Posted on 03/15/2018 8:24:05 AM PDT by bgill
Austin could soon be home to 3D printed houses, if one company showing its model at South By Southwest is able to work with the city to get approval. The home at SXSW is the first permitted 3D printed house in the country. The Austin-based startup ICON plans to print 100 homes in El Salvador next year, and wants the creations to be part of the solution for communities with major housing needs, according to Alex Le Roux, ICON CEO and one of the co-founders... It currently costs about $10,000 to print a 650-square-foot single story house using cement. The process takes between 12 and 24 hours, according to one of ICON's founders, Jason Ballard... In the future, the company hopes to reduce the costs of building to closer to $4,000 per house.
(Excerpt) Read more at kxan.com ...
Remember when something like the Smartcar seemed “futuristic”?
This, at the end of the day, is not something any wife of a gainfully employed man would want to live in.
And it’s not that cheap.
I’d rather live in a single wide.
But this would be a great place for a single guy just moving out of his parents’ basement as long as it has a place to hang the flat screen and good internet access for video gaming.
Guys don’t need much, regarding housing.
Bunker, sweet bunker.
The wife might not mind it so much next time a hurricane blows her house away in Haiti or Puerto Rico.
I’d take one.
I like minimalism.
As far as a wife is concerned, do not need, do not want.
LOL If they have a frig and a hot plate with a convenience store nearby, they’re happy!
And just who is going to pay for these houses?! Maybe we give one to each illegal alien as terms of self-deporting? And get a quantity discount? Bet a million of these would get the price way down to a few thousand dollars each. Give the illegal alien choice—go with house or be booted with nothing.
It's not much to look at but but I'm betting it's sturdy and the roof doesn't leak. In the 3rd World this would be a major step up for a lot of folks.
It’s a start. 650 sq ft? Too small. Why not extend the techniques and make a normal size home?
Indeed. I’m picturing a modular approach where you can print a kitchen module, a couple bedroom modules, and a living room module. Connect them all and for maybe $40,000 you get a complete house. At least here in MA, that would be phenomenal.
It’s a start. 650 sq ft? Too small. Why not extend the techniques and make a normal size home?
...
They probably won’t meet code here.
There’s a reason the company is building them in third world places.
Twice, I lived in 750 sq ft which was just fine. They were those old wooden houses built for returning WWII GIs and their families.
I think the biggest drawback is the plumbing and wiring- how do you handle that unless everything is surface mounted.
I would LOVE to see that, actually. Put everything within decorative boxes, but make it accessible. The idea of burying them inside walls is a real pain in the ass.
I’ve seen houses retrofitted with modern surface-mount wiring that actually looks classy.
Ha!
How is a redneck divorce like a tornado? Somebody’s losing a trailer. :)
I wonder what a concrete block house would cost compared to this one.
We have an acre in Hawaii and back before a lot of stuff happened was looking at retiring there. That’s the approach we were taking with kit homes. 3 small ones making a U shape with a huge deck in the middle. I liked the idea of things being separate for when the kids or company came to stay.
I bought my 32 acres in KY because there are no permits or codes required where I live. The only thing you need to get inspected is septic (it’s a state requirement).
I can build a 1,000 sq ft sheet metal house on a slab for less than 10k, at least where I live. And, frankly, it would look nicer.
Barndos are pretty cool.
I’m not saying this 3D printed home thing will never fly. It might become really cool. Someday...
I can’t imagine something like that. Like living in a trailer.
Yep. Women are a civilizing force for men. We’d be happy in our grade school treehouse, for the most part.
Heck, at age 43 I was single for a short time between wives and I fell back on the small apartment with the bicycle in the corner and stereo wires all over the living room. It was all I needed. My house was a sleeping and staging area for activities.
Mr’s Robroy fixed that in a hurry. :)
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