Styrofoam Homes

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Daniel Leuck on May 3, 2010 at 11:10am

Wow - They are actually building two story homes with Styrofoam! Kits are a good idea, but I think it would also be great for custom-built structures because its so much easier to shape.

Permalink Reply by Roger Garrett on May 3, 2010 at 12:40pm

Well, custom built implies an architect and a building crew plus the customization of all the plumbing and electrical work, which all translates into much higher cost. I'd much rather have kits and components available that I can mix and match. I envision a website that provides an interactive design tool that lets you "construct" your own home/garage/barn/storage shed/playhouse, etc. from a comprehensive set of kits and components and keeps a running tally of the costs and construction time and tools. Place you order online and some weeks later it arrives, with complete construction plans.

Are there people here on TechHui who know how to make this a reality? Seems to me to be a huge opportunity.

PS: I've got an email in to the local company that made that custom home to see if such kits or components already exist.

Permalink Reply by Daniel Leuck on May 3, 2010 at 1:05pm

It sounds like legos. I like it :-) The site itself would be fairly easy to build. We do more complex sites on a monthly basis. I imagine 90% of the engineering time and money would go into designing the actual physical components.

I bet the Rapid 3D guys have customers that could build the kit components. I'd ask Russ Ogi.

Permalink Reply by Jerry Isdale on May 3, 2010 at 5:17pm

I dont know about this - expanded polystyrene does not stand up well to heavy sunlight and I've seen rodents chew through it to make nests. Maybe this stuff is too dense for the rats and the coating protects it from uv degradation. Still not sure how this is Green (other than pure marketing). chemicals for styrene are not eco friendly. On the other hand, it is sculpt-able and you could make great non-linear walls.

As for Rapid 3d - there are several people working on 3D printing of buildings:
http://www.contourcrafting.org/ (outgrowth of USC research)
and Enrico Dini of D-Shape: http://d-shape.com/
Interview from Shapeways ---
http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/217-3D-printing-buildings-in...

Sand, concrete, hmm.. Maybe we can use some lava! Although that might cause problems pouring around the pipes.

Permalink Reply by Cameron Souza on May 3, 2010 at 5:27pm

The article says its "sprayed with a mixture of cement and glass fiber" so I don't think UV would be an issue and I don't think rats could chew through it. As to the green question, I'm not sure. I agree Styrofoam doesn't seem very green. Maybe this variety is more biodegradable? It would be nice to have a domain expert chime in.
Jerry Isdale said:

I dont know about this - expanded polystyrene does not stand up well to heavy sunlight and I've seen rodents chew through it to make nests. Maybe this stuff is too dense for the rats and the coating protects it from uv degradation. Still not sure how this is Green (other than pure marketing). chemicals for styrene are not eco friendly. On the other hand, it is sculpt-able and you could make great non-linear walls.
As for Rapid 3d - there are several people working on 3D printing of buildings: http://www.contourcrafting.org/ (outgrowth of USC research)
and Enrico Dini of D-Shape: http://d-shape.com/
Interview from Shapeways ---
http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/217-3D-printing-buildings-in...

Sand, concrete, hmm.. Maybe we can use some lava! Although that might cause problems pouring around the pipes.

Permalink Reply by David Jacobs on May 3, 2010 at 8:57pm

I don't know that I would want to build a two story structure with this technology. Every wall becomes a load bearing wall and changing the design after the fact becomes very difficult. This makes potential remodeling VERY difficult. One thing that people forget about is that houses are dynamic creations and get changed over time with different owners. If you are just holding up the roof truss (as in a one story building), I suspect you have a bit more flexibility to make changes over time.

Another technology that has been around longer is insulated concrete forms (ICFs). These are styrofoam lego like blocks that you fill with rebar and concrete once you have constructed the house. As you might expect the load bearing capability and structural flexibility is greater, but it uses more concrete so theoretically the cost should be higher.

Once thing that has been discovered about styrofoam is that while it does not get eaten by termites and other insects, they will make their home in the styrofoam. So if the foam will be touching the ground it needs to be treated. And you need to be careful about things that breach the 1/4" layer for concrete/fiber (e.g., staples for Christmas lights, cable guy drilling holes, etc).