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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

#61

Post by kavalg »

tauntz wrote: post #54
byw wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 .

Looks pretty, but how about fire, excessive snowfall or wind, rodents and pests, flood/water leaks etc?

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#62

Post by StefanHamminga »

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…

This is extremely common in the Netherlands. Also very well sorted out these days. My parents' company used to assemble these. A specialised contractor digs and pours a concrete foundation for the walls and once those would be cured a crane, a loader truck and a crew of maybe 3-6 people would on average have a new house ready every 3 days (walls, floors, roofs, wiring, piping), 'ready' being very close to how they're sold to individual owners.

A prefab house design will typically be replicated in several projects / cities, usually with a few customisation options. Different prefab factories have different levels of standardisation and automation. The prefab production lines I designed long ago for example used fully parametric designs to offer standard concepts sized to fit. At the time (~10-15 years ago) a novelty, by now must be pretty standard.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#63

Post by Etheryte »

kavalg wrote: post #61
tauntz wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 .

Looks pretty, but how about fire, excessive snowfall or wind, rodents and pests, flood/water leaks etc?

Well for one, if it didn't stand excessive snowfall you'd find out pretty quickly in Estonia.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#64

Post by inglor_cz »

pjerem wrote: post #52
inglor_cz wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I was just watching the construction of my new home and they drilled into the brick walls all the time. [0]

None of the walls were empty, all were solid brick with no empty space.

It was quite a mess, though the guys doing the job were very professional and handled the dust disposal very well.

[0] https://imgur.com/a/A3i1ANg

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#65

Post by prox »

tauntz wrote: post #54
byw wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 .

What’s the price for prefab like? Their website wouldn’t say.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#66

Post by lnsru »

ksec wrote: post #57
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.

Because house is cool and has integrated comfort. No neighbors, no useless administration.

Building tall buildings is not a rocket science. Look at Burj Khalifa‘s construction: clever designed crane, lots of rebar and extremely powerful concrete pumps. And it’s really fast. One year to build enough space for thousands of people.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#67

Post by ksec »

lnsru wrote: post #66
ksec wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Because house is cool and has integrated comfort. No neighbors, no useless administration. Building tall buildings is not a rocket science. Look at Burj Khalifa‘s construction: clever designed crane, lots of rebar and extremely powerful concrete pumps. And it’s really fast. One year to build enough space for thousands of people.

>And it’s really fast. One year to build enough space for thousands of people.

Building Tall building isn't Rocket Science, but building them fast, high quality ( comparatively speaking ) and cheap has not been done yet. And one year to build space enough for thousands of people is not my definition of fast. At least building "On Site".

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#69

Post by ayewo »

StefanHamminga wrote: post #62
byw wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This is extremely common in the Netherlands. Also very well sorted out these days. My parents' company used to assemble these. A specialised contractor digs and pours a concrete foundation for the walls and once those would be cured a crane, a loader truck and a crew of maybe 3-6 people would on average have a new house ready every 3 days (walls, floors, roofs, wiring, piping), 'ready' being very close to how they're…

Sounds really interesting.

Do you have any links to learn more about your prefab designs and a company that assembles these designs?

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#70

Post by badpun »

ksec wrote: post #57
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.

Because Americans regard living in anything other than a detached house as a failure.
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