ID682: The new German standards for earth blocks and Earth masonry mortar

SCHROEDER, HORST1; ZIEGERT, CHRISTOF2; FONTANA, PATRICK3

1 Dr., Dachverband Lehm e.V. (DVL), hschroeder-weimar@t-online.de, dvl@dachverband-lehm.de

2 Prof. Dr., ZRS Ziegert | Roswag | Seiler Architekten Ingenieure, ziegert@zrs-berlin.de, Dachverband Lehm e.V. (DVL) dvl@dachverband-lehm.de

3 Dr., Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, Berlin (BAM), patrick.fontana@bam.de

 

In August 2013, the German National Institute for Standardization DIN published three national standards for industrially-produced earth building materials without the use of chemical stabilizers:

DIN 18945 Earth blocks – definitions, building materials, requirements, test procedures

DIN 18946 Earth masonry mortars – definitions, building materials, requirements, test procedures

DIN 18947 Earth plaster mortars – definitions, building materials, requirements, test procedures

The development of these standards was initiated by the Dachverband Lehm e.V. (DVL), the German umbrella organisation for building with earth.

These standards are in accordance with the requirements of the EU Regulation No. 305/2011 which came into force in Germany on 1 July 2013. These basic requirements introduce provisions relating not only to the safety of buildings and other construction works but also to health, durability, energy economy, protection of the environment and other important aspects in the public interest. The basic requirements are defined by essential characteristics expressed by levels or classes, or in a description. The relevant essential characteristics define the performance of the construction product.

The DIN 18945, 46 and 47 outline unified test procedures describing the relevant essential characteristics of the earth building products as well as systems for assessing and verifying the constancy of their performance. The relevant systems of verification are determined by a national Technical Assessment Body (TAB), which in Germany is the Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik DIBt.

 

Keywords: DIN norms, Germany, earth blocks, earth masonry mortar, earth plaster mortar