Horst Schroeder - 2018 - The New DIN Standards in Earth Building-The Current Situation in Germany
Horst Schroeder - 2018 - The New DIN Standards in Earth Building-The Current Situation in Germany
Horst Schroeder - 2018 - The New DIN Standards in Earth Building-The Current Situation in Germany
doi: 10.17265/1934-7359/2018.02.005
D DAVID PUBLISHING
Horst Schroeder
Dachverband Lehm e. V. (DVL), Weimar, 99425, Germany
Abstract: In the last decade the use of earth in construction has become increasingly widespread in many countries. Building with earth
can contribute to sustainable development by reducing environmental impact compared with other building materials or systems. This
new consciousness has given rise to a growth in the number of earth building standards in recent years although, in absolute terms, the
number is very small compared with other typical building materials and systems. Forty different earth building standards coming from
20 different countries were examined. The standards provide varying degrees of technical information. With regard to their scope of
application, the documents can be classified into three types, each of them dealing with a particular aspect: soil classification, earth
building materials, earth construction systems. In Germany, a revival of building with earth first came about in the 1980s as an
awareness of ecological criteria grew. A product of this development was the elaboration of an earth building standard, the “Lehmbau
Regeln” by the Dachverband Lehm e. V., the German national earth building association. That part of the “Lehmbau Regeln”
concerning earth blocks and earth mortars was adapted to the circumstances of national DIN/European building codes and published in
August 2013 as DIN 18945–47. A new DIN 18948 “Earth boards” will be issued in 2019. The four DINs were elaborated for
industrially produced, chemically non-stabilized earth building materials.
absolute terms the number is very small compared with For earth building to be integrated into national
other typical building materials and systems. standards, the highest degree of implementation, the
Building with earth can contribute to sustainable materials and techniques usually have to pass a general
development by reducing environmental impact process of approval with the NSB:
compared with other building materials or systems. Draft development by a group of specialists (“the
This aim can only be achieved by elevating earth technical committee”) with proven competence in
building to an “engineered” building system based on building with earth,
building standards issued by national standards Draft presentation to a broad range of specialists
organisations. The ecological quality of earth building with a view to reaching a consensus between them,
materials can be declared and compared with other Presentation of the “consensus draft” to the NSB
building materials by EPD (Environmental Product for final approval,
Declarations). In Europe the draft has to pass the EC Bureau for
Standards for certification,
2. International Situation
Publishing in a state decree.
Forty different standards from 20 different countries Table 1 provides an overview of the countries that
and regions were examined [1]. The standards provide have established earth building standards and norms.
varying degrees of technical information. With regard The subjects most frequently covered in the earth
to their scope of application, the documents can be building standards are:
classified into three types, each dealing with a (a) Building materials/techniques: adobe, CEBs
particular aspect: (compressed earth blocks), rammed earth,
Soil classification, timber-framed structures with earth infill.
Earth building materials, (b) Material properties: texture, plasticity/binding
Earth construction systems. strength, natural constituents (organic, lime, salt
Our analysis shows that standard, internationally content), shrinkage, compatibility, classification, test
accepted terminology is still lacking. This, however, is results, safety performance.
an essential general prerequisite for developing (c) Local conditions: earthquake damage.
standards and normative documents. Special handbooks dealing with conservation of
In those countries that do have established standards, traditional/historical earthen architecture in
there are usually three types of documents that govern earthquake-damaged regions were issued by NSB
the degree of implementation in the system of national and/or official bodies in Chile, Italy and Morocco.
building codes: Compared with other “normal” building materials,
(1) Standards and regulations issued by NSBs the field of earth building is less well defined and there
(national standards bodies), is a general lack of standardized test procedures for
(2) Normative documents issued by local/national determining soil parameters for earth building purposes.
organisations, Most such tests have been adopted from other fields
(3) Technical documents. (concrete, soil mechanics, ceramics etc.) that were not
originally devised for earth building and only partially Special attention must be given to load-bearing
take into account their particular properties. In order to structures. The standards stipulate permissible strength
develop building with earth into an “engineering” parameters, including a safety coefficient for the
building method the development of material-specific calculation of walls made of rammed earth, cob or earth
building standards is necessary. blocks. Normative physical parameters for the different
earth building materials also allow the thermal and
3. The German Standards for Building with
physical performance of building elements to be
Earth
calculated, so that heating and insulation schemes can
The development of standards for building with be drawn up and submitted for approval by the
earth has a long tradition in Germany that reaches as far appropriate authorities.
back as the 16th century in different German Federal
4. The German DIN Earth Building
States. As a result of the rapid growth of cities, two
Standards
main problems developed with regard to building at
this time: Timber as a prevailing building material In future, all European national standards will be
became scarce and it was not fire-resistant. These replaced by European (EN) or international (ISO)
constraints limited the use of timber, so earth was norms in response to the process of convergence in
increasingly used as a building material. regulations. In the context of building products, this
In the last century the first German earth building will be achieved by the “Regulation of the European
standards were introduced in 1951 by the German NSB Parliament and the Council for the Marketing of
as DIN 18951 based on a draft drawn up in 1944. Construction Products” of April 2011 [3].
Increased industrialized production of building The aim of this document is to foster the free
products displaced the production of earth-based movement and use of construction products in the
building materials and earth building all but died out internal European market, emphasised by the use of a
for over three decades. DIN 18951 was withdrawn in common technical language and clear terms for
1971 and not replaced. applying the CE mark. The CE mark guarantees
A revival of building with earth first came about in defined qualities and reproducible testing procedures
Germany in the 1980s as an awareness of ecological for quality control of the industrial production process
criteria grew. A product of this development was the of building products.
creation of an earth building standard, the “Lehmbau For the conversion period, national marks will be
Regeln” by the Dachverband Lehm e. V. (DVL), the accepted in the EU which guarantees standards for
German national earth building association [2]. This material properties and reproducible testing
standard was approved by the German National procedures for the quality control of the production
Building Authority in 1999 and 2008. The main aspects process. In Germany, this is the “Ü mark” (conformity
covered by this standard are: mark).
The selection of soils suitable for building The “Lehmbau Regeln” developed by the DVL did
purposes using testing procedures, not meet this requirement. Therefore, the DVL had
Earth building materials: definition of testing prepared standard drafts for industrially produced
procedures and qualities, chemically non-stabilized (i.e. no artificial binders)
Earth building structures: definition of earth building materials.
construction, technologies, testing procedures and In June 2011, the DVL tendered an application for
qualities. the formation of an earth-building task force
116 The New DIN Standards in Earth Building—The Current Situation in Germany
Buildings in their entirety and in their component Class of Block CS is 2. Laboratory test values are not
parts must be suitable for the proposed use, particularly allowed to fall below the mean and smallest single CS
with regard to the health and safety of all persons values.
involved with buildings during their entire life cycle. Fire performance:
Buildings must satisfy these basic requirements With regard to fire performance, building material
provided that they are correctly maintained over an classes of earth building materials (EB, CMM, CRM)
economically appropriate period of time. are categorized according to DIN 4102-1:1998-05.
Essential features are those features of a building According to DIN 4102-4 earth-building materials with
product, which relate to the basic requirements of a a content of homogenously distributed organic
building with regard to their relevant essential features. aggregates or fibers of ≤ 1 mass/% can be classified in
These are expressed in steps or classes or in a building material class A1 (fire resistant) without
description and are declared by the product testing.
manufacturer. Basic requirements 1 and 2 of the listing Building material definition/identification:
with the relevant essential features have priority. In Chapters 5 “Requirements” of DIN 18945-47
Strength characteristics: essential features are defined with regard to the
Assessments of strength characteristics for the earth-building material. These features must be
differing demands made on earth-building materials declared by the manufacturer and be part of the
are categorized in strength classes (CS) with definition/identification of earth-building materials.
standardized test procedures (Tables 3-5): Table 6 gives an overview of the relevant essential
Earth blocks of Class of use Ib and II (Table 2) can features.
be used in load-bearing situations if their minimal In Chapter 6 of DIN 18945-48, the essential features
Table 3 Compressive Strength classes (CS) for earth blocks (EB) in accordance with DIN 18945.
Class of block compressive strength CS Compressive strength MV N/mm2 Compressive strength SSV N/mm2
2 2.5 2.0
3 3.8 3.0
4 5.0 4.0
5 6.3 5.0
6 7.5 6.0
Test procedure DIN EN ISO 7500-1:2004-11 DIN EN ISO 7500-1:2004-11
MV: Mean value; SSV: Smallest single value.
Table 4 Strength classes (SC) for earth masonry mortar (EMM) in accordance with DIN 18946.
Strength class SC Compressive strength, N/mm2 Adhesive shear strength, N/mm2
M0 -
M2 ≥ 2.0
≥ 0.04
M3 ≥ 3.0
M4 ≥ 4.0
Test procedure DIN EN 1015-11: 2007-05 DIN EN 1052-3: 2007-06
Table 5 Strength classes (SC) for earth plaster mortar (EPM) in accordance with DIN 18947.
Strength class SC Compressive strength N/mm2 Tensile strength N/mm2 Adhesive strength N/mm2
SI ≥ 1.0 ≥ 0.3 ≥ 0.05
S II ≥ 1.5 ≥ 0.7 ≥ 0.10
Test procedure DIN EN 1015-11: 2007-05 DIN EN 1015-11: 2007-05 DIN EN 1015-12: 2007-05
118 The New DIN Standards in Earth Building—The Current Situation in Germany
for the respective earth-building material are and height 71 mm (normal format NF).
determined, which carry the building material Earth block-structural-DIN 18945-LS p 3-Ia-1.6-
description (●) in an established order. All the data that NF.
must be declared (●○□) are identified on a product data
4.2 Building Control/Certificate of Conformity
sheet. Data regarding delivery must be documented on
a delivery sheet. Earth-building materials must be assessed with
Forming procedure: regard to their performance in relation to their essential
The earth block sizes are defined according to the features using the test systems indicated in DIN
DIN standard for brickwork (NF, DF, x DF). The dry Chapters 8 or 9.
3
density classes are given in kg/m . The types of block The declaration of performance reliability of the
molding are defined by abbreviations in Table 7. tested building products with regard to their essential
Identification example for: features will be regulated in a new standard DIN
Compression molded, structural earth block without 18942-100 Conformity assessment. This standards
perforations, compressive strength class 3, use class Ia, includes the earth building materials according to DIN
bulk density class 1.6, length 240 mm, width 115 mm 18945-48 (EB, EMM, EPM, EP).
Table 6 Relevant essential features in the description/identification of industrially produced earth-building materials
according to DIN 18945-48.
No. Essential feature 18945 EB 18946 EMM 18947 CRM 18948 EP
01 Clay mortar type in the delivered form (wet/dry) ○ ○
02 Raw material mineral/organic ● ● ● ○
03 Granular group (upper sieve grade D) ● ●
04 Oversized particle ○ ○
05 Shape/dimensions (height for EP)/perforation ● ●
06 Forming procedure ● ○
07 Bulk density class (for EMM and EPM of set mortar) ● ● ● ●
08 Linear shrinkage co-efficient ○ ○
09 Size tolerance class ●
10 Type of edges / surfaces ○
11 Type of reinforcing (integrated mats) ○
12 Special delivery characteristics ○ ○
13 Strength class (SC) acc. to Tables 3-5 ● ●○ ●○
14 Surface hardness / Surface tensile strength / flexural strength ○
15 Building material fire resistance class ○ ○ ○ ○
16 Freeze and thaw behavior ○
17 Thermal conductivity ○ ○ ○ ○
18 Thermal capacity ○
19 Vapor diffusion resistance ○ ○ ○ ○
20 Structural function (structural/non-structural) ●
21 Use class ● ●
22 Abrasion resistance ○
23 Water vapor adsorption □ □ □ □
24 CO2-equivalent value □ □ □ □
25 Natural radioactivity □ □ □ □
● Feature included in the building material description.
○ Feature also included in the identification (product data sheet).
□ Feature optional, also included in the identification (product data sheet).
The New DIN Standards in Earth Building—The Current Situation in Germany 119