Foam concrete machine used for backfill basement

Foam concrete is a very fluid, lightweight cellular concrete fill material, produced by blending a cement paste (the slurry or mortar), with a separately manufactured, pre-formed foam. The density of foam concrete is determined by the ratio of foam to slurry and densities range typically between 300 and 1600 kg/m 3.  Sand, pulverized fuel ash, quarry dust or limestone dust may be used to further enhance the properties of foam concrete.

Foam concrete is created by uniform distribution of air bubbles throughout the mass of concrete. The foam cells must have walls, which remain stable during mixing, transportation, pumping and placing of fresh concrete. The cells, or bubbles are discrete and range in size between 0.1 and 1mm. Foam concrete is a free flowing and can be placed without compaction.

When use foam concrete for construction, such as backfill basement, there are many advantages:

Settlement free construction:

In conforming to the principle of equilibrium, the effective stress of the underlying soil remains unchanged from that existing prior to excavation and thus settlement of the construction is prevented.

Cost saving:

Foam concrete allows saving big money as it can be applied directly on existing marginal ground such as peat or poor soils. Minimal lateral loading enables reduced building costs for earth retaining structures. Foam concrete allows construction on marginal ground reducing the need for piled foundations. High volume equipment with rapid installation reduces installed unit cost. Foam concrete requires lower maintenance costs due to the durability of foam concrete and lack of settlements.

Time saving:

The application of foam concrete can be a great time saver over conventional ground treatment methods for settlement free construction. No waiting period for consolidation of sub soils, eliminating the need for surcharging .No need for removal and replacement with large amounts of borrow soils. Removal of minimal amount of soil to be replaced with foam concrete. Reduce or eliminate the need for piling, sand drains, or grade beams.

Rapid construction:

Foam concrete blocks are lightweight, big sizes and high accuracy dimensions. It increases the construction speed for several times. Also it is easy to cut channels and holes for electrical wiring, sockets, and pipes.

That’s why foam concrete is more and more popular and widely used for backfilling basement, culvert, subway, tunnel and others. Our GF15 foam concrete machine is very suitable for backfilling basement because of the long delivering distance. It also has small size very easy to move from one worksite to another.