Disadvantages of polystyrene and its advantages

Polystyrene is made of cement, silica sand,
additives and foam balls, which actually are the foundation of this building material.Currently polystyrene blocks have not received particularly widespread, and around the cause of their shortcomings, which, in my view, though precedence over the advantages of this material.Although, as they say, the taste and color ...

However, first I'll tell you about the advantages, which include:

• The ease and simplicity of installation polystyrene
• Low cost
• Low load on the foundation due to the lowdensity
• excellent insulation
• Easy handling - polystyrene blocks can be sawed ordinary hacksaw and give them any form

Proceeding from the above, this material is an excellent choice especially for thermal insulation of residential premises - all the best aspects of polystyrenedirected specifically toward providing good insulation.

Now the drawbacks of polystyrene

doubtful is its ability to withstand multiple freeze-thaw cycles.When installing the polystyrene blocks it is always recommended to isolate them good outer finish - plaster coat must be at least 2 cm thick.Due to the low density of the building material raises the question of reliability of fastening of the walls of different fastening materials - anchors, dowels and nails.These fasteners can be removed from polystyrene with bare fingers - they are very loosely held in the interior of this type of concrete.

here is another problem - the doors and windows are built into the material loosened in six months or a year, as they do not strengthen.Actually, all the disadvantages of polystyrene blocks is caused by the presence in its base foam balls - pretty flimsy material.When cutting the balls often fall out, which deteriorates the strength of the unit.The consequence of the presence of the foam is rather high, and the shrinkage in comparison with a conventional concrete - 1 mm / meter.

except Polystyrene blocks have a low thermal conductivity is also very low water vapor permeability - ieWall practically breathing of the material.It imposes the obligation to install additional ventilation and removal of excess moisture.

drawing conclusions from the above can be summarized - polystyrene pretty good building material, but for a limited application, and not be used as load-bearing walls of the building.