3 ms·

Can we build homes of sheet metal with this?

• knicholes 9y ago
  I assume you're talking about more than just the metal. I can imagine the heat transfer would be terribly high.
  • rocky1138 9y ago
    That's a great point. I hadn't considered that. What about paper homes? Highly compressed cardboard, sprayed with a clearcoat afterward to make it waterproof.
    • gerdesj 9y ago
      Joints will be your enemy! You might want some windows and doors for example. What about a lower(ish) tech solution involving say wood and mud? My aunt and uncle's previous house was largely that plus straw and (reed|straw) thatching and was originally built in the 1630's. It's not a particularly old example but one that springs to mind. We don't see many earthquakes, for example, here nor many forest fires but that house has stood through at least one or two 1 in say 300 year weather events - not least a bit of a cold spell in the 18th C and a few somewhat windy episodes. That house has been patched up once or twice and I suspect that might be quite hard with your paper/card jobbie. The clearcoat will probably discolour badly and degrade within <10 years but obviously you could reapply it regularly. Swallows and House Martens or similar might also nick bits of it for their nests. I don't know what sort of insects you have to deal with where you are but they could also get nasty with a paper abode 8)
    • PhasmaFelis 9y ago
      You don't usually want homes to be complex shapes, though. Rectilinear floor plans and wedge-shaped roofs are popular for a lot of reasons. I suppose for disaster relief, cylindrical huts or igloo domes could be useful to minimize footprint, materials, and heating costs. But for permanent housing, most people will prefer vertical walls and right-angle corners.