price and ease of processing is vinyl siding.

The advantages of this material include the following:

  • Affordable price.
  • Simplicity and speed of installation.
  • Durability.
  • Easy to care for. The facade can be washed with water from a hose.
  • High moisture resistance.
  • Resistant to fading, damage by microorganisms and insects.
  • A large selection of colors and textures, which allows you to choose the right product. In addition, several colors of material can be used in the cladding of one house, which will diversify the facade and give it expressiveness.

However, if you decide to cover your house with siding, it is important to adhere to the rules for installing this product. Otherwise, the panels may fail, they may burst or become deformed. The thing is that the material can expand and contract under the influence of temperature changes. The magnitude of the change in linear dimensions reaches 1%.

Installation of vinyl panels is carried out in the following order:

  1. Before covering a house made of aerated concrete with siding, special brackets must be secured to the walls. Only on them can panels be mounted.
  2. Before installing the guides, the walls of the house must be protected from moisture. To do this, a vapor barrier membrane is attached to them.
  3. After this, the guide profiles are attached.
  4. External vinyl corner profiles are then installed on the corners. Special profile components are installed around windows and doors. The starting profile is fixed at the bottom of the facade, and the finishing strip or internal corner is fixed at the top of the walls.
  5. If the siding length of 3.66 m is not enough to cover one facade in length or height, then a joining profile is additionally used.
  6. After this, installation of the panels begins.

Attention: To compensate temperature deformations, the siding is attached with a gap of 1 cm at the ends from the additional profiles. In addition, for free expansion and contraction, the material cannot be screwed too tightly to the guides. Self-tapping screws can only be screwed into the center of the oblong hole on the panel.

It is also worth remembering that for ventilation of the building walls, vinyl siding is not attached closely to the facade. Be sure to leave a gap of 3-4 cm. If desired, the walls of the house can be insulated. The insulation is placed between the frame guides. Then a vapor barrier membrane and again guide profiles are attached on top of it. This is the only way to ensure the required ventilation gap.

Brick

Cladding a house made of aerated concrete can also be done using facing bricks. This material has extensive color palette, which will allow you to use a successful combination of two colors to decorate your house. For wall cladding, it is better to choose not ordinary ordinary bricks, but special finishing bricks. He has correct form, a smooth surface without defects and a reduced width, which will reduce the load on the foundation. Due to their high density, these products have improved technical characteristics.

For cladding the house you can use silicate or ceramic brick, as well as products obtained by semi-dry hyperpressing. The latter option is more expensive, but allows you to achieve best result due to extensive color range, variety of shapes and textures.

There are two ways to cover aerated concrete walls with facing bricks:

  • Close to the walls. In this case, when making masonry from aerated blocks, it is worth laying anchors in advance to perform the dressing with the facing layer. If desired, you can lay thermal insulation material between aerated concrete wall and facing layer.
  • Ventilated facade. This finishing option will not allow the walls of the house to become damp due to the accumulation of condensation in them. In this case, a layer of facing brick is laid at a short distance (3-4 cm) from the surface of aerated concrete walls or heat-insulating material covered with a vapor barrier membrane.

A building made of aerated concrete can stand without external finishing without any damage to the integrity of the blocks (we are talking about autoclaved aerated silicate). But, over time, dust settles on the surface of the blocks, and the previously white outer surface becomes an untidy gray color with streaks. So it doesn’t matter, sooner or later, but the question arises about the cladding or finishing of aerated concrete on the outside. Inside, the finishing of aerated concrete is done almost immediately after construction: the blocks do not look very attractive in the interior.

Since aerated concrete has very high vapor permeability, there are certain nuances when carrying out finishing works. The fact is that almost all materials conduct vapors worse than gas silicate. This causes difficulties, since in order to ensure normal removal of water vapor from the room, the vapor permeability of the walls - from the room - to the outside must increase. Only special plaster mixtures for foam concrete meet this requirement. But subject to certain rules, the finishing can be anything.

Exterior finishing of aerated concrete

First, let’s talk about how you can’t trim. You cannot insulate with polystyrene foam or expanded polystyrene, plaster the outside with ordinary sand-concrete plaster, or paint with covering film-forming paints. If necessary, you can use mineral wool as insulation and paint it with paints that do not block the pores for moisture to escape from the wall. Now let’s talk about how to finish a foam concrete façade.

Curtain facades: lining, siding, panels, etc.

When finishing with any materials that are mounted on the sheathing or guides, a gap remains between the finishing material and the wall. It is called ventilation, since in this gap, with the correct design, there is active movement of air from bottom to top. Correct device- this is the presence of holes in the finishing material at the bottom and top. This ensures the movement of air flow from bottom to top. This flow carries away moisture, which is removed from the room. This device solves the problem of condensation and also maintains normal wall humidity. Since when high humidity aerated concrete has lower strength characteristics, maintaining it normal humidity promotes a longer “life” period. The dependence of the strength of aerated concrete on the percentage of moisture content is presented in the graph.

When exterior finishing of aerated concrete with a ventilated gap, most of the time it has a humidity in the range of 10-15%, i.e. is in optimal zone. To create such a gap, a lath is placed over the entire area of ​​the wall, ensuring a distance of 3-5 cm from the wall to the exterior finish.

For lathing use wooden beam(treated with antiseptics), metal guides - galvanized profiles for drywall or special ones for ventilation facades. The frequency of the lathing is 40 cm. Using this principle, the aerated concrete façade is sheathed with clapboards and façade panels.

When attaching the sheathing to the wall, the question arises: with what, or rather, “what” to attach the sheathing to the gas silicate. You can just use self-tapping screws (black ones, they are stronger), but in order for the sheathing to hold well, you will need a lot of length. This means that metal goes deep into the body of the block. In winter it is an excellent cold bridge. But this is not the worst. When exposed to wind loads, the frame vibrates, and the vibration is naturally transmitted to the fasteners. Under the influence of vibrations, foam concrete is crushed. As a result, the screw may fall out.

And that is not all. Due to the temperature difference - relatively warm aerated concrete and the quickly cooling metal of the screw - condensation forms on the screw. When the temperature drops, it freezes, destroying the body of the block. In general, do not simply use self-tapping screws to attach the sheathing to aerated concrete from the outside.

To avoid such a situation, plastic plugs are inserted into the wall and dowel nails are used. Ordinary ones are of little use, although they are better than just self-tapping screws. If you use regular ones, the length plastic stopper must be at least 30 mm.

In general, it is better to attach it to special ones, which are called “for aerated concrete”. They are available in specialized stores that sell hardware. You may not find them on the regular construction market. From ordinary ones they are doused with larger sizes of the plastic part, as well as more developed screw plates.

The installation method is standard. A hole is drilled under the dowel plug (plastic part). Depending on the shape of the screw surface, a plastic insert is driven into it (the upper dowel in the photo) or screwed in (the lower one). Then the screw is screwed in.

When using wooden blocks or galvanized profiles, they are attached to such dowels. The sheathing installation step is smaller than usual - it is about 40 cm. This is for a more even distribution of shock loads that occur in strong winds. An example of covering aerated concrete with siding can be seen in the video. There are many useful nuances.

Brick finishing

If you cover an aerated concrete façade with bricks correctly, it will stand for decades without problems. Required condition- between the wall finishing material and the wall made of aerated concrete should be ventilated. Its width is at least 30 mm. In order for it to work, when laying finishing bricks, vents are left in the lower part - small holes into which air will enter. To prevent animals from getting into them, they are covered with ventilation grilles.

The principle of “operation” of the system with a wall made of finishing bricks spaced 3-5 cm

Only this type of finishing, unlike ventilated facades, should be taken into account when calculating the foundation. Firstly, the mass of brick finishing, even half a brick, is considerable, and it must be taken into account when calculating the bearing capacity of the foundation. Secondly, the width of the finishing is taken into account when determining the width of the foundation: the overhang of the brick cannot be more than 3 cm, and a ventilation gap of 3 to 5 cm is also needed between the wall and the finishing.

But, if you simply place a brick wall at the required distance from the wall of the house, there is a very high probability that it will simply fall. Therefore, it is necessary to connect the walls of foam concrete and brick. To do this, even at the stage of laying foam concrete, thin plates called “flexible connections” are installed between the blocks. It's best if they are made of stainless steel. The environment in the solution in which these strips are embedded has an alkaline reaction, and in an alkaline environment metal, even galvanized metal, quickly deteriorates.

Mounting plates are inserted into the seams to bond with the foam concrete brick trim, but they are galvanized and the brick trim may fall off after a few years

The plates on the wall surface are placed approximately 60 cm in every second row, the maximum height distance between two rows is 50 cm. The plates are arranged in a checkerboard pattern. In the area of ​​corners, windows and doorways It’s worth placing them more often.

Sometimes when laying the plates they forget about them. In this case, a dowel is screwed into the wall, to which a metal perforated plate or also a special stainless steel pin is already attached. Another option: when laying bricks, a hole is made in the wall exactly opposite the seam into which a pin is driven. The pin should extend 10 cm into the concrete body and almost the entire width of the brick. But the pin is not flexible and can break both aerated concrete and brick finishing(half a brick - exactly). Therefore, it is better not to suffer from such “savings”. How to finish aerated concrete using finishing bricks with a ventazor - in the video.

How to plaster a facade made of aerated concrete

As already mentioned, plasters for aerated concrete can only be used with high vapor permeability. These plasters are expensive, but they are applied in a thin layer. Therefore, to obtain a smooth surface, a number of preparatory measures are required.

You can start plastering work when the humidity of aerated concrete blocks is no higher than 27%. Before starting work, the surface is treated:

  • remove dust with a brush;
  • use a grater to level the surface;
  • dents and chips are repaired with glue mixed with aerated concrete dust, which was obtained when cutting the blocks.

Minimum layer - up to 10 mm can not be reinforced. Due to the adhesive additives in the composition, it will adhere tightly to the surface. If the layer is 10-15 mm, reinforcement with a fiberglass mesh is necessary; with a thickness of 15-20 mm, a metal mesh is required. Exterior decoration aerated concrete with thicker plaster is impractical.

The mesh for outdoor use should have a mesh of about 3 mm. It must be resistant to alkaline environments (written on the packaging), otherwise after a couple of months it will lose strength and will no longer hold the plaster. As a result, the finishing layer will fall off.

Reinforcement is carried out over the applied layer of primer mixture. It is also used specially, has excellent adhesion to foam concrete, and creates the basis for applying decorative plaster. The composition is applied to the wall in a strip. Before it freezes, a mesh is rolled out over it. Using a notched trowel or grater, press the mesh into the solution. After it has completely sunk, take a regular wide spatula and level the surface, adding mortar if necessary. The leveled surface is left to dry. The period depends on the material used and is specified by the manufacturer. The average period is 7 days.

A primer is applied to the dried surface of the reinforcing layer. It performs several functions:

  • equalizes the absorbency of the base (reduces it);
  • paints over grey colour(she is white);
  • reduces porosity.

Apply the dried primer (in the description) finishingdecorative plaster. The technique for applying it depends on the type of composition.

Insulation of aerated concrete walls

With normal calculations and adherence to technology (laying with glue with a joint thickness of 1-2 mm), gas silicate walls do not need insulation. IN middle lane In Russia, the block thickness is 325 mm. If the need nevertheless arises, the insulation must be vapor-permeable. And these are mineral wool and foam glass. Foam glass has excellent characteristics, but a high price. Mineral wool- cheaper. The thickness of the insulation depends on how cold it is in the house, but usually 50 mm is used as a minimum.

When finishing with lathing, it is made from a wider board or profile, taking into account the fact that the thickness of the insulation is also added to the thickness of the ventilation gap. Sometimes a counter-lattice may be needed. These are additional strips, which, depending on the circumstances, are packed along or across the first sheathing. The thermal insulation is attached to the wall with special plastic dowels with a wide mushroom-shaped cap.

Interior finishing of aerated concrete

Finishing aerated concrete indoors has its own characteristics. Most often, such walls are still plastered. You can use the same expensive mixtures as for exterior finishing, but it is very expensive. There are ways to make walls normally using ordinary cement or gypsum plaster. But this requires additional measures: a preliminary relief is created using cheap tile adhesive. It has good adhesion (adhesion) even to a relatively flat surface of aerated concrete and creates an excellent basis for applying subsequent layers. plaster. The procedure is as follows:


You can apply plaster over the dried glue, or you can lay tiles. She definitely won’t go anywhere: she will hold on well. In wet areas - bathroom, kitchen - you can choose a film-forming primer, which reduces the vapor permeability of paints.

To learn how to properly prepare a gas silicate wall for plastering, watch the video. With its help, plastering aerated concrete walls with your own hands is clear: everything is laid out step by step and chewed.

Interior finishing options

Almost all options are acceptable for finishing aerated concrete walls inside:

  • Drywall or gypsum board on bars or profiles. There are no difficulties with fastening: no wind loads, no frost. But, this is only if we are talking about a permanent home. In a seasonal unheated dacha and inside, the installation of dowels is required.
  • Lining in all its forms.
  • Plastic panels.
  • Painting, but on a prepared and leveled surface. And paints are still better with at least some kind of vapor permeability. Unless you can use film-forming compounds in the bathroom or kitchen.

Of all these processes, only painting requires some explanation. It is not necessary to plaster a wall made of aerated concrete for this type of finishing. In general, the walls should be almost even. If there are chips, dents or protrusions, everything can be solved very simply. They are sealed with the same glue on which the blocks were placed. If the dents are large, you can add sawdust, which is formed when cutting the block, to the glue. The seams are rubbed with the same composition.

If there are protrusions, they are trimmed off with a special grater, but you can also use sandpaper attached to a block. These products achieve a smooth surface that can be painted. The wall is cleaned with a brush attached to a holder to sweep away the dust. The dust-free wall is primed. The primer is selected compatible with the selected paint. They must be compatible. It is advisable to apply the primer twice. Then paint is applied to the completely dry primed surface.

Other articles on this topic:

Aerated concrete blocks are the most popular material for laying walls in a private house. As shown, 8% of all developers use aerated concrete blocks for construction - without additional insulation of the facade. Another 12% of owners build houses from aerated concrete with two-layer walls, covering the facade with a layer of highly effective insulation.

Finishing the facade of single-layer walls of a house made of aerated concrete and gas silicate blocks

Construction aerated concrete, gas silicate blockshydrophilic (water-absorbing) material with high vapor permeability and a developed open-pore system.

When sawing the massif into separate blocks, the opened pores appear on the surface. If a wall made of blocks is left without external finishing, then dust particles suspended in the air will settle on the developed porous surface of the blocks, and direct contact with atmospheric precipitation will lead to wetting of the outer layers.

Dust and rainwater are mainly acidic in nature. Prolonged exposure to a slightly acidic environment will lead to uneven darkening of the surface of the blocks and will give an initially uniform wall an untidy appearance.

Besides, Wetting the wall will reduce its thermal insulation properties. Therefore, the outer surface of a wall made of aerated concrete blocks must be finished in one way or another. Exterior finishing of aerated concrete walls should not interfere with the diffusion of water vapor from inside to outside.

That's why, for exterior finishing gas silicate walls doesn't fit plastering with ordinary cement-sand mortar, painting with film-forming paints.

This is the fundamental difference between the properties of a wall made of aerated concrete blocks from walls made of brick, foam concrete or other concrete.

Due to the high vapor permeability of aerated concrete, the outer finishing is recommended to be carried out after completion of all wet construction processes inside the house. Until these processes are completed, increased amounts of moisture escaping from inside through the walls can damage the exterior finish, especially in winter.

Plastering the walls should begin several months after the construction of the frame of the house, when the settlement of the building has already ended. Otherwise, microcracks may appear on the surface of the already finished wall.

Exterior finishing options for a single-layer aerated concrete wall

For exterior finishing, gas silicate is recommended:

  1. Any hinged ventilated facades covered with decorative panels, siding, lining;
  2. Facing with facing bricks with an air (preferably ventilated) gap of 30-50 mm. between brick and block masonry;
  3. Plastering with special light plaster mixtures for aerated concrete;
  4. Thin layer (3-5 mm) plaster (putty) with special compounds for aerated concrete;
  5. Painting the wall with textured façade vapor-permeable paints or putties. Preparing the wall for painting can be done in two ways: with grouting the masonry joints or with imitation of grouting the joints of masonry blocks.

Facade cladding made of aerated concrete, aerated silicate blocks and bricks

If in the future it is planned to line walls made of blocks with bricks, then the conditions for this must be created at the stage of laying the foundation. The width of the foundation should be such that bricks and blocks can rest on it at the same time. The overhang of half-brick facing masonry from the foundation should not be more than 30 mm.

The vapor permeability of brickwork with jointing is significantly less than that of a wall made of aerated concrete blocks. Therefore, it should be prevented at the border of brick cladding and walls made of aerated concrete blocks.

For this purpose between brickwork and an aerated concrete wall, it is necessary to leave an air gap of 30-50 mm. The width of the gap is selected based on the height of the building and the convenience of its arrangement.

To prevent the gap from becoming clogged with masonry mortar when laying the facing layer, an adjustable sheet of foam plastic should be inserted into the gap between the brick and aerated concrete in the masonry work area. The thickness of this sheet will determine the width of the gap.

In the gap it is also necessary provide ventilation. To do this, leave ventilation ducts in the brickwork with a total area of ​​at least 1% of the cladding area. Vents are made at the top under the eaves overhang and at the level of the base, leaving the vertical seams between the bricks unfilled with mortar.

On the inner surface of the brick cladding, water may appear in the gap and flow down. Water can penetrate when the wall gets wet from the outside or appear as a result of vapor condensation if the ventilation of the gap is insufficient. To protect aerated concrete walls from moisture, it is necessary to properly perform .

There is no need to create a gap between the brick cladding and the aerated concrete wall. In this option, it is imperative to finish the interior walls with materials with low vapor permeability, especially in wet rooms.

Such cladding without a gap inevitably leads to to an increase in the operational humidity of the wall and, as a consequence, to reduce the thermal resistance of the wall. The indoor microclimate is deteriorating, and energy costs for heating are increasing.

Brick cladding without a gap is quite acceptable for buildings that are not intended for year-round use (not heated in winter).

The brick cladding is attached to the wall using ties. Between bricks and blocks there must be at least four connections on square meter walls.

Window and door openings in the cladding are covered with steel corners supported on the edges of the openings by 250 mm. from each side.

Options for attaching brick cladding to an aerated concrete wall:

Through embedded parts left during the construction of aerated concrete masonry.

When laying on glue Bandage tape made of of stainless steel 19.1x1.1 mm. or regular galvanized perforated strip 20x1.5 mm., used for electrical installation work. For a more durable fastening, the strip can be additionally nailed to aerated concrete.

When laying blocks on mortar for fastening the cladding the following is used:

  • Special flexible basalt-plastic connections that are placed in the masonry seams. The flexible basalt connection must extend into the load-bearing and facing wall at least 90 mm.
  • Masonry galvanized steel mesh, which is laid in the seams of masonry blocks and cladding. The masonry mesh can serve as a convenient support for slabs of mineral wool insulation, which are laid between the wall and the cladding.

Attaching the cladding layer to the wall with stainless steel rods (left) or spiral nails for aerated concrete (right)

Besides, brick cladding connected to the wall with special spiral nails for aerated concrete, which are driven into the body of the aerated concrete with a hammer;

or stainless steel nails with a length of at least 120 mm., driven into aerated concrete in pairs at an angle of at least 45° to each other, or with rods that can be cut from stainless or galvanized wire with a diameter of 3-6 mm.

For cladding it is best to use clinker bricks. The article "" describes the advantages of clinker, as well as other secrets of brick wall cladding.

IN low-rise construction The design of an external three-layer wall is very popular: bearing wall- insulation - brick cladding.

Finishing facades made of aerated concrete and gas silicate blocks with plaster compositions

Special lightweight plasters for aerated concrete are produced by most manufacturers of dry building mixtures. Typically, this is a light dry building mixture based on cement or mixed binder (lime-cement).

Another finishing option is that a wall made of aerated concrete or gas silicate blocks can be plastered over insulation glued to the wall. The method is often called

Facing on the side - ventilated facade


The distance between the spacer slats (slat pitch) for installation of vinyl siding should be no more than 400 mm., rail width 70-80 mm., thickness 25-40 mm. The thickness of the spacer strip determines the width of the ventilated gap.

The cladding is made with sheet or molded materials.

For such cladding aerated concrete masonry it is necessary to secure the substructure - guides, to which the cladding, for example, lining, metal or ceramic sheets and slabs, will be attached directly or through the sheathing.

The most important thing when facing with a gap is reliable fastening substructures for aerated concrete. Fasteners can be varied - from ordinary nails, driven in pairs at an angle to each other into the body of aerated concrete through the sheathing, to special expansion anchors for aerated concrete.

The hinged ventilated facade is the most the best option external finishing of walls made of aerated concrete, gas silicate blocks.

There are many certified facade systems, complete with fasteners, brackets, guide profiles, seals and clamps for different cladding options - these systems are suitable for cladding buildings of various heights, including high-rise ones.

For finishing low-rise buildings A vertical wooden sheathing covered with wooden moldings (lining, imitation timber, etc.) or covered with slab or sheet materials is sufficient. In this case (for buildings not subject to significant wind loads), the wooden sheathing can be fastened with expandable plastic dowels or nails driven in pairs through the sheathing slats into blocks at an angle to the plane of the wall.

Perhaps the cheapest way to insulate walls The outside of the house also includes the installation of a ventilated façade. You can also find out about this link various options and other details of the installation of lathing and façade cladding.

Thin-layer plaster and putty for aerated concrete facades

Aerated concrete blocks have fairly accurate dimensions, which makes it possible, with careful laying, to easily obtain a smooth wall surface that does not require leveling.

It is enough to smooth out local irregularities using a grater. The surface of the wall is thoroughly dust-free.

Wall made of aerated concrete, gas silicate blocks with thin-layer finishing facade plaster putty

With a limited construction budget, to protect gas silicate walls from rain and finishing, it is enough to apply a special façade putty (plaster) for aerated concrete with a layer thickness of only 3-5 mm.

Rules for applying putties are contained in the relevant instructions of the manufacturers. When selecting material, make sure that the manufacturer recommends the selected composition for aerated concrete walls.

In the video clip, watch how to properly decorate the facade of a house with outer wall made of aerated concrete thin-layer plaster - putty.

Facade plasters for aerated concrete in your city

Plaster for aerated concrete blocks. Facade putty for gas silicate aerated concrete.

The cheapest way to finish aerated concrete facade

Painting aerated concrete facades with textured, vapor-permeable paints or putty

A neatly and evenly folded wall can be immediately painted on the outside as vapor-permeable.

As paint, you can use a well-known and inexpensive façade putty (Starateli brand). This dry mixture based on white cement is diluted with water (20 kg putty 7.4 liters of water) and mix thoroughly. The result is a creamy beige mass.

Using a wide brush and roller we paint the facade. The putty begins to harden an hour and a half after diluting with water. To obtain a different color, add the appropriate water-based color to the finished mixture before painting.

The cost of painting a square meter of facade wall in this way will be almost 10 times cheaper than using inexpensive facade paint. To improve the result, we paint the facade with putty a second time.

Before painting, the seams between the blocks and small irregularities are grouted, dents and chips in the masonry are filled, and the wall is leveled with a float.

Decorative wall facade made of aerated concrete, gas silicate blocks

Aerated concrete and gas silicate blocks are manufactured at the factory and have precise dimensions and the correct shape. Using such blocks, if desired, it is quite easy to build a wall with a flat surface and clear seam lines. The surface of such a wall does not require leveling.

There is no need to plaster or putty the wall before painting if you use specially prepared blocks to lay the wall.

A wall made of aerated concrete blocks with imitation jointing is painted with façade paint.

To prepare blocks for laying such a wall, chamfers are made along the perimeter of the front side of the block, before laying the blocks into the wall, using a corner plane.

Chamfering the perimeter of a block

A wall made of chamfered blocks acquires a textured decorative surface suitable for

Thin-layer putty or simply painting the walls is a less durable option for finishing facades. Microcracks easily appear in aerated concrete walls, which will also appear in the finishing. You will have to restore the coating more often in places of damage.

In addition, with lightweight finishing of the facade, the increase in aerated concrete increases the heat loss of the building. If the facade of the house is not plastered, then the outer walls must be plastered from the inside.

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In the construction of private houses, they have recently been increasingly used. This circumstance cannot be called accidental. The mentioned material has a porous structure, which is characterized by high thermal insulation qualities.

Aerated concrete absorbs a lot of moisture and dust, as a result of which it oxidizes, becomes heavy, darkens and loses its quality advantages. In order to avoid this, the exterior of the house is made of aerated concrete. This makes the façade resistant to external influences environment.

Options for exterior finishing of aerated concrete

Before carrying out work on finishing aerated concrete outside, you need to become familiar with the basic technologies. The most economical method is to apply plaster. It is important to choose the right composition, preferring a vapor-permeable viscous mixture. In order to achieve higher layer strength, reinforced mesh should be additionally used, this especially applies to difficult places, namely:

  • profiles;
  • windows;
  • corners

The exterior decoration of a house made of aerated concrete can be done using bricks. To do this, you need to make the foundation stronger. Its width should include brick and block. Due to the fact that brick allows less steam to pass through than aerated concrete, an opening is formed between the materials. Its width should be 50 mm. This approach will eliminate the accumulation of condensation inside the structure. Ventilation is provided by empty joints between bricks, which are left at the top of the walls. The total area of ​​these seams should be 1% of the total area of ​​the building.

If they have a low coefficient of vapor permeability, then the formation of air gaps can be abandoned, but this approach cannot be called the best, because this will increase the thermal conductivity of the walls and lead to cooling of the rooms. Heating costs will be more impressive. Can be laid without forming gaps summer cottages or houses.

When facing, you should use a sheet that will resist contact of the blocks with the mortar. The canvas moves as the masonry progresses. Cladding cannot be laid without supports. For example, a brick is connected to blocks, which will allow you to get monolithic structure. This indicates that four ties should be laid every square meter. They must be provided for in advance. For this, metal tapes, basalt plastic connections, and perforated strips made of galvanized steel are usually used. The elements are inserted into the blocks, while the other side is inserted into the brick.

Using paint

The exterior decoration of a house made of aerated concrete can be done with paint. It will cost less than other solutions. To do this, you need to use a special compound or putty, which must be vapor-permeable. This will protect the blocks.

Before application, the paint is diluted with water. The disadvantage of such cladding is quite long time preparation external walls. All seams and irregularities must be smoothed out, as well as dents and protrusions. Aerated concrete blocks can be prepared by cutting a chamfer around the perimeter. This will ensure smoothness and evenness.

Alternative solution: finishing with siding

As another popular facing material siding is used for aerated concrete. It can be made on the basis of different materials. This:

  • wood;
  • metal;
  • vinyl.

This allows you to protect the facade from climatic influences. The advantage of this approach is the ability to additionally insulate the walls by laying insulation under the siding sheathing. The frame, by the way, will perform main role in the casing, because it is on it that the panels will be installed, the gaps between which will ensure ventilation of the structure.

You can finish the exterior of a house made of aerated concrete with fiber cement panels. Fastening can be done directly to the wall using self-tapping screws. As alternative solution installation of the frame is performed. In both cases, clamps are used for installation, through which the fasteners are screwed into the sheathing elements or the wall.

Fiber cement elements are fixed to each rack. The distance between fasteners should be 600 mm horizontally. Clamps are installed more often in areas adjacent to doors and window openings, as well as in the corners of the building. Such external decoration of the walls of a house made of aerated concrete sometimes involves the formation of an air gap, which in some cases is used to install insulating material.

Features of the technology

Experts do not recommend attaching panels to a frame or wall without clamps, but in some cases this approach is the only correct one. This is relevant if the panels require fixing in areas where it is impossible to install brackets. In this case, the products are drilled through, and then self-tapping screws are screwed into the holes, the head of which is recessed inward by 1.5 mm. After finishing the lining, the holes are covered with plaster with moisture-resistant characteristics. For this purpose, you can use a sealant paste, which is selected by color and is sometimes supplied as a kit.

Before you start work, you can look at a photo of the exterior decoration of a house made of aerated concrete. If the material used for cladding is used, the technology will be slightly different. The elements are installed at an angle; they are arranged with the upper boards overlapping the lower ones. This allows you to get the effect of a shiplap or herringbone.

The siding will be located exclusively on the top side of the panel and attached to each of the frame posts. When joining boards lengthwise, a gap of 2 mm should be left between them to compensate for linear thermal expansion when exposed to temperature. The screw heads will be overlapped by the boards attached above. The slabs can be installed to the wall using a frame method. This involves the use of metal frames into the grooves of which fiber cement panels are installed. IN in this case the surface of the slabs and frame strips will be visible.

About the frame

If external finishing houses made of aerated concrete are carried out using the lathing can be made of wood or a galvanized metal profile. Horizontal timber elements must have a cross-section within 50x30 mm. The distance between them on the wall will be 600 mm. Anchors are used to secure them. Vertical racks frames, as a rule, have a size within 40x70 mm. They are secured with two self-tapping screws. The pitch between the vertical bars is also usually 600 mm. These parameters should also be adhered to for the reason that thermal insulation is usually produced in these sizes. This indicates that installation will be easier and there will be less waste.

Work methodology

In some cases, cladding with fiber cement slabs and boards is carried out from the blind area to the junction with the cornice. The base does not stand out. Otherwise, a zigzag-type frame should be formed, the lower part of which will be filled with expanded clay of the middle fraction. This material acts as an excellent insulation and will protect against rodents.

In order to eliminate the need to plaster the walls, the gap is filled cement mortar, which is pre-mixed with polystyrene foam chips or polyurethane foam. Filling should be done sequentially, which will happen as you fix finishing panels. If the exterior of a house made of aerated concrete is finished with fiber cement elements, then whatever installation method is chosen, you should start from the bottom of the wall. You can move from the blind area, which is true if you plan to cover the base with this material.

When cutting slabs, the cuts should be painted acrylic composition, which is often included in the kit. The paint will disguise the cut and provide protection for the end part from moisture and other factors. After completing the installation of the panels, it is necessary to install a metal flashing on the base of the wall and above it. The easiest to install is the one that is attached to the wall.

Finishing the perimeter of openings

Having considered the options for finishing houses made of aerated concrete, you can choose which ones should also be installed around the windows. In order to cope with this work as carefully as possible, you should use dividing strips. The gaps are closed with a special decorative corner, which will improve the appearance. If wide slopes have formed around the window, then they can be decorated with the same panels to make the joint neat. To do this, a starting profile is fixed to the box, and plates are installed in its grooves. Before installing the slabs in them, the gaps are coated with sealant.

Plastering the facade

A house made of aerated concrete must be prepared with a brush before finishing. Chips and dents are repaired with glue, which is pre-mixed with aerated concrete dust. The minimum layer thickness is 10 mm; the material does not need to be reinforced. The composition contains adhesive additives, thanks to which the mixture will be held on the surface as firmly as possible. If the thickness of the layer increases to 15 mm, then it can be reinforced with a fiberglass mesh. Finishing a house made of aerated concrete with more impressive thickness is impractical.

When choosing a mesh, you should prefer one whose cells are approximately 3 mm. The material must be resistant to alkaline environments. Otherwise, after some time the mesh will lose strength and will no longer hold the plaster, and the finishing layer will simply come off. First, the primer mixture is applied, then reinforcement is carried out. This will create the basis for decorative plaster.

Reinforcement

The composition is applied in a strip. Before the solution hardens, a mesh should be laid on it, pressing it in with a grater or notched trowel. As soon as the mesh is immersed, you should use a wide spatula to level it. At the final stage, the surface is left until dry. This period may vary in time depending on the material used. The next stage of finishing a house made of aerated concrete involves applying a primer, which covers the gray color and reduces porosity. After the primer has dried, you can proceed to applying decorative plaster.

Quite often, consumers wonder what is the best exterior finish for a house made of aerated concrete. Among other solutions, tiles should be highlighted, which can be ceramic or clinker. Its surface is able to withstand the effects of aggressive substances and precipitation. The weight of such cladding is lower compared to brick, which reduces the load on the foundation. The tile sizes are small. This indicates that continuous cladding will be labor intensive.

Sometimes clinker is used to decorate facade fragments. In this case, the tiles are combined with plaster. The exterior decoration of a house made of aerated concrete can also be done using thermal panels, which are usually used when the façade has an impressive area. This allows for decoration and insulation. The front side of such panels in a factory environment is supplemented with stone or clinker tiles. In this case it is natural.

Conclusion

For aerated concrete walls, you can use one of the many materials that are on the market today as finishing. Among others, porcelain tiles should be highlighted, which have more impressive dimensions compared to clinker tiles. This simplifies the work on the continuous cladding of the facade. Porcelain stoneware can be attached to a wooden sheathing or glue. In the first case, it will be possible to ensure good ventilation of the facade.

If it is necessary to insulate walls, porcelain tiles can be installed on aluminum profile. The façade will have to be prepared very carefully. The surface must be protected, seams sealed, and potholes filled with foam.