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Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

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Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#51

Post by barrkel »

jeffrallen wrote: post #40
jahnu wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very popular here in Austria. And they are mostly very good quality. I have friends who built one of these "Fertighäuser" (prefab houses) and even though cheaper than a custom build they are really impressive. The walls are delivered just as you describe. https://www.liebfertighaus.at/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ado... https://www.google.com/search?q=fertighaus+teile&tbm=isch There are some efforts now being made to r…

Good quality prefab panels from eastern Europe installed by incompetent foreign companies with no incentive to stand behind their work result in occasional sob stories here in Switzerland. You get what you pay for.

Here in Switzerland, you are likely to pay through the nose for a mediocre product / service. Caveat emptor, particularly since consumer laws are weak.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#52

Post by pjerem »

inglor_cz wrote: post #45
francoisfeugeas wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the vast majority of Europe builds concrete homes. We definitely get insulation, internal plumbing and wiring.

Individual homes in Europe are typically built from bricks, with concrete used for foundations/floors/ceilings. The work around internal plumbing and wiring is messy, though. A lot of abrasive brick dust is generated. I wouldn't want to be the guy doing this stuff. In a 3D printed home, nice empty spaces could be left in the wall while printing for all the necessary networks.

In modern european homes, plumbing and wiring is done via "octopuses".

Most of the time, every connection coming from the exterior are coming through the floor in a little room that we can use for storage and from there, everything is dispatched through inner walls which are basically empty (except around bedrooms if you want acoustic isolation). This allows to maintain everything from the inside.

I wouldn't call it a mess but I'll acknowledge I'm talking about modern constructions.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#53

Post by z9znz »

raisin_churn wrote: post #38

In what way is concrete a sustainable building material? It's a huge carbon emitter, a poor insulator, concrete production is devastating to natural habitats turned into sand quarries, etc. Plant-based construction materials, e.g. hemp, seem to be vastly superior on every ecological consideration. Plus, an unreinforced concrete dome has to be one of the inherently least population dense structures, and density potent…

Agreed about the concrete. Fortunately there are efforts to replace concrete (in general) with other materials - some organic (fungi).

> Plus, an unreinforced concrete dome

This is not a dome. It could conceivable be more population dense if/when they figure out how to magically get rebar into it :P. But that's not going to happen; and the real future benefits are likely going to be along the "working with nature" approach (where you use natural growing/expanding processes and direct them to suit your needs).

In terms of future human survival, I'm surprised there's so little shown or seen regarding underground living. While obviously more complex due to the excavation and reinforcement processes, the survival and energy benefits are much higher. And with modern light gathering/direction tech, it doesn't have to be devoid of daylight.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#54

Post by tauntz »

byw wrote: post #32
Animats wrote: post #16

There have been many variations on building houses with prefab forms, going all the way back to Edison. Works fine, but the result is a concrete box. The shell is not the big cost item in homes. If you want a small, low-cost box structure, there are companies that will sell you one. Concrete.[1] Metal.[2] Steel frame with wood siding.[3] [1] https://precastbuildings.com [2] https://www.butlermfg.com/ [3] https://www.…

I remember coming across a video of a product from Europe where the entire wall assembly is sold as one piece (outer wall, insulation, inner wall). I'm not sure if this type of product is common in Europe. If you then have wire conduits and junction boxes built-in, you are a lot closer to a livable home. Perhaps floor assemblies with hookups for plumbing. I'm not sure why these things aren't standardized to be the po…

There's a rather huge prefab industry here in Estonia. Starting from small pre-fab components (such as a single small wall section) to some houses that are essentially 90% completed in the factory.

If you have the foundation already done, then the assembly of the rest of the house takes around 3-5 days

Random promo video of one company: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqAxoBAE2pc.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#55

Post by z9znz »

totetsu wrote: post #37

I'm excited for when we can grow houses like House Telvanni had in Morrowind from giant genetically engineered mushrooms.

I would advocate more research into learning how to "encourage" fungi growth to suit our needs without genetically modifying it. We just _never_ know the long term effects of our genetically modified creations (never as in "not in our lifetimes" usually).

I imagine someday there will be a combination of organic growths which will be combined in a creative way to produce something greater than the sum of parts and which also suits our needs. This might involve fast growing things, things which can be grown in a directed fashion, and combinations of organic substances which react in a beneficial way (such as improving durability or strength characteristics).

Hemp grows really fast and has really strong fibers. Bamboo does as well. Fungi grows fairly quickly and is directable. There are probably many more things out there which can be used. Then it's a matter of refining the processes to get the results we want and then testing and developing combinations.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#56

Post by z9znz »

tapland wrote: post #39
jjeaff wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dangers of pthalates notwithstanding, you do actually want an airtight home. Ventilation should be controlled and filtered with the HVAC system.

Now, I'm from a place where HVAC is rare, and thus this sounds like a mold disaster waiting to happen. But is that actually best practice where HVAC is common?

Ventilation is not HVAC. Ventilation can be as simple as having openable vents at proper locations in a structure which could be manually operated to provide air exchange on demand.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#57

Post by ksec »

Animats wrote: post #16

There have been many variations on building houses with prefab forms, going all the way back to Edison. Works fine, but the result is a concrete box. The shell is not the big cost item in homes. If you want a small, low-cost box structure, there are companies that will sell you one. Concrete.[1] Metal.[2] Steel frame with wood siding.[3] [1] https://precastbuildings.com [2] https://www.butlermfg.com/ [3] https://www.…

I still dont understand why people keep talking about "House". When 90% of area that needs urgent "housing" are in needs of Tower Blocks / High Rise Residential Buildings. We Need to find a way to quickly and cost effectively build a lot of mid to high quality apartments. Better heat isolation. Network Pipes ready rather than relying on WiFi.

Note: Yes, I know zoning and planning etc are still the biggest hurdle.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#58

Post by leoedin »

tapland wrote: post #39
jjeaff wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dangers of pthalates notwithstanding, you do actually want an airtight home. Ventilation should be controlled and filtered with the HVAC system.

Now, I'm from a place where HVAC is rare, and thus this sounds like a mold disaster waiting to happen. But is that actually best practice where HVAC is common?

A modern, energy efficient house is intentionally very air tight, and ventilation is achieved using mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. That basically gives you the best of both worlds - a highly ventilated house (so low humidity levels) coupled with very little heat loss - MVHR systems can often recovery 90% of the heat in the ventilated air.

Look at Passivhaus for the most extreme version of this. But even regular new build houses in the UK now have to meet air tightness regulations.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#59

Post by raisin_churn »

z9znz wrote: post #53
raisin_churn wrote: post #38

In what way is concrete a sustainable building material? It's a huge carbon emitter, a poor insulator, concrete production is devastating to natural habitats turned into sand quarries, etc. Plant-based construction materials, e.g. hemp, seem to be vastly superior on every ecological consideration. Plus, an unreinforced concrete dome has to be one of the inherently least population dense structures, and density potent…

Agreed about the concrete. Fortunately there are efforts to replace concrete (in general) with other materials - some organic (fungi). > Plus, an unreinforced concrete dome This is not a dome. It could conceivable be more population dense if/when they figure out how to magically get rebar into it :P. But that's not going to happen; and the real future benefits are likely going to be along the "working with nature" ap…

> This is not a dome.

Thanks for the correction, I read the page without enabling JS on it, so the images didn't load, and every previous iteration of this technology I've seen has been limited to producing domes or arches. Nonetheless, even if you could, in practice, stack multiple floors using this new form, no developed country with any potential seismic activity or hurricane/typhoon threat will let you build multi-story structures like this (or perhaps even single-story ones), and I think you're right to use the word "magic" about using rebar with this, since installing rebar is a very labor intensive process, thus negating the only alleged benefit of this technique.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#60

Post by z9znz »

atty wrote: post #28

It seems like a ton of these prefab projects show up on HN, but does anyone know of any that produce houses/structures that actually… look nice? It seems like everything I’ve seen on here have all the aesthetics of a shipping container. (Or, to be more on the nose, a concrete box).

Many quick build and prefab projects are intended to be used to provide rapid (short/medium term) housing for people affected by natural disasters (or man made ones, for that matter).

I'm not at all impressed in this particular one, but in general it matters not what the aesthetics are when it's a survival issue.

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