I wrote this for another thread, but I think it deserves its own...



Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.

The best thing about diy blocks is you can make them any design you
want. You can let the kids arrange brick rubble in them first for
decoration (flat side of brick pieces down), you can sprinkle the mould
with coloured stone chippings, or use coloured glass if you want it to
sparkle. Put a thin layer if white cement in if you want white but to
never need to paint it. Or if you want to make it even more unusual you
can make those blocks any interlocking shape you can think of. You can
also cast blocks for the wall top and ends with moulded in decoration,
eg straight framing, egg and dart, whatever you can make or find. Also
you can cast cubby holes in a few blocks for trailing strawberries, etc
etc etc

If you take a look at the famous concrete castle, you'll see what a
remarkably artistic material concrete blockwork can be. Check out the
2nd and 3rd pics here for a start:
http://www.architecture.com/go/Archi...andA_5185.html
Theres much more intersting stuff on that castle, just ran out of
google time.

For rectangular blocks, a single 4'x8' mould will make 30 blocks of
8.25" x 14" in one pour, of whatever thickness you want. This uses 2"
thick perimeter wood and 3/4" thick dividers. And of course block
dimensions can be whatever you want, as long as theyre no bigger than
4'x8' apiece!


NT

meow2222 wrote
Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.

Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?

Chris Bacon wrote:
meow2222 wrote
Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.

Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?

Why cast walls in stages, when you can cast walls in one?
Cast the slab for the floor.
Level it, get it nice and flat, then cast the other walls on it, and tip
them up into place.

The message
from Ian Stirling contains these words:

Why cast walls in stages, when you can cast walls in one?
Cast the slab for the floor.
Level it, get it nice and flat, then cast the other walls on it, and tip
them up into place.

Easy to do the damp-proofing, too. While the house is on its side, paint
one "wall" with rubbery masticy stuff then flip it over.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

In article
Ian Stirling wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
meow2222 wrote
Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.

Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?

Why cast walls in stages, when you can cast walls in one?

Because you need a lot less shuttering if you do it in stages.

Rob Morley wrote:
In article
Ian Stirling wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
meow2222 wrote
Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.

Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?

Why cast walls in stages, when you can cast walls in one?

Because you need a lot less shuttering if you do it in stages.

Not much less.
You cast it on the floor slab, so you only need 30cm or whatever of
shuttering round the edge, then tip it up vertical.

Ian Stirling wrote:
Rob Morley wrote:
Ian Stirling wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
meow2222 wrote
Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.
Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?
Why cast walls in stages, when you can cast walls in one?

Because you need a lot less shuttering if you do it in stages.

Not much less.
You cast it on the floor slab, so you only need 30cm or whatever of
shuttering round the edge, then tip it up vertical.

How do you "tip it up vertical"? How do you join corners? What
about internal walls?

Ian Stirling wrote:

... then tip it up vertical.

That's the easy bit, is it?

All this has been done for millenia. Or do you think prefabs are
something new?

What I'd like to design is a scoop that takes buckets full of molten
lava and work it into some sort of mass production instant maonry. It
would save a fortune in greenhouse emission and help prevent resources
being swallowed up in the flow from the suitable volcanoes.

Not exactly a steady stream of work but an extremely interestin on if
sporadic. Believe it or not we do have the technology. But moving it to
place at the time in time would be difficult.

On 04 May 2006 08:00:46 GMT, Ian Stirling
wrote:

Rob Morley wrote:
In article
Ian Stirling wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
meow2222 wrote
Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.

Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?

Why cast walls in stages, when you can cast walls in one?

Because you need a lot less shuttering if you do it in stages.

Not much less.
You cast it on the floor slab, so you only need 30cm or whatever of
shuttering round the edge, then tip it up vertical.

ISTM the essential point about the OP's posting was the potential for
modeling and decorative effect. Achieving this level of design on a
monolithic slab would be quite an undertaking.
--
Regards,
Mike Halmarack

Drop the (EGG) to email me.

In article
Ian Stirling wrote:
Rob Morley wrote:
In article
Ian Stirling wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
meow2222 wrote
Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.

Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?

Why cast walls in stages, when you can cast walls in one?

Because you need a lot less shuttering if you do it in stages.

Not much less.
You cast it on the floor slab, so you only need 30cm or whatever of
shuttering round the edge, then tip it up vertical.

I thought we were talking about casting in situ. DIY slabs is an
interesting idea for sheds as well as plain (or decorative) walls.

On 3 May 2006 22:35:20 +0200, Chris Bacon
wrote:

meow2222 wrote
Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.

Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?

Ah! To block or not to block? That is the question.
I wondered where I'd seen the name before.
--
Regards,
Mike Halmarack

Drop the (EGG) to email me.

Chris Bacon wrote:
meow2222 wrote

Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.

Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?

Appearance of course. I did just explain that in a fair bit of detail
in the post above. Poured walls are not pretty.


NT

wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
meow2222 wrote
Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.
Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?

Appearance of course. I did just explain that in a fair bit of detail
in the post above. Poured walls are not pretty.

Block walls are at least as bad! Both these things are
better rendered.

On 4 May 2006 10:31:26 +0200, Chris Bacon
wrote:

wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
meow2222 wrote
Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.
Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?

Appearance of course. I did just explain that in a fair bit of detail
in the post above. Poured walls are not pretty.

Block walls are at least as bad! Both these things are
better rendered.

That's a silly thing to say in the context of the subject. You really
do resent difference of opinion don't you?
It gets right under your rind and causes your statements to become
rasher and rasher. :-)
--
Regards,
Mike Halmarack

Drop the (EGG) to email me.

Mike Halmarack wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
meow2222 wrote
Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.
Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?
Appearance of course. I did just explain that in a fair bit of detail
in the post above. Poured walls are not pretty.
Block walls are at least as bad! Both these things are
better rendered.

That's a silly thing to say in the context of the subject.

It wasn't in the context of the subject, though, was it. However,
if you want it to be, I should say that casting walls would make
it easier to get an artistic effect (e.g. by using moulds) than
it would be to get an effect using blockwork.

You really do resent difference of opinion don't you?

No. I resent lots of things, but difference of opinion (where
one opinion does not fly in the face of fact) is not one. Perhaps
I should add that this reply is not in the context of the subject
of this post, or necessarily your statement.


It gets right under your rind and causes your statements to become
rasher and rasher. :-)

Oh dear oh dear.

The message
from Chris Bacon contains these words:

Block walls are at least as bad! Both these things are
better rendered.

The t'ween house walls in our terrace are poured - I'm facing one now.
Once semi-skimmed[1] and properly papered with crosslining it's fine.
Probably the flattest wall I've seen in years.

[1] Most of the concrete is just bare sized concrete, but where it's a
bit low it's been skimmed. Perhaps 20% of the area is actually covered
in plaster.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
meow2222 wrote

Finally you can make your own concrete blocks if you want, need a
simple wood frame on a flat sheet, line it with polythene, and pour in
load after load. A 4x8 mould is 2 m^2 or so of blocks, so with 9"
blocks you can work out what you'd save.

Why make blocks when you can cast whole walls in stages?

Appearance of course. I did just explain that in a fair bit of detail
in the post above. Poured walls are not pretty.

They can be - it just depends on how much care you take with the
mould you pour into.