3d printing is the future……with mass production just around the corner. Check out Desktop metals……the leader as far as being the fastest 3d printing around…..just introduced the new p-50 machine…..which will be a highly disruptive technology in the industry. Just tripled manufacturing capacity due to demand. Stock rocking today!
Six000mileyear
2 years ago
One of my colleagues is into 3-D printing. When I discussed the challenges of a precision printing a small plastic object he told me the reference plane (steel plate) and print head plane had to be perfectly parallel so the first layer would stick to the plate. Given the geometry of a foundation and concrete walls and 40x larger than his 3D printer, there will gaps (errors). But does it really matter if the 3D print version has less error than manual construction? Another concern is: has the most recent printed layer cured sufficiently before the next one is deposited? It took YEARS for concrete in the Hoover Dam to fully cure; however, it was put in use well before that. And while walls made with cinder blocks don’t have rebar, a concrete wall should.
I’ll just have to wait for an episode of Modern Marvels to show me what really goes on.
killben
2 years ago
Is the Foundation also 3D printed?
Call_Me
2 years ago
A different angle on the story, more in line with Mish’s observations on other job sectors, would be automation taking the place workers. From 6-12 tradesmen down to 3, yet the deliverable product is still complete. Surely the head of the innovation arm of Lennar has a financial interest in having this venture be successful so his ‘dying breed’ statement in this story feels duplicitous.
jhrodd
2 years ago
Wood framed construction is very easy to do by yourself. I finished a 2000 sq.ft. house last year that I built entirely by myself except for drywall, insulation, and electrical. One of my neighbors gave me a hand for a couple of hours installing the windows which are pretty large and heavy and lifting the standing seam metal roofing up to the roof, some pieces were 40′ long otherwise it was just me 7 days a week for 18 months. The house is very energy efficient with Zip System sheathing, BIBBS insulation, ductless mini-split HVAC, heat pump water heater, etc. It’s an all electric house and so far my power bill has averaged about $80/ month and that’s including the $40 facility fee that our Electric Co-op charges. I did buy 1500 watts of production from the co-op’s Community Solar project (for $2500) that is installed on a nearby island and tied to the co-op’s grid. I only have $400k into the project including the water view lot and the water/sewer connection fees ($28,000) and it’s pretty high end with wide plank hardwood flooring, huge curb-less tile showers, aluminum clad wood windows, quartz countertops, two kitchens ( the second floor is a separate apartment) standing seam metal roofing, and a 1300 sq.ft. shop/garage with a 12′ ceiling. I don’t think 3d printing would have been beneficial at all in this case. How do you get R23 insulation in a 3d concrete wall?
“I don’t think 3d printing would have been beneficial at all in this case. “
Who cares?
This, like all else involving “the venture capital arm” of anything in Fedland, is about selling paper to dimbulbs on Fed welfare. And those have been told to regurgitate that “3d printing” sounds, like, futury and, like, innovatively, like, you know, Musk!!!
There’s nothing, or at least very little, more to it than that. If it made any real sense, Lennar would shut the heck up and just use it to save on building cost across the organization. No ballyhooing needed. Which they don’t. Instead, they are making up silly hobgoblins that their free-money-from-the-Fed-arm, none of whom likely ever neither have nore ever will, built anything, can then “save us” from. As long as other Fed welfare recipients similarly lacking in the critical thought department, buy their paper. Screw the houses.
Webej
2 years ago
Round walls are a bitch for placing beds, cupboards, and bookshelves.
Can I have a poured rubber house? No one would get hurt then.
Casual_Observer2020
2 years ago
Computers and machines are way more skilled and accurate and great at repeatability and precision than human beings ever will be. Its a farce to think that somehow this is happening because there aren’t enough skilled people.
RonJ
2 years ago
“And you better get the layout right because it will not be so easy to
knock out a wall and make a larger room where two rooms once were.”
The open concept seems to be the big thing these days, at least according to all the remodeling shows on HGTV.
Captain Ahab
2 years ago
Makes me wonder how they…
a) incorporate steel reinforcing into the concrete–no reinforcing raises big earthquake issues since the period of concrete is similar to the earth
b) get the wet concrete to stay in place until it sets–assumes very thin layers are used
c) keep each layer sufficiently moist to enable adhesion to the layer below it.
Well, they do it, so I guess they have solved those problems.
Bam_Man
2 years ago
There are plenty of poured concrete houses here in FL. and they have been around for decades. The concrete is poured into moulds rather than spray-layered as in the 3D process. Setting up the moulds takes time, but the pouring process is a lot quicker than spray-layering.
ICF’s are a good way to build in a climate that gets lots of wind. They’re also well insulated against both heat and cold. Concrete is a damned STRONG material, and it outlasts most other materials if it’s done right. If it isn’t, you get collapsing condos.
Concrete is weak, actually, unless reinforced with a structural element, such as steel. If the steel is gone, the concrete fails. That may well explain the collapsed condos.
Yes, I understand that unreinforced concrete is weak structurally. Hence my observation that it has to be done right,
There are alternatives to steel for reinforcement, but that’s the only one I know of that meets code.
Alternative builders use things like paper and even chopped up repurposed polystyrene packaging materials
Monolithic domes are pretty cool. I took their week-long construction course a few years back…they blow up a vinyl bag with a fan, usually an oblate ellipse shape , then spray the inside with foam insulation. When that hardens they attach hangers and build an inner cage of rebar,,,,and then spray the interior walls with sprayed concrete (gunnite). Those structures have been built all over the world, and they stand up well even to to hurricanes and tornadoes.
The condos that collapsed in FL…..had long-standing problems related to several things, including subsidence and (probably ) corruption and malfeasance on the part of some of the building subcontractors, who might have used substandard materials. The Canadian company that built that building also added a large penthouse on top of the complex that wasn’t in the original plans, without altering the design of the foundation. Plenty of blame to go around.
There is something to be said for the rebar causing concrete to fail more quickly in the long run, as microfractures allow water to infiltrate and subsequently the reinforcing material corrodes. I won’t pretend to be a structural engineer, but all concretes are not the same.
It remains to be seen whether it will be a reasonable alternative to wood-framing in terms of economics, but the story is in on carbon emissions and it ain’t pretty. Concrete has the highest embodied energy of just about any material you could name, more than wood or steel.
Environmental Impacts of Cement and Concrete Production
Cement is the active ingredient of concrete that binds sand, gravel, and other aggregate material together to form the finished product. Although made of natural ingredients such as limestone (calcium carbonate), the environmental impact of cement production is relatively high due to the quantity of energy needed to reduce calcium carbonate to lime (or calcium oxide) in a cement kiln where temperatures above 2,700 F are maintained, and the substantial release of CO2 inherent in the process.
Thus, in addition to the mining activity needed to obtain limestone, sand, and gravel (and sometimes clay and other ingredients), cement production includes significant environmental impacts from combustion of coal or natural gas and associated emissions to air, as well as direct release of carbon dioxide in production of lime. In general, the production of a ton of cement results, in the release of about a ton of carbon dioxide. Cement comprises about 12 to 15 percent of the weight of dry concrete.
Of the three primary structural materials used in construction, lumber requires by far the lowest energy input in the manufacturing phase, followed by 100 percent recycled steel, concrete, and virgin steel. As a result, there are large differences in net emissions of carbon associated with production of basic construction materials (Table 2).
If you build the house out of stone it can last hundreds of years. It is a natural material, very rugged and already made. You just have to cut and transport it. It can be found everywhere close by and it can also be reused. Remember the three little pigs.
I’ve spent 20 years looking at alternative building materials with the idea of building my own energy efficient, durable house. The most important principle in building should be (but remains ignored by most homebuilders) to put thermal mass inside the shell, and insulate the exterior walls.
Houses with exterior walls built of stone bleed heat, unless they’re 2 feet thick, or veneered with insulation and stucco.
I have a long-time online friend who is near completion of his new house in Ontario built with ICF’s. That’s a superior concrete-using technique that is a little more common these days. I have studied both Monolithic Domes (David South is one of my heroes) and Earthships.
It sort of pisses me off that they try to sell 3D print construction as Green. Nothing could be further from the truth.
You are right about the thickness. At least two feet and three feet is the best. A layer of insulation lines the inside walls but after that it lasts longer than you will. My wife and I renovated two houses several centuries old and we used the the original stone because it was already there, cut and ready to use. France and many other countries in Europe are filled with stone houses not because it is the fashion but because over millennia of trial and error stone was found to be the most cost-effective material to use.
The three little pigs had to deal with a big bad wolf, not rain, freezing, and earthquakes. Stone buildings are the first to collapse in an earthquake.
Well California will have to do with straw and stick houses then. On the other hand they don’t explode in a tornado or fall over in a strong wind. Stone houses have roofs and fireplaces against the rain and the cold and works excellently against wolves and roving barbarian bands.
Once you have cleared out the Morlocks they are pleasant to live in I hear.
Tanner 0
2 years ago
Interesting. Being a very flexible medium (concrete) I hope the designs choices to the consumer are flexible too. Printing has potential to save costs on the final product. Market forces at work. I look forward to it.
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knock out a wall and make a larger room where two rooms once were.”
Environmental Impacts of Cement and Concrete Production
Cement is the active ingredient of concrete that binds sand, gravel, and other aggregate material together to form the finished product. Although made of natural ingredients such as limestone (calcium carbonate), the environmental impact of cement production is relatively high due to the quantity of energy needed to reduce calcium carbonate to lime (or calcium oxide) in a cement kiln where temperatures above 2,700 F are maintained, and the substantial release of CO2 inherent in the process.
Thus, in addition to the mining activity needed to obtain limestone, sand, and gravel (and sometimes clay and other ingredients), cement production includes significant environmental impacts from combustion of coal or natural gas and associated emissions to air, as well as direct release of carbon dioxide in production of lime. In general, the production of a ton of cement results, in the release of about a ton of carbon dioxide. Cement comprises about 12 to 15 percent of the weight of dry concrete.
Of the three primary structural materials used in construction, lumber requires by far the lowest energy input in the manufacturing phase, followed by 100 percent recycled steel, concrete, and virgin steel. As a result, there are large differences in net emissions of carbon associated with production of basic construction materials (Table 2).