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3D-Printed House Constructed On-Site In One Day (treehugger.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the don't-blink dept.

Heffenfeffer writes: Russian company Apis Cor has manufactured a 3D printed concrete house on-site in 24 hours in Stupino Town, Russia. Using a tower crane-shaped concrete extruder that can rotate 360 degrees, the 38 square meter (408.88 square foot) rotor-shaped home walls were constructed in one day. Voids left in the manufacturing process were filled by hand, installing windows, doors, and adding polyurethane and fiber insulation to the hollow concrete walls. The roof was also constructed by hand using polymer membranes, welded together using hot air and special equipment. Total construction costs were $10,134 (USD), approximately $266.66 per square meter ($24.78 per square foot). They also constructed a temporary protective heated tent to surround the house as they constructed the house during winter. Though the printer can be used at temperatures down to -35C, concrete has to be at least +5C to cure. Further reading: Designboom Magazine

3 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. WOW! by Moof123 · · Score: 1, Informative

    That wood flooring was 3D printed?! Cool!

    How did they 3D extrude the wiring and meet code? I'd love to hear more!

    Concrete is a good insulator for russian winters, right? Amazing! How good was the R-value? How was the rebar extruded?

    Love how the paint was 3D printed too!

    I could go on. The frame of most houses is NOT where the majority of the expense is. I hate seeing these wild claims about 3D printing, which wile cool are disingenuous and skip over so many important details that turn out to be real buzz kills.

    1. Re:WOW! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      That wood flooring was 3D printed?!

      It could have been, since 3D printing wood is a thing. Or it might not be wood at all.

      How did they 3D extrude the wiring and meet code?

      Maybe like this? I don't know what "code" Russia has, but a machine could be much more precise than a human.

      Concrete is a good insulator for russian winters, right? Amazing! How good was the R-value? How was the rebar extruded?

      Maybe they 3D printed some foam insulation? And why would they use rebar in a one storey construction that small?

    2. Re:WOW! by brunes69 · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you actually watch the video, you will see the machine adds fibreglass rebar already automatically. Also you will see that the exterior walls are printed hollow so you can spray foam inside them afterwards (basically the same concept as ICF except it is 3D printed).

      Yes, the framing, siding, and roofing is not the only part of building a house. Obviously you still have interior work to do after the fact. However, it is a very significant portion, and this machine can do all of them in 24 hours (have a bigger house? Use 2 or 3 machines to keep it at 24 hours...). When was the last time you saw a house framed, roofed, and sided in 24 hours? You can't even assemble a factory-built home on site that fast... I know cause I have one.