He Can Build Your House in One Day

The forms might be a problem; concrete sags without forms.

You mean the lack of forms might be a problem.

It would be kind of silly to have all this publicity and still have a problem of sagging cement. The house would have a tired look! heh heh

Anyway my understanding is they use a very fast setting cement that does not sag.

I wish Legoland to venture into the real world producing "big" Lego Bricks.

For example they could produce a "binary" line of bricks that would allow to build any "digitalized" architectural shape, for example if A is a distance unit, say 10 cms or 4" etc etc, then the bricks could have the following dimensions:

A x (1 x 1 x 1)

A x (2 x 1 x 1)

A x (2 x 2 x 1)

A x (4 x 1 x 1)

.

.

.

A x ( 2^N x 2^M x 1)

Where N and M are non negative Integers. Then a free software could calculate and order to Legoland the exact bill of materials departing from Autocad, Inventor, etc etc. provided the bricks have holes to introduce the seismic iron skeleton before extruding the final cement. One problem is how to route the cables.

I still love playing with lego bricks.

Jaime Soto

Chile

We have a LEGO(TM)-like system already; it's generally called "ICF" and is available through multiple vendors, each with their own small differences in method of stacking, supporting, and dimensions. Each allows inserting steel rebar on-the-fly as each layer is stacked prior to a final phone call to the local cement truck, and results in a nice, tight, solid concrete home using much less concrete than this 3D gantry spray system.

The ICF designers all worked around the drawbacks of a rigid/solid plastic LEGO (TM) concept (and cable/pipe routing) by the nature of making the blocks out of styrofoam. You can find a few I've looked at: here, here, or here. There are many, and if there is not yet a major supplier in Chile, you have a great opportunity for a business.

Not only is foam far superior to solid plastic in terms of insulation value and weight, but you can walk down the wall with a lightweight hand-held router and spin-out a route for any PEX piping or sheathed cabling, should you wish to insert them rather than attach them on the surface and cover them with shotcrete (like the europeans) or with wood spacer strips and gypsum board for the interior surface.

Also, irrespective of what some enviro-wacko's claim regarding foams like styrofoam, it uses a much smaller mass of petroleum-based raw material than most other solutions and saves many times whatever drawbacks there may be by saving energy through the life of the building with smaller heating and cooling losses.

I would expect that for the above new spray-build system to be even acceptable, some kind of styrofoam filler to make it a lightweight and insulated wall would be a necessity.

How does this compare with the Huf Haus, which can be weathertight and habitable in a small number of days?

The price of manpower is still very low in Chile and most countries, but more than that, built our own house by hand is dream that has a value. For sure the concept of contour crafting is also correct, and will be a major success in the USA and I hope that also here. One idea does not destroy others.

Jaime

Very interesting....Fast Forward a couple of decades(or more), and nano-bots will be constructing buildings to spec from a pile of sand, fusing the grains together into a solid-crystalline structure, immune to storms, earthquakes,etc.Choice of color and finish up to the buyer.Of course, then, the Saudi's will probably corner the market on sand.

"I don't mind hearing voices, I just can't get a consensus on the answers."

HTRN

The energy to fuse silica will always be higher than making Portland Cement. With concrete that set in 14 minutes and is strong enough to put traffic on in 4 hours already here (http://www.concretemonthly.com/monthly/art.php?1728) we don't need any improvements there.

What is a challenge is inserting reenforcement in the concrete and making ducts and conduits for wiring and pipes.

But building up wall a few inches at a time with fast set concrete is not much of a problem.

Gordon

Hmm the concrete must be a very dry mix. Also majority of homes in US are built using wood framing. The wood and labor for building are relatively cheap, and, particularly in the western US and central mississippi river basin, Wood provides the durability for seismically active zones. Concrete doesn't fare as well over long periods of exposure to such conditions.

Does pretty well in hurricane zones though and our losses there are as you know in the billions + loss of life...except for last year.

Well the process is not fully new, as is usually the case. The use of sprayed cement in the contruction of apartment buildings has been done in North America during the '50. You put a net in place and then cover both sides with concrete in layers and the wall is done. This seems a step further. I see two problems, the piping and cables, which must be foreseen and become fixed, second if years later you want to change something is a mess, like adding an appliance. It all depend the way it is done but can be done i don't see a problem for that. Likely cheap to produce but I lived in a house like that, I personally do not like it, I like to adjust a house to my taste.

Franco

Then there is always my brother's house. When he both dad and I helped a little on it and dad realized he had helped build the house 60 years before. When all the neighbors got together and had a house in the dry in a day or two.

The house had been moved to town and added on to 3 time and was in good shape. There were some odd spots like the closet with 12 inch by 5 foot wing that went no where. It was handy for heat and air ducts.

Gordon