Before we get into the interior wall e-crete, I wanted to show a picture of the top of the bale wall area which has some 1/2" drywall separating the roof space from the wall space. This acts as a firestop as well as another level of moisture barrier. Ideally some building paper should go between the drywall and the roof space to prevent any future water leaks from the roof from getting into your bale wall. We also tacked up some 2x4 to the bottom of the truss to create a ceiling interior wall nailer for various purposes.



We chose to use AAC block for interior walls because we wanted to do something different than using stick framed drywall. AAC has excellent sound deadening qualities to help insulate sound between rooms and would create a more organic undulataing feel with plaster than drywall. This was especially important because of our strawbale extrior walls.

We had our e-crete (AAC Block) forklifted around the house in strategic locations so that as we built the interior walls we wouldnt have to manually move them so far. This paid off big time! One of the reasons why we decided to do the e-crete walls first before the strawbale walls and the framing was to have as little obstruction between moving the blocks in/out of the house.



The first step of interior wall construction, layout out chalk lines to make the location of interior walls. Once our lines were laid out, we roughed up the concrete slab a bit, cleaned it off with a wet sponge and wet it a bit.



Then we mixed up some Type-S C270 Leveling Mortar for the base leveling course. Notice the string line used to level the first course. Getting the first course level is quite important as later down the line a little mess up can really screw a lot up, so we really wanted to get this right.





Here is a shot of Alfred mixing up some mortar with a paddle bit attached to a cordless drill. Makes it go pretty fast.



In order to create a stronger connection between the wood framing and the interior walls, we installed 2x6's and attached them at the sill plate and the ceiling top nailer which would act as a wall guide for the e-crete. You can see the nailer at the left. One word of advice if you use this method, make sure as you work your way up the wall you do not bow out the 2x6! :) It happened to us in 2 places as we go a bit over zealous building.



E-crete blocks are connected together using thin-set mortar in between each course and block. The thin-set mortar was mixed from bags of powder purchased from the company. Here is a shot.



Before the mortar is placed on the last course we used this wood rasp which has steel teeth under it to roughen up and level out the surface.





Then using a special 6" mortar trowel, we apply the thin-set mortar to the last course and place the next block on top, tapping it into place with a mallet.





Door bucks/frames had to be constructed ahead of time out of 2x6 stock which be placed wherever interior doors are planned. Eventually all this wood gets attached to the e-crete using these 12" lag screws. We got our screws from Taylor Trading Company



Here is a shot looking out over the bedroom area as the walls are going up. This is building egypt stylee!



At each door buck there are "O" blocks used which are essentially blocks with holes in them to allow rebar to be placed. It's important at doors and for exterior wall construction using AAC to place reinforcing steel here and at corners. Eventually they get filled with Grout along with a door lentil/header creating a much stronger bond around the openings. Here is a shot of the rebar grouted in. It was easier to grout in sections rather than do the entire height at one time.



And we keep going higher! This is when I was re-thinking the idea of having 10' ceilings!



In certain areas we had to cut angles and fit smaller blocks. You had to span at least 4" over another block. We bought a special blade that we could attach to our sawzall to make this process go faster. It created a lot of dust though! But the stuff cuts really easily.



Above each door "U" blocks were used to cast a door lentil/header. With 5/8" rebar placed in grout this would carry the load of the blocks above the door.





A finished wall with a door!



Once all the walls met the ceiling we placed 2x4 blocking in between trusses and then using the 12" lag screws, screwed 2 per block into the AAC from the top.