AAC blocks: thin-bed mortar, and never soaked
Applies only if your house has AAC block walls.
Why — act while you have leverage
AAC is the material most often laid wrongly, because crews treat it like a big brick. Soaking it and bedding it in thick sand-cement joints throws away most of what you paid extra for.
What to look at
- A bag of thin-bed AAC adhesive on site, not only sand and cement
- Joints of a few millimetres rather than a finger's width
- Blocks dry when laid
How to check it yourself
AAC is laid dry — it must not be soaked. The intended joint is a thin-bed adhesive mortar at roughly 3 to 5 mm; conventional cement-sand at 1:6 is possible but then the joint is around 10 mm and the thermal benefit of the block is partly lost through it. Cut with a hand saw, not a hammer.
Where this comes from: IS 2185 (Part 3) — Concrete masonry units, autoclaved cellular aerated concrete blocks (indian standard or building code)
More masonry and wall checks
- Photograph before this is covered
- Bricks or blocks soaked before laying, and joints filled
- Masonry cured, and lintels bear the specified length
- Laterite blocks: soaked properly, and laid with the right mortar
- Burnt clay bricks: water absorption within the standard
- Concrete blocks: cured and aged before they go into a wall
- Fly ash bricks: to the standard, and the right mortar for them
- Mortar measured by gauge box, not by shovel
- Sand bulking allowed for before the mix is batched
- Mortar used within its working time, and never re-tempered