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Aircrete

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yes2matt:
I need some nuc boxes, and I usually would make some from the D Coates pattern. But times have changed a little:
> I discovered how much bees like to have a more insulated cavity, it makes a big difference.
> have you SEEN (of course you have) the price of plywood, or any wood?

So I am thinking of casting some nuc boxes with  ... something. Aircrete? Aircrete with perlite?  I don't know.

Have you any experience casting lightweight "concrete" panels or boxes? Is this a totally stupid idea?

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Bob Wilson:
I have made flower pots before with concrete and perlite (or peat moss). It was lighter weight, but unless its very thick, it eventually breaks in half.
That's just my experience.

Acebird:
Not a stupid idea but you have to paint or stucco the inside because it is porous.

yes2matt:

--- Quote from: Acebird on June 24, 2022, 08:31:24 am ---Not a stupid idea but you have to paint or stucco the inside because it is porous.

--- End quote ---
  Won't the bees "paint" it with propolis? I would just do the plywood nuc pattern with foam board but they eat/haul it out.

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Ben Framed:
It is my opinion that Ace 'might have' answered the million dollar question with a little added thought. Instead of Aircrete; If a person were to make a simple mold using cheap 'Styrofoam' as a base material injected for the desired box interior, he could mold his own lightweight boxes and then coat with hardy stucco making a cheap, lightweight, hardy box for pennies..... (Sort of like the cheap one day use, lightweight one dollar coolers which could be had at dollar stores and bait shops a few years ago before they went out of style)..... The added stucco coating would or should do the trick to bring it up to par?

Phillip

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