3 ms·
While this is fine as the high-level answer, the interesting question seems to be why the as-installed cost would be the same as typical wasteful North American
by ThenAsNow 6y ago
While this is fine as the high-level answer, the interesting question seems to be why the as-installed cost would be the same as typical wasteful North American "stick building"? I've spent some time thinking about better ways to build houses, spoken with like-minded architects, etc., and haven't gotten to the bottom of this question.
Intuitively, it seems like there should be quite a bit of room to decrease costs by using engineered, pre-fabricated/panelized construction. There should be less waste, less manual labor, and less re-work. Yet the best case seems to be approximately the same costs, though I would expect at improved quality or improved first-time quality.
Another system for engineered building, though based on wood, is Blueprint Robotics: http://www.blueprint-robotics.com/ http://www.blueprint-robotics.com/
I actually started my personal line of inquiry favoring steel construction as well, though some research convinced me that using a home as a carbon sink through wood construction from sustainably-managed forests made significant sense. For something like an airtight, well-insulated (Net Zero or better) home using wood-based sheathing, the coefficient of thermal expansion compatibility with wood structure also makes sense. That being said, it appears the Bone structure folks have their own solutions to prevent thermal shorts between the exterior and the steel structure, as they have apparently used their system for Net Zero and Passivhaus construction.
- athenot 6y agoHave you looked into log homes? That may fit your criteria: lot of wood needed (so great carbon sink), good insulation, simple design (1 wall for support, vapor barrier, insulation , siding and inside panelling).
- bluGill 6y agostandard stick built has a lot of things already factory done. most lumber is a standard length/width, and the entire print is built around those sizes. 2x4s come factory cut to 92 5/8 long, which (after adding the other lumber needed for a wall) leaves a finished 8 foot wall ready for 2, 4 foot wide sheets of drywall. What labor is done on site in a typical stick built construction project is mostly the same manual labor that needs to be done in a factory. Which isn't surprising: construction sites are just mobile factories for buildings. When you have to make something with lot of empty space is makes sense to ship the factory to the final location. Shipping is a factor too: a stick built house arrives on one flatbed truck. A similar prefab house needs 3, and special permits to get it down the road (which includes checking for lower hanging power lines).
- ThenAsNow 6y agoI believe the premise of many of these panelization/pre-fab companies is that manual labor is minimized within the factory through automation and also reduced on-site. There is also the waste reduction aspect. Definitely does seem that the devil is in the details on how much automation actually gets used, and to what degree the panels are finished vs. needing on-site tradeswork. Maybe in engineered production it is not far from a wash between less spent on on-site labor and waste vs. more spent on up-front engineering. Like we often see with automation and rigor, I suppose the up-front costs really only get amortized over multiple units produced. The Blueprint Robotics company I mentioned as an example apparently now focuses on multi-unit dwellings. Quality and repeatability, usually things that (IMO, sadly) are not highly valued in the North American market, are almost certainly improved through engineered production, but I suppose if you don't value those things, you can also keep labor costs down. Anyway, it would be nice to see some typical and aggregate quantification of these things to really understand.
- markvdb 6y agoYou might want to have a look at straw panel construction. There's several across the EU. https://ecococon.eu/ https://ecococon.eu/ is the major one. Not affiliated with them. I built the walls of our summer house out of jumbo straw bales straight from the farm.