Insulated Building From Recycled Material

INSULATED BUILDING
The goal of this project is to design a method of making low-cost, insulated, open-design, public-license buildings. It will require organizing people, and developing building materials, tools, and processes. There will be multiple phases of this project, beginning with small buildings such as a dog house or a shed, and ultimately buildings such as houses for very poor people, which collect rain water stored in a cistern, dispose of waste using bioengineering, and temperature control mostly with passive systems. See: earthship.com.

Since poor people may want to grow their own food, a house design may include a greenhouse on the roof. The soil and transpiration of water from plants on the roof will help cool the house during warm months, and the greenhouse will help insulate the house during cold months. In addition, heat from the house will go through the roof to keep the greenhouse warm in cold weather. An open garden would keep the roof from being a rainwater catchment for potable water; thus, the greenhouse is necessary. However, it will be necessary to open the sides during hot weather to allow good ventilation.

To make housing for masses will require special tools for mass producing building components, and an organization to manage, maintain, and operate these specialized tools. However, that prospect is a long way off. For now, we need to focus on a more personal project that can be done on a personal 3D printer, for example building a dog house or storage shed. While developing the parts to make these small structures, we will experiment with methods and materials. This early development and experimentation should result in two kinds of parts, bricks and roofing that are necessary, but not sufficient, to build a house.

INSULATED BRICK
This goal of this project is to make insulated bricks from recycled materials. The bricks should interlock with a press fit that is air tight. The purpose of these bricks is to make one story buildings, for example a storage shed; although, it might be possible to build a house, for example in poor neighborhoods. A brick can be made from several aluminum cans, standing upright, with plastic printed around them to hold them together and make textured interior and exterior walls. The total amount of plastic should be small and honeycombed to make many insulating air pockets, and to make the bricks light weight.

These bricks should slide together, end to end, with an interlocking dove-tail. There must be bricks for right-corners and straight-line wall sections (rights and linears). The top and bottom of the bricks can stack together somewhat like Lego blocks. We will also need to connect the roof with the walls, which will require special crown bricks of two types, flats and slopes, which will allow for a sloped roof. More complex roofs can be done later.

INSULATED ROOFING
The goal of this project is to 3D print a roof, without printing beams long enough to span the entire distance of a roof. In other words, make roof tiles that interconnect, are water proof, and collectively strong enough to span the distance across a dog house or storage shed. The roof must be strong enough to support someone walking on it and snow several feet thick. The roof for a dog house does not need to be as strong as the one for a shed.

A 3D printer can make tiles with cardboard insulation sandwiched between them. Tile thickness is not critical, except it should about 5 cm (2 inches). Two small holes should run from side to side and two from front to back that are large enough for monofilament or piano wire to provide compression reinforcement after the tiles are hot glued together. To waterproof the roof and protect it from the sun, one can use asphalt shingles and roofing cement.

Larger roofs can be held up with a compression arch, a tension cable arch, trusses, or beams. However, the tension cable arch seems to be inexpensive and does not require long strong beams, only a long cable and short solid pieces.

CONCLUSION
I will provide drawings in later posts for bricks, crown, tiles, and a dog house and storage shed with cable arch.

I am disabled, which limits my help to ideas, designs, and organizing. I am a retired programmer, and may be able to help with some programming. Otherwise, I must depend on others. I hope others will find this project interesting and worthy of joining in an international effort to help provide good housing for poor people around the world.

DATA

An unsupported wooden stud may bend and break with as little as 433 pounds of compression. A soft drink can can support at least 100 pounds of weight. One soda can brick with six cans will support at least 600 pounds of compression.

The dimensions of a soda can vary but are about 4.8 inches high and 2.5 inch in diameter. Twenty bricks, 4.8 inches high will make an 8 foot wall.

Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2013 06:18PM by EdEarl.

Very interesting thoughts about have to create a building from recycled materials. How long do you suppose one of these building would hold up with different kinds of weather? Would one part of the country be better than another? We had an addition to our building designed and created by [www.alertbuildingsystems.com] that I know will hold up for a lot of years. What would be the advantages one over another type of building?

Jared,
You ask a very good question. ATM one cannot know all the answers, and the length of time a building lasts varies with many conditions, including materials, maintenance, and nature. The main advantage I envision is for very poor people who cannot afford conventional construction, many of whom make their living by sifting through dumps. They already make shanty towns from found materials, and their constructions are very insubstantial and impermanent. I envision this effort as a way to upgrade shanty towns.

On the other hand, making concrete and steel are both energy intensive and releases much CO2 into the environment. Perhaps reusing plastic for building will reduce CO2 emissions, IDK. Making homes that are off-the-grid and that provide a comfortable environment people who live in them will certainly be more green than making homes that require energy to heat and air condition. Of course, whether that is done with conventional materials or recycled materials is not important.

This idea may go nowhere. Maybe a few people will build a doghouse or tool shed. Maybe it will result in helping the poor. At this time, I am learning FastCAD and working on the design of the first brick. It is a long way to that first dog house. But, I am already considering the durability issue.

1. It may be a good idea to coat the outside of exterior walls with stucco or resin, for example, resin or stucco containing fiberglass filaments, or resin over carbon fiber. Not only do such coatings make the walls stronger, they also may protect from a tornado hurling a tree branch or 2x4 being hurled into a wall.

2. Plastering the interior walls could add strength and texture that is more familiar and acceptable to home owners.

3. Bricks to be used in poor neighborhoods might be textured to help adobe stick to the exterior of buildings. The adobe coating can be stabilized with liquid asphalt or Portland cement so that it will last a long time. This coating will also prevent UV damage to the plastic bricks.

These coatings, which are not available from recycle, vary in cost and utility.

My first brick is for a dog house. There will be a few more parts for the dog house. Suggestions for improvements are welcome.

This brick can be insulated by stuffing peanuts, straw, or any other insulating material into the interior cavities. The two round holes are for pop or beer cans, and will be held off the bottom by another (yet to be designed) spool. Thus, the beer cans will protrude from the top of one brick into the bottom of the next higher brick (similar to pegs on Lego (R) blocks). The cans should be filled with insulation, too.

The brick cavities and cans can be filled with soil or insulation. However, a dog house will have an open door, which will limit the effectiveness of insulation or mass to regulate temperature. But, soil or sand can be used to fill the bricks to make them heavier and less likely to be moved by a dog or other animal.

This brick was designed with OpenSCAD.

The .ping files (images) are attached. Source files are available on request.

The height of 121.92 mm is 4.8 inches, the height of a typical pop and beer can according to sources on the internet.

The brick dimensions in millimeters are basically HxLxW,
long bricks 121.92 x 200 x 100
short bricks: 121.92 x 100 x 100

Two more long bricks with blunt instead of dovetail ends need to be designed and a spool to hold the cans up 1/3 can length. .

Unless someone expresses interest, I will not add further files to this thread..

Please review and make suggestions. If anyone wants to print these bricks, please let me know, as I do not have a 3D printer and cannot. I don't have a dog either. Just thought this was an interesting project to start. If no one else thinks it is worthwhile, I will drop it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2013 08:15PM by EdEarl.

After looking at the amount of material in each brick form, which for the doghouse are small, I have found the cost in material to be too high to continue this particular line of thought. Thus, I am rethinking the project. I still think something along the lines of Earthship homes is the way to go, using recycled material. As they are being built, the bulk of their buildings are low cost because of using recycled tires. However, the high labor cost makes these homes more expensive than many poor families can afford. Thus, I am thinking about making stabilized adobe bricks using inexpensive open source machines that can be made or partly made using RepRap or a similar technology.

Currently, stabilized adobe bricks are made with either a liquid asphalt or cement stabilizer, neither are available from recycled material. Plastic bags and bottles are available, and old tires are available. Thus, I'm trying to determine how to stabilize the adobe bricks using those materials using Open Source machinery to process the mud, prepare the stabilizing material, and form the bricks. Whether one or more machines is required is not important.

Perhaps the answer is to make a machine to ram earth into tires, and another to move an earth filled tire into position on a wall. In other words, make RepRap type machinery to improve the workflow for building Earthship homes.

Here is a YouTube video showing machinery to fill and tamp soil into a tire, reported to take four minutes. I do not know how well it works According to a couple of YouTube videos it takes about 10 minutes to fill a tire with soil, via manual labor. Perhaps four to six levers positioned around the tire to hold it open to make a tire easier to fill would work as well as the more complicate machine shown in the video.

Here is an adobe house built with bags of earth.

Here is construction with old bottles.

Please contribute any ideas you may have. I believe there are mountains of old tires. I will research tire recycling next, and report my progress here later.

Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2013 03:24PM by EdEarl.

Tire Wall Alternative

I have attached BrickForm files,which show a form for making adobe bricks. These bricks can be stabilized with either asphalt or cement, but it is not necessary if the soil is compressed until the bricks are rock hard. They can be protected from rain by painting them with latex. Walls should be finished with stucco or plaster, and possibly have a berm of soil on the exterior wall, as Earthship homes do. One may use a commercial tamper to compress soil in the form, but a better method would be to make a machine specifically for compressing soil in these forms, because it would make more efficient time of a person who fills the form with soil and operates the machine.

The bricks made by the attached two forms will be 75mm x 150mm x 300mm and 150mm x 150mm x 300mm. Good adobe walls should be at least 300mm thick (about 1 ft), but thicker is better, especially an outside wall with a berm of dirt on it, as an Earthship. Latex or glue may be painted between the bricks to assure an air tight wall and to add strength. Tests should be done to determine wall thickness necessary to hold a berm of dirt.

A wire mesh is must be attached to the wall to support stucco or plaster. To attach the wire mesh, place wires through the adobe walls with one end of the wire protruding form each side of the wall. Then, tie the wire mess to the wall with the wire. Tests will be necessary to determine the size and spacing of wires used to support the wire mesh.

A vapor barrier, plastic sheet, should be placed on walls that will have a berm of dirt on them.

An architect should be consulted before building a house using these methods, who can assure buildings comply with local building codes.

I will work on the design of a hydraulic press that will use the two forms.

Rammed earth homes have been used for a very long time in arid places, and other sustainable methods have been used in other climates. Why is this relevant to 3d printing?

I'm not saying you have nothing to offer, but so far it's just more of the same. I have advocated these things since the late 70's, but try to argue responsible building practices with local coding authorities and insurance companies.

If you have a handle on that you don't need a 3D printer, bro.

calcetin,
I understand your frustration with building codes. Michael Reynolds and Earthships have made some changes; unfortunately, very small. On the other hand, the poorest neighborhoods are not constrained by building codes.

I suppose one's definition of 3D printer will determine whether this project has strayed from 3D printing or not. I'd like to argue the point. The first printers were not connected to a computer; they printed by transferring ink onto paper (e.g., Gutenberg's press). Next, when computers were developed, a printer was something that pounded on a ribbon filled with ink to make impressions of letters on paper. It was a technology similar to that of typewriters; in fact, the IBM Selectric was pressed into action as a printer. Then, inkjet and laser printing were developed, they still made letters on paper, but could also do graphics.

Then, someone decided a printer could be adapted to lay down a thin layer of plastic to make things in three dimensions. Previously, there were computer controlled mills that made 3D parts from metal, now they are considered 3D printers, including laser cutting machines controlled by computer (also other types of cutting). Essentially, anything that is computer controlled that makes 3D parts is now a 3D printer. But, the first printers were not controlled by computer, why not call any device that makes 3D parts a 3D printer, whether it is computer controlled or not.

I would argue that the press I will design may eventually be computer controlled, and it adds material to a 3D object in order to make that object. Moreover, computer controlled cutting machines can be used to make parts for the molds and parts for the press. Eventually, there may be extensions to 3D printers that assemble various parts into a finished product, the same is possible for the molds and press described in this project.

However, the most important consideration in the RepRap movement is neither 3D printing nor computer control. "RepRap is humanity's first general-purpose self-replicating manufacturing machine." That description does not claim RepRap is humanities first 3D printer. It focuses on providing humanity with something useful. That RepRap is self replicating is an exaggeration that everyone overlooks. RepRap cannot make the metal parts and servomotors needed for a RepRap, it only makes the plastic parts. The important thing is that RepRap makes useful things for humanity. Thus, I argue that this project qualifies as being humanitarian, and that it is not intended to make parts for it self should be overlooked. After all, the three things everyone needs are food, clothing and shelter.

The title of this forum is, "Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...);" although, it is on forums.RepRap, and the design of this machine does not need to use a RepRap. I think it is in the spirit of a RepRap open design for humanity.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2013 06:57AM by EdEarl.

HDPE, the plastic used in plastic bags, bottle caps, food storage containers, folding chairs and tables, hard hats, hula hoops, and other things, is used to make plastic lumber and some kinds of plastic pipe. It melts about 266 F (130C). It can be recycled to help build homes for the poor. Although, melting it requires energy, perhaps a solar heating system can be designed to melt the HDPE and extrude it into lumber and pipes using PV power.

The idea here is for poor people to gather plastic from wherever they find it and be able to form it into materials suitable for building their homes. Tools in this class can be made by people with 3D printers and donated to an aid organization for distribution to the needy. Thus, these tools should be light weight enough to be moved without a truck, or able to be disassembled and moved in pieces without a truck. Assembly should be color coded and simple enough for anyone to do.

PV prices are falling and more rugged. Research is being done to print PV on plastic and paper using a special 2D printer. If that research comes to fruition, this project and others now impractical will become viable.

Aluminum is a good thermal conductor, and is widely available in aluminum cans. Solar thermal devices can be made from recycled aluminum cans, for example solar flat plate collectors for heating water. This project will require developing open source aluminum welding and cutting of aluminum cans. Since the cans are thin, the required power will be relative low, and available via solar PV.

Aluminum welding is typically done using an inert gas, such as argon, to prevent the aluminum from oxidizing; how can this requirement be met for poor people? Is it possible to make a machine that extracts inert gases from the atmosphere on-demand? Is it possible to weld aluminum in a partial vacuum? Is it possible to weld aluminum in a CO2 and N atmosphere? Is there an alternative?

Interior lighting can be provided with this method that uses recycled plastic pop bottles.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2013 08:22AM by EdEarl.

EdEarl,
Keep treading your path, I for one will keep reading your efforts.

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Random Precision

Might find some inspiration there : [craterre.org]

(Among many other web resources probably)

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Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

The following YouTube video, a Ted Talk, is by an architect who is building with paper, which may be made waterproof and fire resistant. Paper tubes are structural components. In one case, he made a three story apartment complex.

[www.youtube.com]

Here is Dan, a guy who helps poor people in the US build their own home from recycled material.
[www.youtube.com]

A DIY to make papercrete bricks, a mixture of paper and portland cement.
[www.youtube.com]

Bricks made from recycled plastic bags.
[www.youtube.com]

Building made from High Tech recycling of plastic bottles.
[www.youtube.com]

School with bottle bricks.
[www.youtube.com]

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2013 04:33PM by EdEarl.

Mycelium is the root system of mushrooms, and some "mushrooms" are composed entirely of mycelium and do not grow toadstools. Mycelium grown on seed husks makes a good, green insulation that can replace Styrofoam and similar products.

[blog.mycology.cornell.edu]
[www.gbb.org]
[www.usc.edu]
[www.northstatemycologicalclub.org]
[greensciencepolicy.org]
[www.princeton.edu]

[nepis.epa.gov]
search for "Greensulate"

[www.youtube.com]

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2013 09:34AM by EdEarl.

watched the TED talk, very interesting, did not realise things had advanced so much, no excuse not to use it.
could styrofoam be modified into a more ridgid material for 3d printing as so much goes to landfill ?.


P.S I understand that termites have been harvesting mycelium for millions of years.

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Random Precision

I think they treat the mycelium with borax and boric acid to make it resistant to bio attack. Cellulose is another insulation that needs similar treatment. My house, which is older, had been attacked by carpenter ants and many of the 2x4s had to be replaced. We now have fire ants, which killed all the carpenter ants. They like peanut butter spiked with boric acid, and it kills their nests.

I found an open source abobe ram press ready to make with assembly video. It is a hydraulic press that can make 5000 bricks a day. It needs a hydraulic power cube, and there is an optional automatic control assembly. These things make a system that can make bricks for a village or apartment complex, and as such are fairly expensive. They would be a good investment for an non profit organization intending to provide bricks for a community.

They have worked on a laser cutter and CNC circuit mill. Their site is here: [opensourceecology.org]

This is a TedTalk that is inspirational. Unfortunately, there seem to be management problems and legal tangles that have stalled this movement and driven talented people away. Fortunately, the open designs can be used and improved upon, whether done through Open Source Ecology, within the RepRap movement, or elsewhere.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2013 07:03PM by EdEarl.

I finally found an open source adobe brick making machine that is manually operated.

[www.osrliving.org]

I have a tree pruner, it has a telescopic pole to reach high branches, but the buisness end has a rope and pulley system, it imparts a tremendous force on the branch, maybe something like that but scaled up may work.

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Random Precision