internal walls, or to increase the thermal
insulation of exterior walls from the outside.
Cavities reduce weight and increase thermal
insulation, while simultaneously providing
grip holds for easy handling. Illustration 7. 6
shows similar elements that can be used for
making vaults.
Prefabricated wall panels
Prefabricated elements, each 6 to 12 cm
thick and measuring between 30 x 60 cm
and 62.5 x 100 cm, have been used for
non-load bearing elements. These should
be made of lightweight loam with the den-
sity 800 to 1,000 kg/m^3. Panels lighter than
800 kg/m^3 must be edged with timber,
since their edge strengths are insufficient for
handling. An extremely light element with
a density of 550 kg/m^3 was developed by
the German firm Breidenbach; it is made of
reed mats plastered with loam and covered
with a jute fabric.
Illustration 7. 7shows a wall built with
“Karphosit” elements, which are produced
from clay powder and straw cuttings, and
have a density of 850 kg/m^3. They measure
62.5 x 25 x 10 cm. The German firm HDB
Weissinger produces 1-m-wide and up to 3-
m-high timberframe wall elements filled
with lightweight loam (7. 8and 7. 9).
Floor slabs
Loam elements which act as infill between
floor joints also provide sound and thermal
insulation (7.10). In Hungary in 1987, the
author of this book developed load-bearing
infill elements with cement-stabilised light-
weight loam. Illustration 7.11shows such an
element along with its mould. Illustration
7.12depicts various designs for load-bearing
floor panels.70 Larger blocks- 3Making lightweight
mineral loam blocks,
Tata, Hungary - 4Using lightweight
mineral loam blocks
as external additional
thermal insulation for
a rammed earth wall,
Tata, Hungary - 5Lightweight loam
blocks for wall construc-
tion - 6Lightweight loam
blocks for vaults - 7Interior wall from
lightweight loam
panels - 6
- 5
- 3
- 4
- 7