Comment on 3D printing a house
chris@l.roofo.cc@l.roofo.cc 1 week ago Problem is that plastics do not recycle too well. Every time you melt plastic it degrades. That means you always need new plastic and some gets lost. If you want to use recycled plastic you have to add virgin plastic every time. Also printing such thick plastic will take a long time. I don’t think it scales. If you want concrete forms, then generic preforms made from wood are way more practical.
isleepinahammock@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
Eh, some can be recycled up to ten times. And it’s not like you can use plywood forms infinitely either. Those break down after 10-20 uses as well on average. And, just like plastic, every time you reuse plywood molds some of the material gets lost. Some gets damaged when prying the forms off. Plywood sheets get cut down to the shape of the next job. Etc.
And again, I’m imagining this primarily where plywood forms are not practical without very skilled and intricate work. Imagine a home built like this. The cost would be completely impractical for normal residential budgets. But printed forms and injected concrete? Maybe.
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Yes but plywood is made of wood. A renewable resource. Also I must be int but nobody needs these kinds of houses and we don’t need them to be easily manufacturable. Tbh they look incredibly impractical. We need to build a lot of practical houses. If someone wants a house like this they probably have the means to get it handmade.
TonyOstrich@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
There are plastics that can be made from renewable materials as well. Not that I’m advocating for 3D printed houses, I think that is a terrible idea, but not for any of the arguments made here.