How Concrete Homes Are Built With A 3D Printer | Insider Art

Aiman Hussein is a concrete-3D-printer operator who works for Alquist. The company uses 3D-printing technology to build homes and lower the cost of housing and infrastructure in economically distressed and underserved communities. He'll walk us through the process and show us the printing, his setup, and a walkthrough of a home when it's done.

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#Concrete #3DPrinting #ArtInsider

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How Concrete Homes Are Built With A 3D Printer | Insider Art

[danbailey]

I saw one of these construction sites in my town for low cost housing. The system is incredible to watch. The thing that got me was the amount of labor people needed. It looked like the regular amount of labor used. It amazes me how fast the structure went up. 5 one bedroom houses in two weeks.

[SavetheRepublic]

I wonder how this handles weather. I just picture it being like a basement and once it settles and you get moisture it will expand and contract and crack, leaving you with a leaking side wall or filling up that void.

[Enjoymentboy]

When I first heard of this idea years ago I thought it was very intriguing. Seeing it in action makes me see the benefits but I was surprised to see that its use appears to be limited to outside walls. I would be really interesting to see the whole house structure built this way: inner and outer walls together. Just start with a level base, start the print and have the on-site crews installing things such as rebar and electrical or plumbing access ports as it goes, followed by a different crew coming it to top it off with a pre-built metal roof. Then seal with PVC windows and fibreglass doors and finish the walls with plaster and PVC trim. Zero wood used. But i really like this concept.

[ClockMaster_]

Since metal 3d printing is become refined I can imagine you could put a metal extruder alongside the concrete extruder so it prints both the outer wall and the inner support structure

[tonyt]

I never see any rebar. Isnt it necessary for the strengt and duration of concrete?

[tripives]

If you've never built a home... Additive printing technology is a cool concept for home construction. However, there are a few things to know if you've never built a house. First, the exterior of a home always goes up in a matter of days or a few weeks depending on structure size and crew size... regardless of the technology use. For example, if I use SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels), I could standup all exterior walls in a day or two and frame and frame and sheath the roof the next day. Second, the exterior covering (stucco, clapboards, etc.) gets added to the concrete/sheathing/cinder blocks, etc., followed by windows, skylights, roof covering, etc. Before that you typically Tyvek/seal the outside of the house. But again, all of this is done within the first few days or weeks. It's the inside of the house that take months... electric, plumbing, HVAC, insulation, drywall, taping, painting, finish carpentry (kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, inside doors, floor moldings, window moldings, door moldings, crown moldings, etc.). If your walls are concrete, all of this work is much more difficult, or, you need to take additional steps before drywalling. The point here is that, while cool, 3D printing your walls will not save you time, and, at this time, actually costs more than the alternatives.

[Zay-yah]

Thats pretty cool, can't wait to see what other designs this can print, I could see this easily doing an adobe style design with a shingle roof. Then you can pain't the it tan for the look, and I bet with the walls being so thick it would retain temperature easy.

[brotherowl]

Meanwhile, I live in a big concrete house, and I can tell you this: Concrete absorbs humidity and keeps your environment humid as often as possible. Furthermore, my house is always a few degrees hotter than the outside when the weather is hot, and a few degrees colder than the outside when the weather is cold.

[johnritter]

Whatever we can do to get rid of craftsmanship, and men being able to take pride in what they have built, is a wonderful thing. Think how much better it is when men can stand by and watch as a machine does all the work, and nothing is required of them other than to maintain the machine. Please, please, please, bring on more and more technology. We need to be a society of numb people who stare vacantly into computer screens. Then and only then will life be worth living. Thank you, science.

[rp]

Impressive, I love that it can do curved walls, but no good for California or any seismically unstable areas. Maybe this could be done with a alternative material.

[ericw]

I love seeing actual quality materials coming out of a 3D printer.

[georgef]

Absolutely insane. We need this cause when I was framing my old man couldn’t get guys to show up. This is definitely a good thing.

[Aaron-ppdn]

its basically facing or stucco built horizontally, you still have to frame in the interior with lumber.

[bobhenry]

I don't understand how this is less expensive than using forms (re-usable) and pouring concrete. It's much faster and possibly uses less labor when you factor in printer set-up at each site and post-pour cleaning.

[djcrazy]

looks like that thing they use to put icing on the cake!!

[luischapa]

They never show a completed 3d printed house

[charleshowell]

The work really starts, when the concrete stops!!!!

[cwaicwai]

I love the idea of this. I wonder how this could be done in rural areas of third world countries. In terms of moving the machines and the training period. One thing I'd love is for someone to to sand the edges after it drys for the inside. It looks great on the outside but as someone coming from a home with textured walls they hurt to touch😅

[Cha_Rina]

When I first heard about these homes I was like wow, houses being brought into creation by a printer. I was like now that's some really evolved technology. I really imagined a huge printer with houses slowly being printed out of them. So I wondered if they were made of cardboard or something. But this looks like a regular way of building houses.

[Superhunan]

Repairs are gonna be rough down the road. “Hey babe, will you grab my concrete saw, a 40lb bag of quikset, a bucket, the water hose, shovel, drop cloth, and my magnesium float, I gotta add an outlet.”