Building with factory-prefabricated masonry panels made of clay units meanwhile has become a long-established, field-proven construction method. The advantages are shorter construction time for shell constructions, lower construction costs and uniform level of quality as well as high dimensional accuracy of the masonry panels and a production that is independent of weather influences. An innovation in the field of prefabricated masonry is the dry bonding method for prefabricated masonry panels made of clay units whereby, instead of a conventional thin layer mortar, a two-component polyurethane adhesive (2C-PUR) is applied by machine to the flat ground surface of the clay unit.
In mid 2013, the Institute of Building Materials Research (ibac) in Aachen was commissioned by Redbloc Deutschland GmbH to carry out tests on masonry prefabricated with 2C-PUR adhesive, to establish the necessary basis for obtaining a general technical approval (abZ) for masonry panels built according to the Redbloc system and thereby lay the foundations for using this new construction method in Germany.
This article shall firstly give a survey of the test programme for the approval procedure agreed with the German building authority , Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik (DIBt), and present the key results obtained from the tests carried out in Aachen. Furthermore the individual steps from planning via production in the prefabrication plant right through to transport and assembling of the masonry panels at the building site will be presented, taking the example of the first prefabrication factory of Redbloc Elemente GmbH opened at Plattling in Germany in the meantime.