How to make wood concrete blocks with your own hands?

Wood-cement or wood-fiber concrete blocks, sometimes referred to as wood concrete blocks, are a creative and environmentally responsible building material. These blocks are a great option for a variety of construction projects because they combine the strength of concrete with the insulating qualities of wood. Making these blocks yourself will allow you to ensure that sustainable materials are used in your building endeavors while also saving money.

Although making wood concrete blocks at home might seem difficult, it’s actually very doable with the correct tools and advice. To create durable blocks, the process entails combining wood chips, cement, and water, then molding and curing the mixture. Customization in size and shape is possible with this do-it-yourself method, which can be especially helpful for certain building requirements.

We’ll walk you through the process of creating homemade wood concrete blocks step-by-step in this article. You will gain knowledge about the best practices for molding and curing, as well as the required materials and mixing ratios. You can make high-quality blocks fit for a range of construction projects with a few simple tools and a little work.

What you need to make your own?

Of course, state-of-the-art machinery is utilized in the industrial production of wood concrete, enabling compliance with all GOST regulations. One cannot claim that home production is of 100% high quality. However, you could attempt creating the blocks yourself if you need to make a big material savings.

In order to work, you need:

1. Concrete mixer – for mixing all components of the mixture.
2. Pallet or container – for storing the finished mixture.
3. Forms – to create individual elements and harden these products.
4. Dividing wall or void formers – to create several products in one mold with or without voids.
5. Bucket – for storing water for solution.
6. Wood chipper – for chopping wood to the desired size. You can do it yourself, but this requires parts – metal studs, bearings, an axle, car springs, an engine, a belt tensioner, nuts, bolts, a chopping disk with a hammer and knives (for cutting wood into wide plates and then into thin chips) and etc.
7. Drying chamber – for drying sawdust or wood chips.
8. Shovel – for pouring components into a concrete mixer or a special mold for products.

Pre-made equipment is also available, but it will set you back approximately 200,000 rubles.

Components for production

Sand, water, organic filler, and a binder component make up an arbolite product. Waste wood serves as a filler.

It is advised that you ask for sawdust or wood chips at the closest woodworking businesses or workshops in order to reduce the cost of producing wood concrete blocks instead of buying wood. If you do have to pay for them, it will be a small price to pay compared to buying entire blocks of wood.

However, cutting wood into chips is insufficient. Wood contains sugar and water, which will prevent the solution from mixing properly and eventually reduce the material’s strength. Sugar will prevent the cement from setting quickly, and the resulting material will have the appearance of loose stone rather than solid.

The joint adhesion (adhesion) of wood and cement is poor. Therefore, improper processing of the wood could result in a finished block that just crumbles in your hands. As a result, you must eliminate water and sugar.

Preparation of woodchips

Even though sugar and water are not required for finished wood waste, it is still worthwhile to begin the wood chip harvesting process with wet wood.

You can only obtain chips of this shape, which would appear disorganized in a future block, if you start with raw wood. The process of grinding already-dried wood will cause the chips to accumulate in one area and not at all in another, resulting in clumps of chips in the final products. Furthermore, because the dry sawdust fraction is so fine, a lot more cement is needed to bind the wood chips with the other ingredients.

Raw wood is broken up into the necessary size chips using a wood chipper. After that, they are put in a unique drying chamber and chemical reagents are added to it in order to dry the sawdust and extract the sugar.

It is necessary to wet the wood chips with just enough water during the mixing process so that it absorbs into the sawdust and does not become noticeable in the final mixture. Cement must completely cover the chips when pouring mortar into molds.

The image displays a finished piece of equipment.

Blend recipe

The process for creating wood concrete blocks may vary depending on the industry, but the primary goal of chemical additives is to lower the water content of the wood chips to prevent them from swelling and distorting the final product.

The standard mixture composition is 250 kg of wood chips, 250 kg of cement, and 8–10 kg of chemical additives per cubic meter.

Chemical additions take out the sugar from the wood chips, eliminate extra moisture, and plug sawdust pores so that the chips can’t absorb as much water when the solution is mixed. You can use the following chemicals:

• Aluminum sulfate. It breaks down sugar in sawdust well, reduces the time it takes for the material to gain strength – it strengthens faster.
• Calcium chloride. Used in conjunction with aluminum sulfate. Its distinctive property is the destruction of microorganisms in sawdust, due to which the material will not be subject to rotting or damage by mold or fungi in the future.
• Sodium silicate. Needed to clog the pores in the wood chips to prevent moisture from penetrating into the sawdust in the future. Liquid glass can be used instead of sodium silicate. Sodium silicate must be added after water and sugar have been removed from the sawdust.
• Slaked lime. This is an alternative chemical additive that can be used instead of aluminum sulfate and calcium chloride (if they are difficult to purchase or supply). In terms of technical parameters, it is slightly worse than these reagents, since the removal of sugar and the destruction of microorganisms is not as fast as we would like.

Other wood wastes, such as straw, hay, knots, spray trims, thin twigs, branches with leaves, and plant stalks, can be added as an organic filler if there aren’t as many sawdusts or chips present. However, their ratio of 1:10—where 1 represents various waste and 10 represents chips—must not be exceeded.

Additionally, waste needs to be ground up and kept for several months on the street under a canopy. If waiting is not an option, waste needs to be processed with a lime and water solution (50 kg per 200 l) in 4 days, with 2-4 turns per day.

The amount of ingredients needed to make 1 cubic meter of the mixture will vary depending on the brand of arbolite that is required.

The technology of creating arbolite

Using pre-made equipment makes producing wood concrete much simpler than using homemade equipment. Process technology, however, is the same. The quality of material processing and the speed at which it is worked with are the only variations.

An explanation of the steps involved in making wood concrete at home or with ready-made equipment:

1. Preparation of wood pulp. Grind on a machine or take ready-made sawdust at a woodworking enterprise. Wood must be cleaned of dirty impurities, soil, and debris. The content of other wood waste, except for the chips or sawdust itself, should not exceed 10%.
2. Cleaning chips from moisture and sugars. This was written about above. First, aluminum sulfate and calcium chloride are used, then treated with liquid glass or sodium silicate.
3. Mixing the solution. This can be done in a concrete mixer or in a special container using a shovel. The components are added in the following sequence – wood chips, cement with additives, water and additional additives (if necessary). Water should be at a temperature between 15°C and 25°C. If it cools down, it needs to be heated from time to time and gradually added to the mixture. You cannot add more than half the mass of cement in water, otherwise the material will crumble. If the solution is mixed manually, it is better to add "Polyplast" to the water – a superplasticizer that will make the mixture more fluid. This will allow you to qualitatively fill the molds for the products and compact it.
4. Pouring the mixture into the molds. First, the molds need to be treated with an oil solution, machine oil or liquid milk from cement to facilitate the easy removal of finished products. If there is absolutely no money to buy these products, then you can cover the walls of the mold with old linoleum.

The mold is filled in three to four stages rather than all at once. It is important to compact each layer well, for example, with a special vibrator, a vibration stand or a wooden structure covered with iron on one side. It is advisable to puncture every layer multiple times using sharp reinforcement to guarantee that the mixture releases its air. You can spread reinforcement bars or mesh after pouring one of the layers, if needed.

If desired, you can pour a layer of plaster right away and have a ready-made plastered surface by leaving about 2 centimeters of free space. Here, a spatula is used to carefully level the solution.

The mixture will solidify in two to three days, at which point the blocks must be taken out of the molds and allowed to finish drying for a minimum of fourteen days under a canopy. There must be at least 10°C in the air. By doing this, the elements will be able to strengthen and, after a month, be laid.

Important: Watering the wood concrete occasionally with a light water pressure will help keep it from drying out and cracking during the drying process.

A satisfying and affordable way to improve your building projects is to make wood concrete blocks at home. With a few simple supplies and tools, you can make long-lasting, environmentally friendly wood concrete blocks by following this do-it-yourself tutorial. Wood shavings and cement can be combined to create sturdy, lightweight blocks that are perfect for a variety of building uses. This simple technique will assist you in producing high-quality blocks that satisfy your unique requirements, regardless of your level of building experience. It’s a great substitute for conventional building materials.

Difficulties and mistakes during work

Self-production is inherently risky because the material will eventually swell or crumble if the proportions are not followed or the chips are processed improperly.

The entire process is automated and streamlined in production.

Because amateur equipment is utilized when creating homemade components, it is possible that some moisture and sugar will remain in the wood chips.

Mixing the solution by hand won’t be easy if you don’t have a concrete mixer. Making sure all of the chips are embedded in the cement and that they don’t lump together is crucial.

Chemical addition shouldn’t be disregarded. They enhance wood concrete’s qualities. Furthermore, as the technology is produced independently, it might not always adhere to GOST. In order to offset the drawbacks of elements producing themselves, products require the assistance of additional chemicals.

It is also challenging to guarantee that the wood chips adhere to the stringent specifications of a maximum thickness of 5 mm and a maximum length of 25 mm when using homemade equipment.

Is it worth making at home??

Benefits of self-production include:

• Cheap construction.
• The ability to independently control the quality and manufacturing process of blocks.

The drawbacks of using homemade materials

• Mixing of components is not always high-quality and, as a result, the material turns out to be fragile.
• High moisture absorption if technology is not followed.
• Brittleness and rotting of blocks if the correct amount of chemicals have not been added to them.
• It is better not to use home-made wood concrete for laying load-bearing walls of a residential building. Partitions, non-load-bearing walls of a house or load-bearing structures of a garage or shed can be erected from homemade blocks.

Useful video

The following video demonstrates how to make wood concrete blocks by hand:

A useful and satisfying project that blends the sustainability and insulating qualities of wood with the durability of concrete is creating your own wood concrete blocks. Wood shavings or chips are combined with cement, water, and a few other ingredients to create a multipurpose building block that can be used for a variety of construction applications.

The preparation and blending of the ingredients is essential for producing wood concrete blocks that work. The mixture binds more successfully when the wood chips are treated and sized appropriately. Appropriate water addition is essential because it activates the cement and keeps the mixture just the right amount of wet and dry. To create robust, long-lasting blocks, patience is also necessary during the curing process.

Making your own wood concrete blocks gives you the freedom to modify their size and shape to fit the requirements of your particular project. It’s a waste-free, renewable resource-based eco-friendly substitute for conventional building materials. Additionally, the enhanced insulating qualities may help build buildings that use less energy.

You can make excellent wood concrete blocks with a few simple tools and supplies and careful attention to detail. This do-it-yourself method not only saves costs but also gives you control over the building materials and a sense of accomplishment. Handmade wood concrete blocks provide a strong foundation for sustainable building, regardless of the scale of your project.

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