Roof over the world

Retaining Wall with SCIPs - Part Two

2010-03-16T00:46:00.001-07:00

Today we built and installed the panels. Because we were building the panels ourselves we made them 36" to fit our needs and laid them on their sides. The panels are strong either way, but without a roof load to support, sideways is fine.

The panels were cut and installed. we cut the foam out where we plan to spray in columns around the rebar we installed the other day. We also cut out where the drainage pipes need to go through. We used a quick level to see where things were, but we will need to use a water or laser level to make sure everything is even.

Cutting out the foam was easy but more time consuming then I would like. Snaking the 4 pieces of rebar through the trusses had a few challanges as well, but got easier as we did a few. Normally, you would spray a column between upright panels which is a much simplier process.

At the end of the next day the panels were built and installed including pipe and rebar cut-outs.

We need to clip on a few connecting pieces and relevel and we can start shotcreting.

2010-03-11T21:42:00.000-08:00

Retaining Wall with SCIPs - Part One - The Preparation

Over the next few weeks and next few blog postings, I'll document how to create a retaining wall using BuildFast SCIP panels.

The first step is very important. Injure your hand preventing you from doing any actual work. Indoor soccer worked for me, but there are many ways to do this.

The real first step is to lay out where you want the wall with string.

Make sure its straight, parallel to existing house and square by using 3-4-5 triangle (Pythagorean Theorem). There is plenty of info on the web on how to do this.

Next dig a shallow trench and post holes about every four feet. The trench will become the toe of the wall and the posts holes will give the wallextra bite into the ground.

QUICK TIP: Use the panel trusses as guides and support for the post rebar. It will guide the workers to center the rebar in trench, not the hole. It also makes sure they will be within the width of the wall (same as truss) without measuring.

Finally, pour the post concrete.

End of Day One - Trench dug and rebar posts are poured. Next step - install the panels.

Lloyd Turner's Soap Bubble Architecture

2009-12-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting Lloyd Turner and seeing his beautiful home in Boulder Creek, CA. Here refers to design as "soap bubble" architecture, where the inside edges are straight and the outside is round - this is one of nature's inherently strong and efficient shapes. It is also important to note the rooms/bubbles are torispheres, not hemispheres (i.e. domes) - unlike a dome, a torisphere's walls do not arch in until they are close to the ceiling giving you full use of the floor plan below.

From the outside, only the top of partially buried domes emerge from the earth like they were grown there. Inside the rooms are warm and comfortable. A wood burning stove kept the house warm, while skylights provide plenty of light. Built in 1982, the house is in as good of condition as the day it was built thanks to its strong foundation, subterranean drainage system, and inherently strong design. Lloyd also had to design the operable skylights, round egress windows, and more.

Lloyd's construction technique:

Unlike Monolithic Dome or other air-form techniques that require extremely strong membranes, high powered fans, and airlocks, Lloyd's design uses simple Tyvek fabric and inflated with a fan - no airlock is needed for this low pressure air form. Instead he applies increasing thick layers of polyurethane foam - allowing each layer to start to set up and create the structure as he goes. In this construction photo - the first layer of foam is applied so thin the shadows of the tree branches can be seen through it. By the time he got to end he could start the next layer and within 4 layers he was able to get to 4" of foam. With 4" of foam the form is much stronger and it can hold the weight of 3/4" of shotcrete without deforming and the same layer process is continued, with a day between layers, until 2" of concrete is applied. Thus, Lloyd got the structure to "grow" with ever increasing layers until the structure was 6" of foam and concrete, all with a simple light weight air-form. Tyvek was used because it does not need to be removed after construction (the moisture can escape and it can be stuccoed over) and the gores (see airform panels design link below) can be taped together.

The airform created the concave exterior walls and roof. Temporary 1"x4" boards were used to maintain the proper arch on the top of the straight interior walls. Once the foam was sprayed onto the airform the wood framing was replaced with structural concrete insulated panels (SCIPs) similar to the ones we sell at BuildFast. Then re-bar ribbing was added at the connecting points of the airform and SCIPs to give it extra strength. The metal fiber reinforced shotcrete is then sprayed in successive thin layers to the underside of the foam domes until the required thickness is achieved. It doesn't take any longer to quickly apply several thin layers as it does to apply the full thickness while standing in one spot. Thus a a unique structure that will last for generations was built with a simple low pressure inflated form. For more info on the process check out Flying Concrete's page on the house.

Links with photos, design math, and more:

Photos

Torisphere Airform Calculations

Airform Panel Design

House Plan

Update - Lloyd asked me to add one more thing:

If you pour the foundation only (no slab) first, then spray the walls and ceiling - any concrete that falls/bounces off can be covered and incorporated into the slab when it poured at the end. Also to note, the electrical and plumbing were all put into the slab as well. Hope this helps.

Hopper Sprayers - A great tool to plaster SCIPs

2009-11-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

There are several ways to plaster SCIP panels with a concrete/mortar mix. Hand troweling is a viable option where labor is extremely affordable. BlastCrete mortar pumps are expensive, but a great option for large scale operations. However, for most do-it-yourself projects including up to building your own house, I would recommend a hopper/stucco/mortar sprayer. One sprayer in particular is a mortar sprayer developed by Nolan Scheid. Nolan has been spraying mortar for over 15 years and has used his expertise to develop a hopper sprayer that is easy to use and very forgiving. It requires a 5HP air compressor (7-12 CFM at 90 PSI) and a mortar mixer to prepare the mix. We plan to offer these hoppers in the BuildFast store, but for now you can buy them at How to Stucco.

Back to Business

2009-11-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

The BuildFast website will be coming out of retirement. After a short hiatus with a new baby, house construction and a lot of reflection on the business I am reopening the BuildFast website and blog. I tried to take some time to step back and reevaluate the technology. How does it stack up to other technologies and is there a business supporting the SCIP technology?

First, Structural Concrete Insulated Panels (SCIP) are still a valid technology. There are challenges with adoption (tradesman, building inspectors) and you can always build a cheaper wooden shack or mud, but this is still one of the best technologies to build a disaster resistant, rot proof, highly insulated structure that can last decades without maintenance.

However the new site is going to be more focused on how to help individuals build their own houses and other structures with SCIP panels. We want to over techniques, advices, and the tools to make the job easy and successful. We look forward to being part of the change in better building in the US and beyond.

great visit from the students at IPADE

2008-04-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, executive MBA students from IPADE visited our offices in Redwood City. The 20 students and professors are visiting Silicon Valley for a few days to learn more about innovation and entrepreneurship. It is quite flattering to be on the same tour as Google and Northwest Venture Partners. They were a very sharp group and I probably learned more from them then they did from me. We talked a lot about the cultural challenges of building in Mexico (or anywhere for that matter) with a new type of building system no matter how much better it is. I hope have a great visit and I will look them up the next time I am in Monterrey or Mexico City.

CCTO

2008-04-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't being blogging much lately; I have been busy in the shop working on changes to our panel machine. I started this blog to talk about better building techniques for the developing world and to ask people for their input. But first I want to make another plug for the California Clean Tech Open which is hosting their 2008 Official Launch tomorrow at the San Jose City Hall Rotunda. We will be there. I was also on a panel CCTO did for the Commonwealth Club at the end of February. That will be all for now about where I was or will be; we have a project in Mexico we have been asked to help with and I could use input on best practices for passive heating, composting toilets, low cost solar, etc. More to come.

Regards,
Patrick

We're Famous...in Japan

2008-01-14T16:19:00.000-08:00

Well maybe not that famous, but we were excited to be interviewed by Michiya Matsuo from the LA branch of the Sankei Shimbun Newspaper in Japan. You can read the article here:
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/world/america/080107/amr0801070818000-n1.htm, but if your Japanese is a little rusty, try using babelfish and entering in the URL above. My name came back as Free Bar Moth, so take the translation with a grain of salt. Michiya-san did say that the Japanese people think of Americans and Californians as huge consumers and they like to see articles about people like us focused on clean tech and environmentally responsible solutions. Enjoy!

First SCIP house seeking LEED Platinum Certification approved

2008-01-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I just wanted to pass along this post. In Pasadena they are making a TV documentary as they build the first ever LEED platinum certified house using SCIP panels. Historically SCIP panels have been used for their disaster resistance and their speed of construction, but now their environmentally friendly aspects are also being appreciated. More info can be found at the architects Studio RMA's website here. We wish them much success with their project.

Regards,
Patrick

All PR is good PR?

2007-12-18T23:24:00.000-08:00

We got a mention in Forbes.Com. Although she noted we were underdressed for the high power VC forum we were attending, it was still fun to be quoted. Sue even got a quote. You can check out the article here:

http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/18/holiday-silicon-valley-tech-ebiz-cx_wt_1218party.html

Happy Holidays to all.

Patrick

Sexy is the new Green - TriRod Motorcycle introduces new 3 wheel motorcycle

2007-12-18T23:21:00.001-08:00

TriRod Motorcycles is focusing on the aging baby boomer market segment with its new 2 wheels in front, 1 wheel in back vehicle. While they don't claim to be green, a strong argument can be made for those who want to get around more environmentally friendly, but still want to look good doing it. There are certainly greener ways to get around town, but you have to admit this looks alot more fun. Of course this is hardly the first 2-1 trike.

Does anyone remember the now-defunct Sparrow?
If people won't be caught dead in it, it doesn't matter how great gas mileage it gets. I am sure Leanardo DiCaprio will be first in line for one of the new TriRod's. But it looks to intimidating for you, there is always the Sparrow.

Green Building For Dummies available soon

2007-11-29T13:08:00.000-08:00

Although Eric Corey Freed himself is not a dummy, I am sure it will have a lot of useful information for 'the rest of us' to use. Eric has been working on this book for months and I know he has a lot of good information to share. I am looking forward to reading it as I put on an addition and green up my existing 1949 house. Eric is a prominent architect in San Francisco and you find out more about what he does on his website. Once I read the book I will post my thoughts, but if you get a copy first, please let me know what you think. You can pre-order his book on Amazon. It will be shipping in a few days.

Google.org announces RE < C initiative

2007-11-28T12:12:00.000-08:00

After the Commonwealth Club's panel discussion on fighting global warming (see post below), I got meet briefly with Dr Larry Brilliant, executive director of google.org - the philanthropic arm of Google with an estimated $2B in funds (based on google's current share price).

Not that Google needs my help for publicity, but yesterday Google.org announced their major initiative to help reduce the price of Renewable Energy to be below the cost of energy made by coal (RE<C)

As Larry mentioned yesterday at the panel, until renewable energy is cheaper than coal, then India, China, and the rest of developing world will not convert from coal. Their 1st priority is getting their people out of poverty, reducing global warming is 2nd. Cheap renewable energy accomplishes both.

After the panel discussion, I thanked Larry for google.org contribution of the award money for CCTO Green Building Competition. Hopefully, we will have another opportunity to work with Google in the future.

2007/2008 UN Human Dev Report on Fighting Climate Change

2007-11-28T11:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I snuck up to the Commonwealth Club in SF to hear a panel review the UN’s new report on Human Development and Global Warming.

The speakers were:

LARRY BRILLIANT, Executive Director, Google.org
NANCY PFUND, Managing Director Bay Area Equity Fund, JP Morgan
ANDREA GARDNER, Sustainable Solutions Manager, CH2M Hill
AD MELKERT, Undersecretary of the United Nations, Associate

The Gist:
While most of the CO2 is coming from the world’s richest countries, the poorest countries will take the brunt of climate change. Most of the world’s poor live day to day and cannot survive the climate changes that are attributed to global warming. While too much rain is flooding fields in South East Asia, drought is hitting Northern Africa. The result is the same – crops are failing, and people who live on the edge are being pushed over it. Examples of the effects of global warming can be seen on videos at the UN website.

Long before we have to worry about damage to our beach houses, hundreds of millions of people will die or displaced. What moral obligations and enlightened self-interest does the West have in addressing global warming now, even though the effects are far off for us?

Great exposure with CCTO

2007-11-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

Since winning the CA Clean Tech Open we have had a lot of exposure that we would not have gotten otherwise. For example, this evening, I was invited to give a presentation on BuildFast House Kits to a green entrepreneurship class. Ron Pernick, Co-founder of Clean Edge and Coauthor of the book The Clean Tech Revolution, is teaching a class on clean-tech entrepreneurship at Portland State University. Ron had heard that we won the CA Clean Tech Open, and he wanted to feature BuildFast as an example of a promising clean tech company. It started as a request for some slides on our business, but I ended up giving our abbreviated investor pitch through his cell phone to the class. This is great for me because it gives me a chance to practice the speech and answer questions.

Another great bonus was talking with Dexter Guantlett with Green Empowerment, which focuses on providing renewable power to the developing world. We hope we have the opportunity to work with them by incorporating photovoltaic PV solar or micro turbines into our HouseKits. We are really excited about the potential.

I want to talk more about the importance of passive solar design and active renewable energy in upcoming posts, and I would like to get people's thoughts. For now, I just want to encourage anyone with a green business idea to enter into the CCTO. It has been a great learning experience and we have gotten great exposure within the industry.

We WON!

2007-10-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight is an exciting night for BuildFast - we won the California Clean Tech Open!!! The California Clean Tech Open is a green business plan competition that attracted over 150 contestants in 6 categories from across California. Tonight, at a gala awards ceremony at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, we were named the Winner in the Green Building category. We received a $50,000 cash award, sponsored by Google, along with in-kind donations from a number of firms providing marketing, legal, PR, insurance, rent, accounting, and other services.

Sue and I are so ecstatic that we've won. We are glad that the judges believe in BuildFast as much as we do.

We got interviewed by several media outlets, so hopefully we'll get picked up on that. Keep an eye out for us in the press!

A sustainable housing checklist

2007-08-25T22:08:00.000-07:00

I’ve developed a checklist of five factors to consider when evaluating solutions for building sustainable housing for the developing world.

Is the house well insulated? In one of my earlier posts, I reported some data from McKinsey that home insulation is the single biggest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More insulation = more heat. Our BuildFast panel solution is well insulated, both from the EPS foam core and the concrete thermal mass.
Is the house durable? If a house in the developing world is poor quality and needs to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch in ten years, or if it gets destroyed in an earthquake or hurricane, then that creates a tremendous amount of waste. For maximum sustainability, houses should be durable and resistant to earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, fires, rot and mold.
Are the same materials used for “double duty” to perform multiple functions? The harder you can make your materials work for you, the fewer materials you’ll need. One reason I’m so excited about our BuildFast panels is that the concrete is used to create structural integrity, as well as for the outside coating of the house.
Are the house materials produced locally? Shipping vessels are powered by oil, so when materials need to be shipped long distances, that’s a negative for the environment. If only a few BuildFast House Kits are ordered, we do ship them from San Francisco. But for larger orders, we would prefer to come on-site to assemble the kits for you from materials produced locally, to reduce our environmental impact.
Can the future residents meaningfully participate in construction? As Habitat for Humanity has shown us, it can be useful & rewarding for the future residents of a home to participate in its construction. And needing to use professional contractors adds significant construction expense, which is sad when people are so willing to work hard themselves to build their own home, but may not have the skills. One thing I love about our product is that even unskilled people can build with it, so you can spend less on professional help.

Please send me your thoughts on any other items you would add to the checklist – I’m interested in your feedback.

Greening Portland Cement

2007-08-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Last week, I talked about EPS and that its positive or negative environmental impact really depends on how it is used. Portland cement, the primary ingredient of concrete, is different. Complaints about Portland cement stem from the embedded energy needed to make Portland cement and the greenhouse gases given off in its production. But Portland cement is used in almost all long term construction in the world today, so the issue becomes, how do we use as little Portland cement as possible to create a long lasting, permanent structure? There are several things you can do to minimize the amount of Portland cement required to make a house.

First, you can use a building technique that uses the minimum amount of concrete structurally required. In our BuildFast panels, for example, only 1 inch on each side (2” total) is required to build, unlike a reinforced concrete wall that would require 6-8” of concrete. Our solution requires about 12 cubic yards of concrete to make a 500 sq ft house, versus a reinforced concrete wall that would require 48 cubic yards.
Second, you can incorporate fly ash in the concrete mix to reduce the total amount of Portland cement required. Fly ash, a waste product of the coal industry, can substitute up to 20% of the Portland cement without compromising structural strength. I have even heard that up to 50% can be substituted, but more research is needed.
Finally, there are some interesting alternatives to Portland cement becoming available. Several companies are introducing alternatives to Portland cement including Grancrete, Gigacrete, and others. I know Gigacrete has been gaining a lot of traction recently, and they have received funding to build a full production facility for their Stuccomax product. I met with the inventor, Andrew Dennis, a few months ago, and I believe they have a very exciting product which I look forward to the opportunity of trying it out. Unfortunately for us and the billion people who need housing today, I believe they are a long way from reaching the economies of scale that would be needed to offer their products at a price most people could afford, and with broad international distribution.

Any other ideas out there on ways to reduce the amount of Portland cement used in construction? I’d love to hear your input.

Is Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) green?

2007-08-14T16:42:00.001-07:00

Last time I mentioned that we (BuildFast) were selected as finalists in the California Clean Tech Open Green Building Category. Our elation lasted for about 2 seconds, until we saw the judge's comments, which were very critical of our use of Portland cement (the key ingredient to concrete) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) as insulation for our building materials. First, let me say I understand the judges' concerns, as it takes a significant amount of energy to make Portland cement, resulting in high CO2 emissions. And it's true that EPS is a non-biodegradable, petroleum derivative. But both of these materials do have a role in green building, if used appropriately . I’ll tackle Portland cement later and focus on EPS for now.

Good or Evil – its how you use it.

EPS, better know as Styrofoam, got its bad rap as a box designed to keep a Big Mac warm for few minutes before spending then next 1,000 years in a landfill. While some people are quick to criticize that all EPS is bad, I believe there is big moral difference between using it for a cup of coffee and using it to keep a family warm for generations to come. EPS is the most cost effective insulation (R-value/$) on the market, and it is readily available around the world ,eliminating transportation costs other products may require. How important is insulation? According to a study by consulting firm McKinsey, proper home insulation is the most cost effective way to reduce CO2 emissions, which reduces global warming.

Large EPS Blocks CAN be recycled

Even here in the progressive San Francisco bay area, it is difficult to recycle individual food containers, but large blocks of EPS can be recycled effectively. While this shouldn’t be an issue for the 100 years or so the building should last, it nice to know the home owner is a pickup truck drive away from recycling the foam blocks at the nearest EPS manufacturing facility. These large blocks can be cleaned, ground up, and added to the mix to make new EPS.

Doesn’t EPS produce CFCs?

Since the mid 1950s expanded polystyrene has not been produced with CFCs chlorofluorocarbons1. EPS manufacturing does use a small amount of pentane and EPS resin, the final EPS product is about 96% air. EPS should not be confused with extruded polystyrene (XPS), which is produced using CFCs.

We need a realistic solution today.

There are over a billion people in the world who lack adequate housing. And according to United Nations estimates, there are at least another billion on their way. While I am excited about some new technologies emerging, all of them are a long way from making a significant difference to fight global warming today.

What about straw bale or other organic materials?

There are people experimenting with straw bale and other bio-alternatives for panel in-fills, and I think this is something we will look at as well. There are two issues using bio-mass – lower insulation value and its risk of decomposing. Lower insulation can be solved by making the walls thicker or using them in more temperate climates, but the rotting & infestation issues could be harder to solve. Our vision is empowering people who are less skilled in buliding to build high-quality houses. The quality of the stucco around a straw bale home is very important. The straw must be kept both dry and breathable. Again, I am not saying we can’t do this, we just need to investigate it very carefully.

This is not the last post on this topic. I will try to determine the net C02 for our house and compare it to current building norms. In the meantime I am happy to hear any other building material recommendations.

References:

1 EPS Molders Association

California Clean Tech Open Finalists

2007-08-09T23:05:00.001-07:00

We are quite excited to be selected as finalists for the California Clean Tech Open (CCTO) Green Building Category. The CCTO is a contest for small startups to compete for $100k in cash and prizes and along the way get expert advice on writing business plans and pitching ideas to angels and venture capitalists. Basically, it’s a way to get startups out of the gate a lot faster. Today, we received free legal advice from WSGR, one of the most prestige law firms in the bay area, as well as some free public relations advice from Zing PR, who among other things encouraged us to start this blog. Both sessions were extremely useful. While we want to win our category, we don’t have to win the prize to be successful. Being a finalist in CCTO is a bit like being a finalist on American Idol, but instead of a recording contract we are after angel funding. More on CCTO to come, but if you are interested in developing green technology I would strongly recommend you apply next year.