Poroton Blocks

Tanner Structural Design Ltd

Unit 2, Connolly House, Connolly Street, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland

Phone:+353 (0) 25 51000, E-mail: info@tsd.ie

Please note we do not sell or supply Poroton Blocks. Please see Juwo Poroton Block Company(formerly Face 8) who sell and supply these blocks.

Poroton blocks are a special clay block used to build highly insulated walls without a cavity. The blocks have a honeycomb-like pattern when viewed from above. They have been used very successfully on the Continent for many years, and are now being used in Ireland to provide comfortable and healthy living spaces. ‘Poroton’ refers to the product produced by a group of manufacturers who are members of the Poroton Group (www.poroton.org). There are other manufacturers who make identical products but they are not members of the Poroton Group and so market their products under different names,such as ‘Thermoplan’ and ‘Ecoton’. These products are usually as good as and sometimes better than the official Poroton products. Here we are using the term ‘Poroton’ to mean this type of block, whether it is an official Poroton product or not.

Clay is naturally a very good material at regulating humidity, absorbing and releasing moisture readily. It is sometimes used as an internal render in buildings, specifically for this purpose. The Poroton blocks work by being ‘breathable’, i.e. being able to transfer moisture from inside to outside, thus eliminating the need for the residual cavity used in traditional masonry walls.

The insulating properties of Poroton blocks are provided by tiny voids within the clay. These are formed by mixing sawdust with the clay before it is moulded. When the blocks are fired at high temperatures to cure them, the sawdust burns and disintegrates, leaving voids within the clay.

The most efficient way of building with these blocks is using a special thin-bed mortar with planed blocks. These blocks are cut to exact size, such that only a 1mm thick joint is required between courses. The blocks are designed with partially interlocking vertical joints, meaning no mortar is needed in the vertical joints. This all lends itself to very fast construction. The bottom course of blocks needs to be carefully bedded in standard mortar to get them perfectly level. Subsequent courses are then laid by dipping the blocks in the thin-bed mortar and placing them on the wall, or by using a special applicator to place the mortar on the previous course of blocks.

The finishes used on the external walls are important in order to preserve the breathability of the wall. This generally means using some type of lime or mineral-based render that allows moisture to travel through it. Any paints used also need to be breathable. Beeck mineral paints, supplied by The Traditional Lime Co. (www.traditionallime.com) are one such make of breathable paints.

As there is no specific insulation layer used in the wall, external walls are usually 365mm or 425mm thick in order to achieve a U-value of 0.21 W/m2K or better. Different makes of blocks and different block specifications give different U-values, so one needs to choose the right blocks carefully.

For photos of houses built with these blocks, click here. One supplier of Poroton blocks used by our clients is:

Juwo (www.juwoe.de), distributed in Ireland by Juwo Poroton Block Company (www.juwoporoton.com)