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Introduction of various thermo-insulation systems in the contemporary civil engineering practice is caused by the major expansion of energy resource prices at the world market. As a result, there is a growing need for significant heat-loss reduction during exploitation of civil engineering structures, which as a rule could be realized using more or less effective building systems to prevent heat loss through outer walls.

Thereby, the fact that the total heat-loss of a building consists of many particular heat-losses (through each of the structural elements) is often being neglected. For a non-insulated building, which could be situated in different climate conditions, these particular heat-losses can vary between 10-20% (through floors), 25-30% (through outer walls), 25-30% (through attic slabs and roof plates) and 30-40% (through windows) of the total heat-loss.

Solving the problem of heat-loss partially - by isolating only facade walls depending on given climate conditions, brings in every case less energy saving than possible.

Therefore, the thorough and professional selection of an optimal building thermo-insulation system represents one of the most important technical and economical goals for both the Designer and the Investor.

In contemporary civil engineering practice the thermo-insulation of buildings is mostly reduced to facade walls ''temperating'' (together with replacement of single-layer glass windows with new double- or triple-layer ''thermopan'' glass windows which also have better sealing performance).

In relation to that, there is an increase in application of two-layer and three-layer facade structures consisting of bearing elements (concrete walls, brick walls) and thermo-insulation layers made of materials with the heat conductivity coefficient smaller than 0,10 W/m°C (mineral wool, styrofoam panels or similar insulating materials) which are plastered or additionally coated with facade bricks or simple bricks laid sideways and then plastered.

However, the solutions including multi-layered facade walls built at the construction site also mean more working tacts, more specialists for each working position, additional expense for connections (anchors, plugs, substructures, etc.) and for various base-layers (such as special plastering over a special reinforcement mesh, using of glass or plastic fiber nets together with glue application, etc.).

All the above stated facts, together with construction complexity and working speed aspects, as well as the entire cost of the applied materials are the main reasons that the price of the facade structure plus the roof structure as ''the fifth facade'' has reached (depending on the climate conditions) between 15-25% of the total cost of the structure.

Also, there is usually not enough attention paid to the fact that multi-layered facade structures are made as composite sections of heterogeneous materials with different physical-mechanical properties, such as:

• expansion and shrinkage coefficients,
• compressive and tensile strengths,
• adhesion properties,
• behavior under different types of wind load (sucking, drying or abrasion effect),
• behavior under ultraviolet ray exposure,
• difference between strain values in adjacent walls with significant temperature
• variation due to different sun exposure and color of the final facade coating,
• difference in aging properties of each composite during exploitation,
• air and steam permeability values.

It is important to underline the fact that air and steam permeability represent not just physical-mechanical properties but also quality conditions essential for durability of facade structures as well as significant factors for energy saving and comfortable living. Facade structures must have sufficient air and steam permeability, especially if the closed areas of the building are not equipped with an adequate ventilation system. Namely, every man spends between 25-30 m³ of air per hour and exhales 20-30 liters of carbon monoxide. Therefore, in every case of application of airtight and steam tight facade insulation, especially when combined with contemporary good quality facade carpentry, it is necessary to provide continuous ventilation in order to supply enough fresh air. However, frequent ventilation inevitably implies significant heat-loss from the building.

As a commonly accepted conclusion, also verified by the research of Dr.M.Y.Bikbey - member of the New York Academy of Civil Engineering and Russian Academy of Natural Sciences - can be stated that the only way to radical reduction of facade structure costs (and consequently total building costs) is to use one-layer facade walls, which means abandoning all types of multi-layer polymer thermo-insulation materials and technologies. Speaking at the Second International Conference on Roof Structures and Building Insulation held in Moscow (2002) he declares:

"Ideally speaking, facade structures of residential and business buildings are facing following demands:

• ability to function as bearing or self-bearing walls,
• possession of high thermo-insulation properties,
• good soundproofing,
• humidity resistance,
• frost resistance,
• air permeability,
• steam permeability,
• sufficient light-weightiness,
• ecological cleanliness,
• satisfactory fireproofing,
• durability,
• and finally, they must not obstruct the ability of architectural free expression.

Regretfully, there is no building material present which could be used for wall construction and fulfill the whole list of the above stated demands'' (End of quote).

However, we have succeeded in creating such a building material. It can be used not only for construction of facade walls, but also for a whole variety of structural elements fulfilling all the above stated demands and even more: it is suitable for different climate conditions, various humidity degrees and 24-hour extreme temperature changes!

This new material is "Simprolit®" - our patented ''super-light'' polystyrene concrete (or ''Wonder-material of the 21^st century'' as they call it in the Center for implementation and application of new technologies in Moscow) and elements produced using this material.

The main advantages can be achieved through application of prefabricated structural elements based on Simprolit®, such as:

• Simprolit panels for facade thermo-insulation;
• Simprolit blocks for outer walls;
• Simprolit blocks for facade casing and partition walls;
• Simprolit slabs;
• Simprolit roof plates;
• Simprolit panels for prefabricated partitions;
• Simprolit insulation panels for floors and kitchen/bathrooms;
• Simprolit fire-resistant partitions;
• Simprolit prefabricated facade elements (balusters, crowns, etc.).

ADVANTAGES IN APPLICATION OF SIMPROLIT BLOCKS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING.

Cost-effectiveness in application of Simprolit blocks in Civil engineering - it is the most interesting issue for the Investor. Without getting into all the inferior physical, thermo-technical and ecological properties (not to mention the poor durability) of the usually applied facade structures (bricks or Siporex insulated with mineral wool or Styrofoam and coated with mineral polymer-cement plaster over glass-fiber net or simply protected with facade bricks), let us analyze the indisputable cost-effectiveness, even possible profit for the Investor calculated per meter of a facade wall built using Simprolit blocks.

Before we start the analysis, let us make another approximation that will be on the safe side - although thermo-insulation characteristics of 12 cm thick Simprolit blocks (types "SPB50", "SPB60", "SPBS60", "SPBS90") are totally satisfactory even in our hardest climate conditions, we can assume that the Investor uses 20 cm thick blocks (types "SBS20", "SBDS20") to build the outer walls. Let's get a closer look at the most commonly used outer-wall building systems:

1. Siporex blocks d = 25 cm, air space 3 cm, full brick 12cm, inner plaster 3 cm,
   outer plaster 2cm .......................................................total thickness 45 cm.
2. Bearing brick blocks d = 20 cm, styrofoam 3cm, air space 2cm, full brick 12 cm,
   inner plaster 3cm, outer plaster 2 cm ........................... total thickness 42 cm.
   
3. Siporex or bearing brick blocks d = 25 cm, air space 1cm, styrofoam 3 cm,
   inner plaster 3 cm, outer plaster 1.5 cm .................. total thickness 37,5 cm.

Without getting into elaborate economic cost-analysis of the above mentioned multi-layer walls, let's make a note that the minimal thickness of these walls amounts to 37.5 cm. Instead of that, we can use 20 cm thick Simprolit blocks and reduce the total thickness of the same walls to 22.5 cm (Simprolit block 20 cm, inner plaster 1.5cm and outer plaster max. 1.0 cm). The difference between two thicknesses amounts to 37,5-22,5=15 cm, i.e. 0,15 m² per meter of the wall.

Price of the material, together with concrete filling and reinforcement in every third row, amounts to approximately 18 Euro/m² of a Simprolit facade wall, i.e. for a given floor-height of 3.0m price of the material amounts to 3x18=54 Euro/m¹ of a Simprolit facade wall.

If we assume that the ground costs 500 Euro/m² (and it costs considerably more!), the Investor gains additional 0,15x500=75 Euro per meter of a Simprolit facade wall. When he pays for the material (54 Euro/m¹) and for the manual labor (15-16 Euro/m¹) he comes to the final conclusion:

IT CAN'T GET ANY CHEAPER !

In addition to the above stated facts, the total economy of the Investor is also influenced by other advantages of Simprolit blocks' application, and especially by their:

Maximum light-weightiness: - no matter that building with Simprolit blocks requires concrete filling, the total weight of a Simprolit wall is by far smaller than the correspondent weight of a classic wall.
For instance, 22.5 cm thick outer wall made of Simprolit blocks (Simprolit block 20 cm, inner plaster layer 1.5 cm and outer plaster layer 1.0 cm) together with plaster and concrete weighs 165 kg/m2 of the wall (just Simprolit blocks weigh around 3.1 kg/piece, or less than 27.5 kg/m² of the wall). Partition wall made of 14 cm thick Simprolit partition blocks (Simprolit block 12 cm, inner and outer plaster layer 1.0 cm each) together with plaster and concrete weighs 121 kg/m² of the wall (just Simprolit blocks weigh less than 2 kg/piece, or less than 20 kg/m² of the wall).
Comparing the weight of a plastered facade wall made of 20 cm thick Simprolit blocks (121 kg/m²) with the weight of a plastered partition wall made of 12 cm thick clay bricks (296 kg/m²) it is obvious that Simprolit walls have exceptional light-weightiness. Also, concrete poured into the gaps of Simprolit blocks helps to improve other important properties of the wall, such as soundproofing, summer stability, heat capacity, etc.).
Significantly smaller weight of walls, slabs and roof plates made of Simprolit also means foundations, bearing columns and beams with smaller dimensions, lesser ground-pressure and settlement of the structure, smaller seismic mass and consequently smaller seismic load of the structure, etc. Also, all these things directly imply smaller investments required per m² of the structure.
The importance of material light-weightiness is essential in case of adaptation of existing structures or additional building of attics on the top of flat-roof structures. In such a case, the total load of the adapted or additionally built part of the structure is smaller than the weight of all layers of a conventional flat roof that are being removed in the adaptation process - so there is no need for any foundation strengthening. For instance, if the calculation shows that it is possible to add two extra stories to the existing structure using other materials, it can also be shown that with Simprolit it is possible to build three stories keeping the same weight of the additional structure. Also, the light-weightiness of Simprolit blocks together with simple and fast construction method makes it possible to perform the adaptation without moving out the tenants of the adapted building, which often represents a large difficulty for other similar methods using light-weight materials and prefabricated metal or concrete bearing elements.
The fact to be particularly underlined is that Simprolit blocks have no real competition in their category when it comes to building rooms subjected to increased humidity - such as kitchen or bathroom walls including plumbing. Therefore, more and more often Investors and Contractors specialized for installation of light-weight gypsum cardboard partition walls insulated with mineral wool are starting to use Simprolit partition blocks for kitchen and bathroom walls (so called waterproof gypsum-cardboard plates are in fact waterproof just on the surface and in time due to steam and humidity penetration they swell, disintegrate and fall apart, especially at places in contact with plumbing pipes and installations).

Together with the above-mentioned advantages (light-weightiness and cost-effectiveness), Simprolit blocks and Simprolit building system also have other favorable characteristics, which distinguish Simprolit from similar materials and building systems available at the market. Let us introduce you to some of these characteristics:

• simple horizontal and vertical transport;
• excellent workability;
• simple construction (there is no need for high-qualified labor);
• vertical and horizontal joints without thermic ''bridges'' (blocks are laid without plaster or glue);
• thick plaster layer is not necessary;
• low water absorption and good waterproofing;
• contains no lime or any other aggressive substance;
• constant humidity percentage: 4-8% ;
• very good relation between heat conductivity coefficient for material in dry conditions and the same coefficient for elements already built in the wall;
• good ductility and deformation resistance of the blocks;
• simply the best summer stability in comparison with other materials with the same thickness;
• remarkably good steam-conductivity (walls made of SIMPROLIT can ''breathe'');
• fulfillment of fireproofing requirements;
• possible application as a permanent thermo-insulating formwork;
• comfortability;
• ecological suitability;
• large assortment of different elements made of Simprolit;
• durability;
• frost-resistance;
• stability under intense daily temperature changes;
• and many other advantages!

WE HOPE THAT YOU GOT INTERESTED IN OUR PRODUCTS AND THAT YOU WILL FIND SOME TIME TO GET MORE DETAILS FROM OUR PRESENTATION AVAILABLE ON CD OR AT THE WEB SITE. LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR FUTURE SUCCESSFUL COOPERATION WE WILL BE GLAD TO CONSIDER ALL YOUR SUGGESTIONS!

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