5 ms·

What about the plumbing and electrical?

VyseofArcadia 2y ago
This is probably why the text of the article mentions that it actually took two months for the house to be finished. The 18 hours was just the framing, essentially.
- throwway120385 2y ago
  That's still 1/14 the time. Production framers in the US can usually frame a 2-story 2500 square foot house in less than 2 weeks today.
  - giantrobot 2y ago
    The print time needs to be added to the printer setup time. Something that big will have non-trivial effort to get on site and set up and then tear down after the print. If that takes six days and the print takes a day then the printed house takes half the time of traditional framing. An improvement but not a revolution. Concrete has additional issues though with weight being significant. Soil that can support a wood framed house can't necessarily support the same size concrete house. At least not without additional compaction. That just adds to pre-construction time and permitting.
  - anfilt 2y ago
    If it was 1 story house of that size less than week to get it framed from a decent crew. The pictured house here was a single story house. Also this 3d print for multi-story building would probably not be much faster since unless both the first and second floor shared the same interior wall layout they would have to stop and make a floor for the interior of the second floor. Plus the weight of concrete means those second floor interior walls would be conventional framed anyways. Unless you want to make the floor extremely expensive to carry that kind of load...
- SketchySeaBeast 2y ago
  As someone who isn't in the industry, that raises the question - is framing usually the choke-point? They say it took half the time, so is that other half the time all framing? Or is there other factors at play here?
  - cfn 2y ago
    After some recent experiences with house renovation, I suspect that it removes a lot of waiting for people and materials to show up. If you can lay the concrete in 18 hours without any other external dependencies then it is a great savings timewise. The total time of 2 months seems very optimistic to me.
    - kube-system 2y ago
      The 18 hours doesn't include waiting for the people and materials to show up here, either. Or the time to build the printer.
    - krisoft 2y ago
      > I suspect that it removes a lot of waiting for people and materials to show up. Wouldn't you wait for the 3d printer, the operators of the 3d printer and the material to be printed out just the same?
      - cfn 2y ago
        In an organized place yes but here in Portugal the construction business is littered with one man bands that fail at every corner and have a lot of issues managing their employees and sourcing materials on time. We use bricks and concrete, not wood, and the structure and walls take a few months to complete. Hopefully, a machine that does that work in a couple of days will be less problematic. They have to fix the wall surface though, flat and smooth walls are the norm around here.
        krisoft 2y ago
        > Hopefully, a machine that does that work in a couple of days will be less problematic. But you won’t own the machine for the same reason you don’t own a cement truck. It would be not economical to do so. And even if you would own it you have no clue how to operate it and it would not be economical for you to learn. Just think about the consistency of the material it is extruding. If it is too runny the walls will sag. If it is too solid the material will jam the pump. Or think about the work of cleaning the pipes after work so the concrete doesn’t set in them. These are all solved problems of course, but if you are not a contractor specialising on this equipment you will just make a mess and likely ruin both the printer and the house being built. So what will you do? You will contract the job to a specialist. Someone who knows how to operate the printer and has one to work with. What are the forces that will make that contractor any better than the ones already existing? This machine will also require employees and materials be on time. Won’t the same problems of “one man bands that fail at every corner” show up with this type of contractor too?

This is probably why the text of the article mentions that it actually took two months for the house to be finished. The 18 hours was just the framing, essentially.

throwway120385 2y ago
That's still 1/14 the time. Production framers in the US can usually frame a 2-story 2500 square foot house in less than 2 weeks today.
- giantrobot 2y ago
  The print time needs to be added to the printer setup time. Something that big will have non-trivial effort to get on site and set up and then tear down after the print. If that takes six days and the print takes a day then the printed house takes half the time of traditional framing. An improvement but not a revolution. Concrete has additional issues though with weight being significant. Soil that can support a wood framed house can't necessarily support the same size concrete house. At least not without additional compaction. That just adds to pre-construction time and permitting.
- anfilt 2y ago
  If it was 1 story house of that size less than week to get it framed from a decent crew. The pictured house here was a single story house. Also this 3d print for multi-story building would probably not be much faster since unless both the first and second floor shared the same interior wall layout they would have to stop and make a floor for the interior of the second floor. Plus the weight of concrete means those second floor interior walls would be conventional framed anyways. Unless you want to make the floor extremely expensive to carry that kind of load...
SketchySeaBeast 2y ago
As someone who isn't in the industry, that raises the question - is framing usually the choke-point? They say it took half the time, so is that other half the time all framing? Or is there other factors at play here?
- cfn 2y ago
  After some recent experiences with house renovation, I suspect that it removes a lot of waiting for people and materials to show up. If you can lay the concrete in 18 hours without any other external dependencies then it is a great savings timewise. The total time of 2 months seems very optimistic to me.
  - kube-system 2y ago
    The 18 hours doesn't include waiting for the people and materials to show up here, either. Or the time to build the printer.
  - krisoft 2y ago
    > I suspect that it removes a lot of waiting for people and materials to show up. Wouldn't you wait for the 3d printer, the operators of the 3d printer and the material to be printed out just the same?
    - cfn 2y ago
      In an organized place yes but here in Portugal the construction business is littered with one man bands that fail at every corner and have a lot of issues managing their employees and sourcing materials on time. We use bricks and concrete, not wood, and the structure and walls take a few months to complete. Hopefully, a machine that does that work in a couple of days will be less problematic. They have to fix the wall surface though, flat and smooth walls are the norm around here.
      - krisoft 2y ago
        > Hopefully, a machine that does that work in a couple of days will be less problematic. But you won’t own the machine for the same reason you don’t own a cement truck. It would be not economical to do so. And even if you would own it you have no clue how to operate it and it would not be economical for you to learn. Just think about the consistency of the material it is extruding. If it is too runny the walls will sag. If it is too solid the material will jam the pump. Or think about the work of cleaning the pipes after work so the concrete doesn’t set in them. These are all solved problems of course, but if you are not a contractor specialising on this equipment you will just make a mess and likely ruin both the printer and the house being built. So what will you do? You will contract the job to a specialist. Someone who knows how to operate the printer and has one to work with. What are the forces that will make that contractor any better than the ones already existing? This machine will also require employees and materials be on time. Won’t the same problems of “one man bands that fail at every corner” show up with this type of contractor too?