Prefabricated LECA houses – what you should know about them

The development of various construction technologies, which we have been dealing with in recent years, has guaranteed us access to various ways of building our dream house. More and more often the traditional construction of brick houses is being abandoned in favor of, m.in, frame or prefabricated houses. What’s more, each of these technologies is characterized by an increasing base of materials from which house walls can be built. It is no different with houses that are built on the basis of ready-made house elements prepared in factories – the so-called prefabricated elements. One of the most interesting solutions in this area are prefabricated expanded clay houses.

Table of contents

• LECA houses – what are they?
• How to build a prefabricated house from expanded clay?
• Expanded clay prefabricated house – everything you need to know

LECA houses – what are they?

Expanded clay, also known as expanded clay concrete, is produced by burning clay and slate. The genesis of this material is based on a case when in the 20th century in a brickyard in the USA, one of the workers mistakenly added too much fine coal to the stove and fell asleep. The mass produced, after appropriate processing, acquired such special properties – lightness and durability – that this material was quickly patented. Initially, expanded clay was not particularly popular, but refined in terms of technology, it gained popularity so much that in the 1970s it reached Europe. Why is expanded clay a very good building material? Because it is characterized by m.in:

• high resistance to moisture;
• high thermal insulation properties;
• excellent acoustic protection;
• resistance to mold fungi;
• high fire resistance.

LECA can be used as a building material both in the form of traditional hollow bricks and in the increasingly popular prefabricated technology.

How to build a prefabricated house from expanded clay?

The process of building a house made of prefabricated expanded clay is very simple and consists of several stages:

• ordering given prefabricated elements based on the house design;
• production of orders and transport to the construction site;
• assembly with reinforcement and execution of all installations;
• roofing.

Many companies involved in the production of expanded clay elements offer the construction of the entire house at once up to the shell stage, closed, developer’s or turnkey.

Expanded clay prefabricated house – everything you need to know

The expanded clay building material itself has so many advantages that, combined with the prefabrication technology, which allows you to create ready-made building walls with openings for windows and doors, it has even more benefits that are worth considering before making the final decision to build a house. The most important advantages of a prefabricated LECA house include:

• speed of installation;
• ultimately the possibility of obtaining lower construction costs than traditional construction technology;
• the houses are warm and quiet, which affects the comfort of their use;
• good energy efficiency indicators directly affect lower operating costs;
• they are allergy-friendly (they create a very good microclimate);
• low thermal conductivity values mean that it does not require a large insulation layer;
• internal walls do not require plastering, which further reduces the costs of finishing works;
• prefabricated elements are prepared for installation projects;
• the possibility of building a house regardless of weather conditions.

The construction of LECA prefabricated houses is quick and trouble-free, especially compared to traditional construction technology. It not only saves time during construction works, but also allows you to quickly move into a new house. When considering this technology, it is worth paying attention to all the above aspects of building a house, because in the end, it may turn out that a prefabricated expanded clay house is a really good choice if we want a proven, effective and fast construction technology.