The building material classification is orientated to the information needs of the actors from various levels of action and subject areas. It is based on a life-cycle approach and offers a continual view of the material flows taking place – from raw materials (extraction from the environment) to the building materials themselves to the waste categories (source for secondary materials). In the course of this, emissions referenced to life-cycles are considered.
The building material system differentiates 44 building material categories, under which approx. 130 individual building materials are subsumed. The 44 building material categories are grouped into ten categories (i.e. seven categories for the diagram representations).
Starting from the building materials:
• raw materials are derived by means of formulas (“recipes”). The classification of the raw material categories is based on the standard classifications of national and regional raw material planning.
• waste categories that arise during demolition are defined with the aid of the waste classification list (AVV)
• material-induced emissions (grey emissions) are ascertained by linking with environmental impact data from Ökobaudat.
| Building material category | Building material group | Building material |
|---|---|---|
| Concrete | Concrete | Normal concrete C8/10, normal concrete C12/15-C16/20, normal concrete C20/25-C25/30, concrete |
| Lightweight concrete | Lightweight concrete, cement-bonded wood fibre | |
| Bricks | Bricks | Clinker bricks, solid bricks, vertical coring bricks, lightweight vertical coring bricks |
| Bricks with insulation | Bricks filled with insulating material | |
| Brick cover/roof tiles | Standard tiles, beavertail tiles | |
| Other minerals | Calcareous plaster mortar | Lime motar, lime-cement mortar, cement motar, thin-bed mortar, lime-cement plaster, lime plaster |
| Plaster and mortar containing gypsum and anhydrite | Lime-gypsum mortar, gypsum mortar, plaster, calcium sulphate screed, gypsum interior plaster, gypsum | |
| Clay and loamy plaster and mortar | Clay plaster, clay plaster motar, clays (shale, clay, marl) | |
| Plasters with synthetic components | Thermal insulation plaster | |
| Calcareous screeds | Cement screed | |
| Screeds containing gypsum and anhydrite | Anhydrite screed | |
| Dry screed containing gypsum and anhydrite | Dry floor screed (gypsum fibre board) | |
| Screeds with synthetic components | Mastic asphalt screed | |
| Sand-lime bricks | Sand-lime bricks | |
| Aerated concrete blocks | Aerated concrete, aerated concrete breezeblocks, lightweight concrete blocks, lightweight concrete blocks, pumice stone | |
| Concrete blocks | Concrete hollow blocks, slag bricks, concrete paving stone | |
| Mud bricks | Clay infill, adobe, lightweight loam bricks | |
| (Gypsum) plasterboards | Plasterboard wall panels, plasterboard wall panels, gypsum wallboard | |
| Mineral building boards | Aerated concrete panels, lightweight concrete wall panels, fibre-cement panels -flat, fibre-cement panels - corrugated | |
| Mineral thermal insulation materials | Lightweight wood fibre panel, mineral wool (stone wool, glass wool), glass foam, blast furnace slag, expanded clay, glass wool, perlites | |
| Concrete roof tile covering | Concrete roofing tiles | |
| Fiber cement roofing | Fibre cement facade panel | |
| Slate cover | Slate | |
| Substrate layer (green roof) | Vegetation substrate | |
| Mineral fillings | Sand/gravel/grit, sand/clay/cinders, granulatd slag, gravel, quartz sand, sand, grit, crushed stone | |
| Glass | Glass, wired glass, glass mosaic | |
| Natural bricks | Quarry stone, granite/basalt/marble, sandstone/coquina | |
| Other mineral building materials | Ceramics, tiles, Transite panels, Asbestos cement plates | |
| Other renewable | Timber/Lumber | Timber planks, squared timber, coniferous lumber - kiln dried |
| Processed wood | Laminated wood, plywood, chipboards, hardboard, wood fibre insulation boards, wood windows | |
| Wood, engineered woods | Renewable thermal insulation materials | Reed panel, cork panels, cellulose fibre board, lightweight wood fibre, cellulose fibre blowing insulation material, reed, straw |
| Straw/Reed cover | Wood shingles, straw | |
| Other materials non-mineral | Cardboard, paper, corrugated base paper, paper | |
| Plastics | Petroleum-based thermal insulation materials | Polystyrene rigid foam (expanded-EPS, extruded-XPS), polyurethane (PUR) rigid foam, phenolic resin (PR) rigid foam, XPS, insulation board |
| Plastic roofing | Plastic roof sheeting | |
| Petroleum-based coverings, geomembranes | PVC sheeting, PE sheeting, PE/PP fleece, PE-PP fleece, damp insulation PE, waterproofing sheets, rubber sealing compound | |
| Bitouminous minerals | Bitumen roofing | Bitumen roof sheeting |
| Bituminous coverings, waterproofing membranes | Bitumen sheets, mastic asphalt screed, bitumen emulsion | |
| Ferrous metals | Metal roofing | Sheet metal plates |
| Ferrous metals | Reinforcement steel wire/wire, cast iron, steel sheet hot dip galvanized, hot dip galvanized steel, structural steel: sections and plates | |
| Non-ferrous metals | Coverings containing aluminum, sealing membranes | Aluminium sheeting, aluminum waterproofing membrane |
| Aluminum | Aluminium, aluminium windows | |
| Copper | Copper | |
| Other non-ferrous metals | Zinc, lead | |