Everything you always wanted to know about Aerated Concrete Blocks (AAC) for tiki carving

I am posting this in response the high level of interest in this material.

It started when I posted an offer to trade some AAC for Palm.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=9840&forum=7&11

Then I followed up with an offer of free blocks, because my friend is moving and wanted to give them a good home. (She split the purchase of a pallet of AAC blocks with me). This one got even more interest because it had the word "FREE" in the subject title!

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=9996&forum=7&5

It looks like all of the free blocks are spoken for. However, some TC members from the East coast offered to pay the shipping if I would send them.

Here is my suggestion:

Everyone who wants to get some of this material please posts their interest in this thread. MAKE SURE TO LIST WHERE YOU ARE LOCATED. Then, all the tikiphiles in a given area (Florida, or Germany, or Arizona for instance) can post or PM each other and arrange to split the cost of a pallette or so of the blocks and divvy them up amongst themselves. I got mine from E-Crete in Arizona, and I think an entire pallete was only around $140. This was about 40 or so blocks!

It would be probitively expensive to have them shipped, although they are relatively light for concrete.

Now, here is some info to whet your carving appetite:

You can carve this stuff with any kind of chisels. No mallet necessary, but may be usefull. You can cut it with a regular hand saw. You can use files, rasps, rifflers, etc., and you can sand it when you're finished. A coat of regular concrete sealer from Home Depot will brighten it and give it a nice sheen. Make sure and wear a mask when you are working on it, because it is pretty dusty. When complete, it will have a nice "corraly" finish. My blocks are white, but I understand that they vary and also come in light grey and tan, depending on the factory and location.

Summary from a construction web site: "Builders in this country now can take advantage of an innovative concrete material that Europeans have time-tested and adopted. Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) is a precast, manufactured building stone made of all-natural raw materials. It is an economical, environmentally friendly, cellular, lightweight but structural material that features thermal and acoustic insulation as well as fire and termite resistance. AAC is available in a variety of forms, ranging from wall and roof panels to blocks and lintels. Although it has been a popular building material in Europe for over 50 years, AAC has only been introduced to the U.S. in the past few years."

Here is an offer of FREE SAMPLES of AAC that I found on the internet!!!!

http://www.sculptor.org/Stone/Marble/CarvingStonesOffered.htm

"Ohio: Duffy Building Systems: Autoclaved, aerated concrete. A lightweight concrete that can be sculpted like basswood, but is durable like normal concrete when coated with proper sealants. One-fifth the weight of regular concrete, 600 to 700 psi compressive strength. Ship anywhere in the US. Call for free sample. Contact: Don Duffy at [email protected] or 614-419-4563 in Columbus, Ohio USA."

Like that? FREE SAMPLE!!!!

Links to artists on the web using AAC:

http://sculpturedisplay.com/Frank.html

http://www.marcoislandart.com/delaroche-cooper-concrete1.htm

http://www.aildm.com.au/articles/sculptors/gaye_porter.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/eyre/stories/s531816.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/House-garden/Outdoor-garden-conservatory/Statues-garden-ornaments/auction-12822722.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Art/Carvings-sculpture/auction-12825284.htm

http://www.netti.fi/~laurleva/The-River.html

http://groups.msn.com/RatBoysPageofThings/sculpture.msnw?albumlist=2

More info at: http://www.toolbase.org/tertiaryT.asp?DocumentID=2076&CategoryID=1402

Also check out this site for the "Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Products Association" at http://www.aacpa.org

You can use the site to locate MFR's of the material in your area.

Manufacturers of AAC (US and International). Note - if you go to the http://www.aacpa.org website, you can get links to their websites:

Aercon Florida LLC
3701 C.R. 544 E
Haines City, Florida 33844
Phone: 863-422-6360
Fax: 863-422-6361

Contec Mexicana, S.A. de C.V.
Rio Amacuzac No. 1201 Ote. Col. Valle Oriente
San Pedro Garza Garcia
Nuevo Leon, C.P. 66269
Mexico
Phone: 011 5281 8399-2424
Fax: 011 5281 8399-2420

E-Crete, LLC
6617 North Scottsdale Road
Suite 203
Scottsdale, Arizona 85250
Phone: (480) 596-3819
Fax: (480) 596-3952
Texas Contec, Inc.
1535 Brady Blvd
Suite 2
San Antonio, Texas 78237-4355
Phone: 877 9 CONTEC
Fax: 210 402 6390

Eckart America, L.P.
4101 Camp Ground Road
Louisville, Kentucky 40211
Phone: (502) 775-4243
Fax: (502)-775-4249

Elite Cement Products, Inc.
4235 Buford Highway
Duluth, Georgia 30096
Phone: 678-206-0242
Fax: 678-206-0254

Masa-USA, LLC
2231 Holmgren Way
Green Bay, Wisconson 54304
Phone: 800-284-5507
Fax: 920-497-0389

Phoenix Cement Company
8800 E. Caparral Road
Suite 155
Scottsdale, Arizona 85250
Phone: 480-850-5757
Fax: 480-850-5758

Schlenk Metallpulver GMBH & Co., KG
Barnsdorfer Hauptstrasse 5
Roth-Barnsdorf, D-91154
Germany
Phone: 49 (9171) 808-0
Fax: 49 (9171) 808-200

Stork Bouwtechniek
P.O. Box 321
7550 AH Hengelo
Netherlands, The
Phone: 31 (0) 74 240 7000
Fax: 31 (0) 74 240 7086

Wehrhahn
P.O. Box 18 55
Delmenhorst, D-27738
Germany
Phone: 49 4221 1271 0
Fax: 49 4221 1271 80

Angelo Coduto
6085 Feather Lane
Sanford, Florida 32771
Phone: 407-320-9989
Fax: 407-323-8615

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Systems, Inc.
3349 Park Avenue
Wantagh, New York 11793
Phone: 516-783-7582
Fax: 516-783-7583

Consultec, Ltd., consulting engineers
4180 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario , M8X 1X8
Canada

Demand Products, Inc.
1055 Nine North Drive
Alpharetta, Georgia 30004
Phone: 800-325-7540
Fax: 888-534-8383

International Masonry Institute
42 East Street
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Phone: 410-280-1302
Fax: 301-261-2885

Peter Townsend
PAAC Engineering Systems
1588 Atkinson Road
Suite D
Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043
Phone: 678 442 9380
Fax: 678 442 9105

Thermacrete, LLC
214 West Sheridan Place
Lake Bluff, Illinois 60044
Phone: (847)-577-7400
Fax: (847) 392-4077

Thunderbolt Construction Corp. of Arizona
4030 Stockton Hill Road
#12
Kingman, Arizona 86401
Phone: 520-692-1000
Fax: 520-692-1423

You can get more info by typing in AAC, Aerated Concrete, or Autoclaved Aerated Concrete from your web browser.

Anyway, this may be more info than anyone needs, but I thought I would share...and I hope it is useful.

One last thing. Make sure to post any tiki sculptures that you create here on TC, because I'd really love to see where this thing goes.

Mahalo,

Aaron
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
(Orange County, CA)

[ Edited by: Aaron on 2004-07-22 14:28 ]

Thanks for the info Aaron.

Yes indeed, thank you. Great post.

[ Edited by: Raffertiki on 2004-07-22 14:45 ]

Aaron, you Defenately went Above and Beyond with this Information. No way to thank you enough, Thanks

Hey Benzart,

Check the link to the free sample, which I believe the Mfr will ship to you. Hopefully it's a full block and not just a small piece! This would be a good way to get a taste and see if you want more.

Aaron

You really did your research for this post - thanks for information...and the AAC blocks. First creation in the works!

Polynesiac Jim,

I too am working on the Palm that you gave me. So far, so good (See PM). We'll have to do that "trade" posting when we both complete these!

Aaron

This material looks great and according to your list there is a supplier 5 min from my house. If it wasnt so late I would go get some tonight, but be sure I will get it in the morning and let you know how it goes. Thanks for the info!

Hey Peterdragon,

I glad you hooked up with a supplier. I helped distribute a bunch of these blocks to a number of our fellow Centralites a few months back. The funny thing is, they never resurfaced here on TC. What happened to them? Bamboo Dude? PolynesianPop? Thechikitiki? Polynesiac? Come on, guys, let's see some concrete tiki pronto! What's the holdup?!!!?

Peter, pick up some AAC blocks and take them back to your lab. Show these guys how it's done!

A-A

YES! PLEASSE send me free Aereated (Areated? Aereted? whatever) concrete block. I live in San Francisco Bay Area, and you can reach me at [email protected]

THANK YOU THANK YOU!

P.S. to my message above.. yes, I'm also interested in splitting the cost of a pallette (pallet? palette? whatever)

Hi Wally,

I’m glad you found this post. It’s a great material to start off with, and it cleans up nice. BTW, I am not giving out the free samples of block. That was some guy that I found while searching the web. I sent him an email on it & never got a response. So much for that. Nice of him to offer, though!

I’ve only got a couple of blocks left in my private stash & I’m holding on to them for now. Maybe you can do a post asking if anyone in your area is interested in splitting a pallet and/or going on a road trip to get some. Who knows? Maybe someone else in the Bay Area will be interested as well. It’s a long drive, but was a fun trip for me and a friend of mine. We brought two pickup trucks, left early in the morning, picked up the blocks in Phoenix around noon, then turned around & headed back via an overnight stop in Laughlin. Partied a bit & had a good time.

Good Luck!

Aaron

..and thanks back, Mr. Akua. I'm getting a free block from Arizona so I can test my mettle with this stuff. Time will tell what'll happen.

Thanks from me too Aaron. I've been looking for material like this for a long time. I've not heard back yet from the free offer guy, but I was given the name of a distributor in my state that I am planning on contacting today. Hope he's not too far.

Hey Wally, I'm a big fan of those Eichlers too. I found one in Coos Bay Oregon this summer for sale that had been reduced to $i65,000 , and it was perfect!! PM or Email me if you want to chat more.

seamus

BUMP

I reckon there should be more tikis in AAC, its so easy to work with.

Me? I'm in the process of trying to locate the most convenient local sources for artist blocks of AAC:

Yes folks, that's a 5 foot high block of AAC! Currently the supplier I have found has quoted me $75 per block, and $75 per order for freight. So 2 blocks will cost me $225. Thats to have it especially ordered in at a hardware store. I'm hoping to find an AAC supplier who can just include it in their next order and avoid the freight costs altogether.

Nice fridge, Hewey! Be sure to post shots of what you make out of it. I've got an AAC Moai that has been asking me to finish it for months now.

Do you ever paint yours? I'm going to try a test on a scrap with a wash of really watery acrylic and let the AAC soak it up like a sponge.

[ Edited by: Tikidav 2007-07-08 21:27 ]

I've painted a couple. I've just straight acrylic. Just remember, they usually reccomend a concrete primer before painting.

Here's a great wesbite on carving a hunk of AAC thats been glued together from smaller bricks:
http://www.home.netspeed.com.au/frith/Art/Satyananda/fashioning_1.htm

Great link, Hewey. The finished sculpture is really life-like. Very cool. You'd never know that it was pieced together after the rendering.