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INTRODUCTION

With ever increasing building costs, the requirement for rapid building, rising energy costs and greater
awareness of global warming and energy conservation as an important aspect of building design,
expanded polystyrene (EPS) is becoming increasingly used in modern day construction.

In South Africa alternatives to the tradition of brick and mortar are going to have to be used to enable the building
demand to be met.

Automa Building Products (ABP) was established to focus the manufacturing and engineering expertise of
Automa Multistyrene (Pty) Ltd, the largest convertor of EPS in South Africa, on the developing uses of expanded
polystyrene (EPS) in the construction industry.

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) building systems are commonplace in the rest of the world and are gaining
increasing acceptance in South Africa.

Issues of global warming and, in South Africa, concerns over power supply are driving the building industry to
more energy efficient product solutions.

Currently South Africa rates very poorly when buildings are graded on their energy efficiency primarily because
the climate here has always been considered temperate and sources of energy have been inexpensive.
Labour has also always been regarded as cheap.

The requirement criteria for building materials have therefore not been based on either labour or energy
efficiency.

Expanded polystyrene offers a viable alternative for building products due primarily to its thermal insulation,
lightweight and decorative properties.

ADVANTAGES OF EPS IN BUILDING

ADVANTAGES OF EPS IN BUILDING
EPS consists of 98% air and has long been used as a thermal insulator in a number of applications. The insulating
ability of EPS makes it an ideal material for energy efficient building products particularly when combined with its
other properties:

•
Lightweight making it easy to transport and install;
•
Moisture resistant increasing water penetration resistance;
•
Sound absorbency which increases sound insulation particularly when used in
combination with harder building materials such as concrete;
•
Safe to use. EPS is non toxic, does not contain CFCs, can be 100% recycled, does
not harbour micro-organisms, is odourless and non-allergenic;
•
Versatile in that it can be moulded, shaped and cut into virtually any shape or
pattern. This allows the cost effective production of numerous decorative
building products such as mouldings and cornices;

•
Fire retardant. All EPS used in ABP's building products is fire retardant and will not propagate or contribute to
the spread of fire
•
Long lasting. EPS does not rot or degrade over time and remains dimensionally stable so EPS building
products will remain fully functional for the life of any building in which they are used.

THE BUILDING ENVELOPE

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