The strongest and, importantly, heat-resistant mortar used for plastering and bricklaying can be obtained if ash is used instead of cement.
In specialized construction shopping centers today you can see many materials offered as an analogue of cement. Their price is very budgetary, however, to say that these are high-quality materials is to tell a lie. The tricks of manufacturers who are struggling to bring their cheap, in all respects, goods closer to the original are not always successful.
A breakthrough in the search for cement substitutes was made by specialists from Rice University. They experimented for a long time and finally found a cement substitute that can be called ideal. It allows you to create durable and very high quality concrete. This substitute is ash.
University scientists have determined that the high hydraulic activity of ash is its main advantage in the creation of concrete. In addition, the resulting concrete becomes, on the one hand, cheaper, and on the other hand, it receives high heat resistance and a long service life. Ash is an environmentally friendly material, it has a positive effect on the structure of the resulting products.
Ash brick is made from this mixture. The ash includes calcium oxide, a chemical that has excellent cementitious properties. The range of application of the mixture with ash filler is extremely wide, and the service life of this material is assumed by specialists to be hundreds of years.
Surprisingly, this modern invention can be attributed to a well-forgotten old method. Our ancestors used this technology, but time erased this method from people's memory for many years. However, as one book says, manuscripts do not burn, and the use of ash as a concrete filler is again relevant.
Preparation of the ash solution
Ash cement has characteristics similar to Portland cement. Making this solution is not at all difficult and quite inexpensive, because there are no ingredients worth a lot of money in it.
The composition of the ingredients for the preparation of the solution:
- ash (coal or wood);
- common salt;
- slaked lime.
The volume and weight of the materials included in the composition, respectively:
- 6 liters
- 850 grams
- 5 liters.
Large fractions of garbage are removed from the ash by sieving. By the way, they do the same with salt. After that, salt and ash are mixed.
Gloves must be worn when handling salt and ash to protect against skin damage. Lime is poured into the resulting mixture in the form of a liquid. All actions are performed without jerks and sudden movements, smoothly. Achieves that in appearance and consistency the resulting material becomes similar to cement.
The ash solution is used in plastering, when laying tiles, to eliminate cracks. If the solution is used to seal cracks in the oven, then it is better to do this with a heated oven. The ash solution "grabs" better on a hot surface and stays on it longer. To prevent the mixture from shrinking over the years, sand is added to it.
Thank you for reading the article to the end! I will be very glad to your like 👍 andchannel subscription.