Building Homes out of Foam

I doubt they would issue a permit, what about codes? Try a monolithic dome structure...

https://www.monolithic.org/foam

...or maybe foam panels...?

The devil is ALWAYS in the subtle details.

Structural Insulated Panels (Sip's)

Steel Sip's....

https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/articles/the-abcs-of-sips

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_insulated_panel

I worked on one of these homes in Illinois. They are made from bags inflated with a couple pounds of air pressure. covered in polystyrene foam, rebar and concrete.

The concrete shell was made too thin with rebar too close to the surface.

Lot's of work to correct. Interior spaces were dramatic, but furnishing and maintenance are an issue. (rounded floors, bent pipes etc)

You also have to deal with being called the UFO or spaceship house.

Foam dome home? May not be the wave of the future, but it is a neat house.

(Florida homes)

Yeah I think they eventually just gave up....

Now it's just a curiosity...

https://photos.orlandoweekly.com/photos-floridas-mysterious-abandoned-ufo-house/?slide=1&dsc_0004-4

There was another one down in the Keys, but I think that one was demolished a few years back...there are more around...

Wow, definitely the same builder.

I heard the home had a pool in the middle, but was removed before I got there.

Much classier joint.

This is the before picture....

This is the after....haha

Sounded like a good idea at the time. Then reality sinks in.

Yet these homes are still intact

Another example, from Boulder, CO, ca. 1969:

https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMA7P8_The_Brenton_House_Boulder_Colorado

Pensacola Beach Dome House.

https://www.monolithic.org/news-feed/dome-of-a-home-for-sale

I don't think anybody in their right mind would want to duplicate these foam caves...

https://everchem.com/abandoned-spray-foam-house/

Only someone with more $$$ than ¢'s.

I'll bet it still has that new car smell.

That home above suffered from water leaks around the window frames and mould growing on the walls due to insufficient ventilation in that humid location.

In defence of dome homes, it is common to hear that you will never find a style of home where you sleep more soundly than a dome, and have a more cosy feeling while awake.

New Material science is where you win ground with a dome especially in terms of low build price and insulation properties.

What I want to see in the future is a method where aircrete (air entrained fibre reinforced high strength mortar) is given approval under building codes globally for home construction , it is being used with great success in third world countries but it’s apparently too hard for “first world” vectors.

Need to flood the interior with UVC light and ozone for a few days, she'll be right as rain...

I think I did read something about the structure must be allowed to breathe and that was a big problem with the foam houses...I have seen several people who approached this problem by mixing styrofoam with concrete to make large bricks which were then used to build the house, this seems to work well if you can get the mix right....

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=styrofoam+concrete+bricks

Out of all of these methods and types I like this the best....the blocks are eco-smart, easy to work with, and the concrete interior fill makes them strong and sturdy, as well as being well insulated...this just seems like the best approach...I would like to see some long term reviews and observations though....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enLFaqmA2gI&t=4s

Offering monolithic concrete homes exterior insulated no home insurance cheaper than domes yet as strong

This is about as good as it gets for dome homes, but I still don't like the shape...

https://www.monolithic.org/homes/featured-homes/polish-entrepreneur-builds-his-monolithic-dome-dream-home/photos#2

Curved structures in domestic architecture can be quite beautiful - a hand-crafted barrel vaulted ceiling for example, but the large unbroken interior curved surfaces of these foam domes lack the visual interest of carefully fitted ceiling components.

The posted image, although as good as it gets for dome homes, lacks what I consider an essential element for comfortable living - a large covered porch. Also, for all the promise of the exterior, the interior is surprisingly chopped up and cramped. As usual for this type of construction, the rectilinear built-ins and movable furniture are in conflict with the curved walls and ceiling. However, the owner seems to relish design conflict - apparently seeing nothing incongruent about the large gilt-framed painting in the TV area.

Smurfs Got It Closer to "As Good as It Gets"

I am totally with you on the value of a large covered porch. It strikes me that a pointy mushroom shape like a yurt on a fat stalk is a great way to create a first floor full 360 degree covered porch. This outer shape also lends itself to incorporating a second story enclosed with lots of glass facets to provide a spectacular view in all directions with a bit of height from a full outer circle hallway. Rooms inside the second floor could be classical rectangular grid rooms with bathrooms, storage, utility rooms, stairwells, etc. toward the center. Forcing curved surfaces on the inside simply because a sphere approximation is most energy efficient on the outside is simply unnecessary. Buffer the transition with common areas like hallways, great view circle chord living rooms, and porches. Don't try to make a tiny house and a living sphere at the same time unless you want to be Barbarella under a leaky roof. Cone top silos (aka grain storage buildings and yurts) have been used for a very long time to create a highly leak resistant, huge volume, minimal surface area(and cost) structure. Cantilever a porch into the entire first floor outer circumference and Bob's Your Uncle.

____________

thewildotter

Cosmetics or safety a life or death choice? Arch stronger than a right angle by four this is why the aquaducts are still standing.

I'll ask my wife if she wants to live in a culvert.

They have been very popular with the ladies since the boom in

Quonset hut

living right after the second world war. Very stylish !

Culverts are two story quonset huts with the first floor upside down and usually with all the cold running water you might want in the ample first floor lavatory. Some even come with pet bats.

________________

thewildotter

Kitset non flammable styrofoam dome houses have been done in Japan for 15 years or so however the company website is inactive and they don’t reply to emails , I assume they are defunct.

They are also being made in China from nanotube reinforced styrofoam however their factory can’t tell me if their product outgasses any hazardous VOC .

spend a week on YouTube and you will find enough aircrete / Styrofoam dome houses to occupy your mind.

Dozens of large Concrete dome houses and shopping malls were built successfully in Australia in the 1970’s from airforms that were inflated from horizontal while the concrete was wet

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=japan+dome+homes&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-au&client=safari#imgrc=pjTZeLZj_V01cM

Brings back memories of Roger Dean architecture (famed for the 'Yes' album cover art) - and the Telly Tubbies of course!

If you search "binishell" you will find multiple examples of dome structures from school sized auditorium to micro-home versions.

There were a few used in Australian schools in NSW state. There was poor adoption due to the challenge of fitting a circle into a built environment designed for rectangles, both interior and occupied footprint. Those in coastal areas also seemed to suffer from higher than acceptable levels of chlorine (salt).

As to foam, a former boss HATED bricklayers and concreters. He developed a building system based on foam formed components, assembled like leggo, that could be plastered, shotcrete covered or such to build complete houses. One feature was that for windows and doors, you merely cut them where required, plumbing and electrical fit-up you merely carved the track in the foam and set the pipe/conduit. No drilling of studs. Didn't seem to take off. The initial display homes that he built were barely cost competitive to standard construction, the builders were not familiar with the necessary adjusted processes and the places looked like concrete bomb shelters with 500mm (18") thick walls.

Rastra is like that. 10-14 foot long rectangles of concrete & foam balls. Texture is like a volcanic rock with air bubbles mixed with styrofoam balls. You place down with expanding foam to glue them together as you went - self supporting forms so no extra forms required. 80-120 pound Legos is what they seem like. Shipping was also troublesome as they were in Texas or New Mexico as I remember.

Rebar is tied within openings both horizontal and vertical tubing. Later you pour concrete into these tubes to make it all work. Very good insulation (30-50R depending upon thickness of walls you order) and strong like a concrete wall. Also seismically proven according to manufacturer. Looks they like are still in business under a new agreement.

When I looked into it, our county in WA was too scared and would not allow it although California and many other states did. You and two more people could assemble the house with a forklift and is pretty easy to figure out.

Yes Dante Bini was a pioneer in dome construction , he built over 1600 of them in many countries.

https://www.treehugger.com/the-binishell-is-back-4855057

http://binishells.com/

Friends,

I have done ICF (insulated concrete form) homes a number of times. They are fully code compliant. Very strong, very quiet, and very durable.

I have an architect friend who designed and built some concrete/foam dome homes in the KC metro area, and I worked on some of them. You can erect a form and then apply shotcrete (gunnite) over it, either with a rebar steel grid or with fiber reinforcement in the shotcrete. Then you cover that with urethane and a final waterproofing surface. OR you blow up a large balloon and work inside, with the urethane first then the shotcrete second (gets kind of interesting when shooting straight overhead!) That also works well. Only problem with balloon style is the weight of the applied wet shotcrete tends to pull the inflated balloon down a little at the center so ceiling heights can be compromised if the balloon was not made with a shape to compensate for this deflection.

I have also worked on some TerraDome underground homes, in which the whole structure is with domed tops on forms that have a 24', 28', or even 40' square footprint. Multiple units and half-units can be joined together as desired. Conventional use of rebar for strength. For these the concrete is poured and the foam applied on the outside later, prior to the earth cover. Their biggest drawback was ensuring a waterproof surface and good drainage above, with humidity control also being a problem. I have seen a loaded dump truck sitting on top after they did the cover!

Problems to solve always are water penetration and insect prevention. They can be avoided but details in construction are important! I personally strongly favor ICFs, but want to see improvements (they are coming) in the technology of how concrete is made and how its manufacturing carbon footprint can be reduced.

--JMM

Geopolymer is coming but so is Christmas.

OPC Portland cement creates a tonne of CO2 for every tonne of cement produced so yes , alternatives based around recycled products such as fly ash are on the table

Geopolymer is available in 2 out of 6 major Australian cities but has a way to go here.

How does that compare to the USA ? Do you have it available as a ready mix site delivered product ?

"... you blow up a large balloon and work inside, with the urethane first then the shotcrete second

.."

.

Wait, are you saying: a large balloon with worker(s) and supplies inside is inflated, the foam is sprayed by the worker(s) on the interior of the balloon they are sealed in, and when cured sufficiently, shotcrete is sprayed coating the foam interior surface?

Is there no rebar? What about off gassing? how long does it take to cure? to the workers were scuba the whole time?

Truth,

The balloon approach to creating usable space is fairly common. It has been used in storage areas, converting an outdoor swimming pool (even Olympic size) to year-round use, etc. It is a fabric reinforced material that is sealed to be nearly air tight, attached at its perimeter so it stays in place even when hit with wind, and has an air-lock entry and a tube to the blower. The pressure inside is only one (or less) inch of water higher than the surrounding area. An engineer will be used to calculate the necessary uplift resistance for the anchor points, based on ground surface area and anticipated wind speed loads. (I built a junior Olympic pool whose fence and deck were calculated to be capable of anchoring a balloon if the people wanted to convert it to year-round use.)

Some balloon structures are built using double-wall balloons with the air being blown into the space between the walls, to create a space that can be as large as desired and open to the outside. An example of this was the portable hangar building used when the first solar-powered airplane made its round-the-world trip a some years ago. The ground crew would set it up and inflate it in sections, then join them together over the plane.

Work inside is with normal work clothing and PPE as needed for the particular tasks being done.

The reinforcement of the concrete can be with pre-placed rebar or with steel fiber "needles" that are mixed into the concrete just prior to placement. The work is done from a motorized scaffold that can be moved or rotated as needed for access to all interior areas at all heights. Of course, no gasoline or propane powered equipment is used inside. Permanent window and door openings are either blocked-out and finished later with conventional methods, or are included in the shape of the balloon (which can be dome-shaped, or shaped in any way desired by the architect.

--JMM

I remember spray foam houses from around 1970. The reviews consistently referred to them looking like "dragon dumplings". In a number of cases, the shape of the structure was established with wire mesh screen and the foam was sprayed on the inside and outside, so there was no wood to speak of in the structure.

Something similar was done with gunnite and wire mesh to make everything from tunnel liners, buildings and even boat hulls.

Mike Holmes is a natural dome builder.

Recently there was a house built in the township of Spruce Wisconsin with foam block walls. I was amazed to see as the house was being constructed with these blocks similar to the cement blocks used for road work barriers and ground bunkers on farms for feed. This house with an attached garage is not totally built with foam as the roof is constructed with lumber. Not sure about the insulation in the roof. It may be foam!!

Did the foam creators ever make foam that was not destroyed by ultra violet light?

The coating put on foam roofs is the only thing that makes it waterproof and gives immunity to the light

. A few pinholes,from birds pecking,branches falling,rodents chewing and you soon have a soggy mess.

Shirley you would use closed cell foam...

I m aware of closed cell foam.Check out any truthful roofer in the universe and they will tell you it is only closed cell until it starts holding water. ultra violet light eats this stuff like rice crispies.Just let the coating covering wear off and it will erode. Once it starts holding water it is only a matter of time before the roof floats due to substrate or lack of it adherence,I am not referring to foam covered by drivet nor foam sandwiched in block,or other materials. I though we were talking about just foam.

Sounds more like a lack of proper maintenance than a materials failure....I don't think anybody would think that exposing the foam to the exterior environment would be acceptable, other than perhaps a temporary installment designed to be removed after a short time....

I don't think that these foam homes are a good option for investment. It is much better to buy new or "normal" used. Recently I read this article about "1 euro" housing in Spain and this became another proof of the correctness of my point of view. Hey, if I'm gonna save enough money, I would definitely buy a new house somewhere.

Monolithic concrete construction Indestructible monolithic concrete homes since could not find a foam pro that would seal plans for a foam home.