Rubberized Concrete Cuts Heat Loss, Noise

Rubberized Concrete Cuts Heat Loss, Noise BUILDINGS Houses 33-1-18 Car tire chips embedded in concrete boosts its insulation value and deadens noise as well. Rubbercrete from Walltransform Ltd. uses rubber from car tires to replace sand or gravel. The novel mix boosts thermal efficiency by 83 percent over ordinary concrete and sound insulation by 66 percent. "I saw the product at a local energy show," reports British FARM SHOW reader Andrew Sewell, who scouted out the product. "About 70 percent of the content is rubber crumb. They also have a special mix with 30 percent rubber that dries quickly enough to walk on in three hours." Sewell reports that the main use of Rubbercrete is as flooring, but it can also be used as wall plaster. He says the product uses a special polymerized Portland cement. Independent testing has shown as little as 1/2 in. of Rubbercrete plaster on both sides of a wall provides significant sound reduction. "I spoke with Glen Melvin, the managing director, and he said they use a neat process to get the rubber out of the tires," adds Sewell. "They freeze them in nitrogen to get them brittle, so they chip easily." Melvin developed the product to utilize tire waste while reducing noise pollution. The initial goal was to use it for home or apartment renovation as well as new construction. The product has been approved by the British Builder's Association, giving it international use approval. "Melvin said he's interested in finding companies that would license his process and market the product in North America," Sewell told FARM SHOW. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Walltransform Ltd., Unit 5, Rosedale Court, Stokesley Industrial Park, Stokesley, England TS9 5GB (ph 011 44 1642 714 123; fax 011 44 1642 503 666; glen.Melvin@ntlworld.com; www.rubber crete.co.uk).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.