Air Crete Interlocking Wall Panels 

Make all your studs female and use a male insert where needed. That way you don’t have to worry about designing the panels top, bottom and sides. Insert can screw, glue or clip on.

I thinking about using 6" wood or metal frame that you fill only 4" and then bolt together and fill in 2"foam on it side to make flush exterior wall. Cover that with a stucco type aircrete. Before you fill in the final 2 inches with foam you could run your electrical

When you go tongue and groove with your panels, also put a grooved one along the bottom of the panel so you can put a lock bead into the slab/footing to lock the walls into position. (might not be a bad idea to do the same on top) What you are doing here is realy great!! I am just going into retirement with a decent pension (translates to Operating Funds)and would be interested in a franchise when you get started. It wouldn't be hard to find some strong young guys around here needing a job :)

For the horizontal holes you are thinking of put a PVC tub evenly spaced about every foot. Then you can run rebar through the holes joining the two panels at a time always alternating so you are not trying to put the rebar through more than two panels at a time and you can still use the other holes for your wiring or plumbing. If you leave the PVC in the panel it would protect the wire same as a conduit. also the PVC will protect the aircrete from being damaged when installing the rebar. Good luck.

So why are you using investment framing? Why not coat the metal frame with release film/coating, then use low expansion foam between the joints to avoid thermal bridging?

How about "Z" channels? More forgiving. Then you only need a break as opposed to a roll form. Stagger studs from side to side or flip for corners into 4' prefab units. Slip forms into a deep plate channel to seat .Preframe doors and windows into 4' panels before pouring. Silicone joints. Put conduit down each panel to make wiring easy.

Great Ideas! Looking forward to implementing this concept for homeless pod shelters.

Again, dont know how i missed commenting bc i watched it way back.😊😊😊😊

Great idea.

This panel seem like structuraly strong to support second floor. Can be use as floor panel as well! Brilliant!

That's smart

Take your normal C. Track about 12 to 16 inches and cut ✂️ it in half ... Now attach one near the bottom and one at top back to back with a screw to your panel.... Now that will allow you to lock each of the panels together.. ...❤ Get wife to explain if you're still can't see or understand this .... 5 years and you're still haven't solved this simple concept ......

Nice! I appreciate the planning you're putting into this!

This idea would also make an excellent yard fence system. 👍😎👉💞

Brilliant! Second time I’ve watched it. I have had the similar ideas floating around in my mind for a concrete bottle brick fence.

Another difficulty is that if you are going to make tongue and groove shapes w/ a roll former out of sheet metal, water will get in there and rust. This will ruin marketability because of rust forming inside and out. Also, putting the panels in c channel will collect more rust and water. I saw air crete joined with mortar and no steel at all. You are good man.

You don't even know how much I love this!

You very good ideas and you ideas would be great help to many of us. Thank for your post.

I found repurposing old metal door frames as tongue and groove may work.....I'm just as passionate about aircrete as you...thank for all the tips and troubleshooting so I don't have to. Cheers

Great ideas! Keep going. We're all with you. Thanks for sharing. Perhaps "Home Depot" would get on board.

I’d like to build an off grid cabin out of aircreate and love your videos. Thank you very much for putting them out.

Great idea!

Thx for taking the time and showing examples for the forming process. I had the overall gist but seeing how the axels and other facets of the forming process made it all happen was def helpful. . . Luv learning how sh!t works and/or how it was made. 👌👍🙏

mind blowing stuff guys !! very interesting

I saw a video of houses in south america built using a similar system of concrete panels.

So, if you take flat stock and cut it to the length of each stud then screw two strips on sides and one strip on the center of the opposite stud it will act the same as your diagram without having stud metal formed

Just thinking---Why not make horizontal panels? Continuous length of the building, easier for windows and doors, easier to run conduit for utilities. I enjoy your videos and your thought progression. Cool family also!

Great job

Re: PVC in the forms, if you put them in at the standard heights for outlets , with 4"x4" void to make room for a double junction box, and a vertical run from there to standard switch height and on up to a wall sconce height, you're ready to pull Romex or flexible conduit through those wiring chases. You could make some panels with just the horizontal chases and no voids for junction boxes, and mix/match them as desired.

I saw the one you did before, but this one is a lot better.

If you go ship lap you have much more flexibility, they can move a little and easy to mate up and if used for roof panel the shed water or if you want to go horizontal on the wall, you can go as high as you want as long as you want

use pvc conduit for pull throughs in the center of the c channel forms then use threaded flat stock to pull forms together the c channel bases top and bottom will teak screw in place your done as far as doors and window same thing with shorter panels of course top and bottom door and window frames mounted with tap cons...and grouted into place around the door frames...then stucco! Standard sized forms could be cut on site with wet partner saw as well for custom windows heights and widths using a diamond edged saw with water mister to keep down the debris...These forms could even be constructed a little longer and attached to the sub footer for increased heights allowing for the walls to go up and double for slab forms for the finished floor...

There are Chinese companies selling aircrete home kits in panels. The panels does not use metal studs on interlocking. I suggest you manufacture reusable moulds for making panels rather consumed the mould on each panel.

If this could be made where the roof could be made with the same air create and floor because you said it was very strong that would lower the cost perhaps of poring a concrete slab . then add holes and outlet sockets and even a panel box for say a 200 amp service and add plumbing outlet most homes are now plum with pex and pvc for sewer anyway so this should be easy .. And this could become the next generation home build where you have a website they design their own home layout and boom its ship to them the same way a log cabin kit is shipped .. The kit could be shipped with detailed instruction on how to assemble so people that want to diy of install could .. i see alot of potential here with many projects from dog house ,well house, home,farm use for storing hay for the animals , storage sheds ,shops the biggest factor can you do it cheap enough to be compared to stick built ...

Top demais seu projeto 👏👏👏 parabéns

If you put conduit at, say 18 inch's from the bottom of the panel from side to side and hod in place with the same rabbit wire. after aircreat is dry cut the stud at the conduit point. this way you can run your electrical wire. You can use a tee in every third panel for the plugs and run a conduit piece with elbow up to the switch box. you can always chisel out for the E-boxs.

You don’t need any music. You both are perfect just like that, unedited

this man has something great here !!!

I have thought about making slip forms similar to that.

Ok one more comment and Ill hush just want to say u are very creative and INSPIRING to see all uve come up with its really great to see a man creating and u can clearly see ur desire is to help others wish more people cared enough to share their wisdom like u do simply put alot of people including myself never had a father that taught any kind of life skills much less any passions like building etc I kno I wouldve created alot of things like u do with the mindset to help others bcause its not only sharing but its love when u love ur fellow man and u love what u do u cant help but want to put it out like u are and u are bearing ur soul basically in being very transparent the entire time even including us ur viewers in some of the steps its really heart warming so sorry to go on and on but I wish all the success in the world to u and ur beautiful family u deserve it!!!

you may need a groove along the bottom to allow the panel to sit and slide over the expansion bolts in the c channel track, just a flat steel to screw both panels together

Make all studs 'female', and use a spline. One less form machine, and no orientation problems.

Great

love the tongue and groove though ! much stronger vertically and ind resistent etc...could be installed with a bead of butyl caulk as well! then use threaded flat stock to pull together...sealing with stucco finish prevents moisture from penetrating and yhe studs would be corrosion proof

instead of using c chanel, use a wooden form, and put a 1x1 on one edge in the center. on the other side put a timber strip on both edges, leaving a 1x1 gap between. ☺

I was thinking of this with logs as was done by Austin and Erickson in my area. When the groove was in the bottom of the log it fit into the tongue bolted to the foundation and the tongue at the top of the log fit into the header. Like with your air crete panels one man could brace the first log and assemble the whole house by himself. In the 1950's I watched a neighbor do it.

I ordered the big foam mate, cant wait to use it ☺

Create corner pieces with channels for utilizes

Another great video Darwin. Have you thought about asking a company that makes gutters to make the tunge and groove studs. That’s what I am doing. Then you order what you need and don’t reinvent the wheel or start a gutter and stud business. We are getting excited to see you finish this shed ! Keep up the good work!

You can use the keyboard shortcuts, M for move object, S for select object, etc... that way you don't have to mouse back and forth. Thanks for the demonstration, you have great ideals.

I like everything you are doing and planing about building! I live in the Philippines and this would be a perfect solution to low income housing. Plus using aircret would make a very cool inside living conditions. Blessings and hope to see that metal bending machine!

Very Cool Video Darwin. I want to open an "Aircrete Sheds and Barns" operation in central upstate NY. Years? Much sooner. I am 69 years old and can't wait years.

Mr. Honey do, Great work go these panels. I enjoy all the videos and your spirit. I have worked in a steel modular panel building that the walls leaked. Any mounting of panels must be inside the panels out must wall surface. The problem was the wall panels were placed with in a "U" shaped footer and all the wall runoff water would be channeled in building. Thank you for all the great idea sharing. I hope this helps. Paul Rice, Lake Charles, LA

Hi there this is all awesome I love how you can manufacture your own studs to form your panels. The only problem I have with the system is thermal bridging . Joining the panel is not a problem. To bad we don't have stuctural studs made of a material that does not conduct the cold.

I started watching your videos and Got my instructions for the panels they looked great and well laid out. If I have any question how can I get hold of you?

Top hat battens used for roofing would be better than your plan as the tapered tongue and groove would be more forgiving for clearance.

since your side panels are sheet metal a break press would easily bend these metal side pieces and a break press would be way easier and cheaper to build than a roll former, your tongue and grove edge piece is the first thing i thought of when i saw what you were doing, i need to build a shop so i'm watching what you are doing thanx

I love the idea of interlocking panels. Great idea!

You could make roll formed studs in two different dimensions so that they lock together without the tongue and groove plan you outlined. The left stud would be slightly smaller in width so that it would nest into the right stud without distorting the metal. The depth dimension of the smaller depth stud would be would be equivalent to twice the gage thickness of the sheet metal gage thickness. All of the studs would be oriented in the same direction, left to right, so that they nest together. The end of the wall would be made with two small width studs oriented with the male form. The studs would be painted with a marking dot during manufacture so that they could be distinguished from the wide studs or you could use currently available studs and make a roll former that would make the smaller dimension stud.

Great ideas. For myself I'd like to build corners out of a single piece. Of course you'd need inner and outer forms, but that's no biggie. I also REALLY like the idea of tension cable to tie wall panels together. Plumbing, electrical and so forth is doable I guess, but seems to me to overly complicate what is basically a simple concept. Additionally once in place repair down the road is virtually impossible. Hope you get this up and running. If you can build the roll formers yourself and RENT rather than sell the forms I think this could be a real money maker. As well as a HELL of a lot of fun. Take to the bank though that when successful you'll have a huge number of competitors in short order.

You have some good ideas going here. I would consider making the bottoms end of wall panels with a female recess and the tops with male spines. Here's why. On your bottom tracks (or the sill plate if you will) you could pour just the male spine. That would allow you to easily and quickly control the placement and retention of your wall sections at one of it's most vulnerable areas. At the top side you could lay a wall slab on its side with the female side down to lock onto the male splines on the wall slab tops. It would be like one continuous header which would work for door and window openings too. Also I like that you used some wire mesh in your wall slabs. It helps with their structural integrity a bunch more than people know. If you do this tongue and groove idea you'll want to double up on your mesh so that a sheet of mesh rides the respective space on either side of the female recess. Making little squares or rolls out of the mesh that you stick in between the sheets will help to ensure that the mesh sheets stay in their allotted areas and the top sheet doesn't just fall to the bottom. Also wire ties at the corners and somewhere down the sides in the middle area will suspend the bottom sheet and keep it from becoming just texturing on one side of your wall sections. Good luck with your endeavors!

In general a good idea. You just forget the thermal conductivity of jour metal profiles. Each profile will create a cold bridge leading to local condensation of moisture. Not good for cold areas. I break my head already for a while how to work around that problem.

I would also be eliminating the steel and perhaps using a rebar system instead, because many building codes will require it.

I like it,

There is a standard shape called a hat channel, you can place these in the form and the hat channel shape would be molded in the material, then you can use calk, foam tape, expanded poly foam in a can or mortar to connect the panels. Corners can be made same way just put hat channel at right angle in the form. If you used 3/8 I’d tubing at 12 or 16” increments you can use 12” cut length of fiberglass field fence posts to span between the panels like a dowel. Use pipe insulation in a rebar to mold wire chases, pulling out the rebar leaving foam inside panel, preplanning you can place foam boxes in form. At the top and bottom of panels put female hat section in form. Then set panels in bonding mortar like a brick and a couple of strands of barb wire, at the top pour a continuous bond beam with headers and rebar. Use same fiber glass pins. This is called resilient construction. The hurricane straps can be put in to the bond beam header including a still plate, during pour, vents too. In cold or hot climates avoid solutions that trap moisture, conduct heat or moisture, or wick moisture. A technology called surface bonded concrete is a great final finish method, it is used to make dry stack blocks earthquake resistant construction. M. Mccallum copywrited 4/7/2020. All rights reserved.

This is a great idea. Think of another possibility with added thickness ,any length formed fastened together would be a great new idea For inexpensive floating docks for owners with lake homes. Just add a few more tricks to make it work. Let your imagination do its job. Great work Darwin, keep it up my dear friend.

I see large commercial buildings going up from preformed concrete walls that get trucked in. I wonder what methods are used to tie those together. I Think they have built in metal anchors that align when assembled. This is like a smaller version of that building method using regular concrete set in place by cranes. I would think that With The brittleness of Aircrete simply nailing or screwing them to a header or footer will not hold under stress. Also i think of how to keep rain water off the lower walls that will run down into a c channel at the footer

Your tongue and groove idea is good, but I would put draft on the tongue and groove sections. Making the male part at a 15 degree angle on each side will allow you to remove it from the form easier, especially when using a release agent. Putting the corresponding angles on the female side will also allow you to line them up easier.

C-channal sill anchored to the slab with standard J-bolts, spaced as per code. Speaking of code... The trick would be to get the insurance industry to cover your homeowners or other insurance for these structures. Then you would be cooking with gas! It's all about liability. You essentially would open a whole new home, commercial and industrial construction industry. Oh Yeah!

I know this is a year old, don’t know if you have made progress or will see this. Instead of tongue and groove where you have to have 2 kinds of channel, make it Z shaped so all end pieces are the same and you only need to flip channel over for each side.

No wire runs? Embed some pvc from the roof down to switch or outlet heighth and you can wire in low power CCTV, CTV, or power switches and outlets.

Just found your channel and like the ideas of the channels. My question is? Are you leaving the metal studs in the walls or pulling them off after the air crete is dry?

This is a super idea! Thank you! But until the day you begin mass production, do you have any links for your viewers for sources of interlocking male/female channel stock? Somebody must be making these interlocking already no?

Have you done any compression/tension testing to check for tolerance limits of aircrete? Concrete is notoriously poor for tolerating tension. That is why tension bars are always used. Can this product tolerate the force exerted on a partition wall, for example. It is porous and significantly lighter than concrete.

Can aircrete be sprayed? For instance geo dome or quanset hut with a newspaper and wire mesh backing? The sculpture shapes would be limitless

Consider using a piece of corrugated steel as the Male and female keys. As an example, may not be practical due to length and width of corrigations, but for reference, the corrugated metal on a shipboard convex container. But with narrower corrigations. The angles could be made on a press brake at a local shop. They would be easy to strip the forms and easy to assemble the panels. Consider all thread rod and female couplings going through the panels to pull them together with some kind of caulk or glue in the joints.

Might want to apply for patents or whatever before you start getting too detailed on your plans. That said, you could make these both male and female if you have the former run a flap back over to that it creates a flange that you can use to screw the panels together. Have a male on the bottom of the panels to mate into a female metal channel run that is screwed to the foundation. Have it female on the top so that you can run a continuous strap in the groove to tie them all together. If thin enough it would also allow you to do the male-bottomed headers. You may want to consider running a bead of expansion foam between the sections to completely seal out the weather.

I have a question, I work with prefab design, mainly sip panels, is aircete new, are there Companies mass producing aircete panels for construction, I'm new to this and it seems like an amazing product with so much potential

have you used any other air crete formulas like shredded paper or perlite that are said to be stronger

If you make all the studs with grooves, and add a pvc spline to lock them together? Then you have to design only one universal metal stud.

Hmm, if you turned a stud out on one side, could the 'wings' be bent out to overlap the wings on the panel next to it allowing an easy way to interlock the panels with off the shelf stuff?

Have you thought about using a dowel idea? Drill some holes and punch in a dowel to match each panel connection.

It would be stronger horizontal. Like a log cabin.

I think it's a good idea, but my opinion is that it solves a problem that may not exist. I can't see there being much force laterally on the wall panels. Now, I'm assuming there will be some type of banding attaching the panels to their adjacent panels. I'm also assuming a double layer of a caulk or adhesive between panels. With a channel top and bottom, there shouldn't be much room for flexing. I've also thought of putting a pvc conduit in the pour at 18 inches from bottom to be used as the electrical raceway. Home runs put in the slab can be put in the panels with a stub out the bottom to mate with and out the top for ceiling lights. Just my 2 cents worth and I'm looking forward to your progress.

What do you anticipate the price of a pre fab aircrete shed to be? Would it be competitive with other types available on the market?

What do you suppose the weight of each panel for the end walls? If you go to any Home Depot,Lowes and Sams Club they sell plastic sheds that are larger than 10' X 12'. I don't believe they meet building codes in any state in the continental US. In Florida I see them with plastic roof panels also but 1977 was the last year we had several inches of snow in the Tampa Bay area.

Youre over thinking it babe! Use the exact same channels you have for the sides on the top and bottom! The inny on the bottom and the outy on the top! Think about it!!

on the bottom of wall

Awesome ideas, Darwin! You'll be a tycoon yet!👍🏻

so could you build panels then remove forms tounge and groove???? Connect with uerethane glue????

Suggestion: make all the completed panels yourself in house as an assemble yourself house kit. You could ship out a complete home on a flatbed semi trailer. Small sheds and garages are a good place to start. By doing this in-house you have the quality control that you would need over the foamcreate panels. Remember you could be held financially responsible for anything you sold that might fail and injure someone. You can not be sure the people will follow your instructions in building the panels themselves thus the need for quality control. Forming an LLC would be the wisest course to protect your assets. Again, just a Suggestion.

hola que msteriales de contruccion usas en la mezcla para armar los paneles?

Hi there! How about the thermal bridge? How to solve this problem?

Honey do do. I like your idea using off shelf material to make into new products. I think I may be able to make further improvement in this idea. Do u want to team up?

Your Idea is good, although I would prefer a form that creates L shape panels, this type can easily allow bolt together installation, using adhesive and a few bolts, and the form/mold is easy to construct. Do air create panels actually need the metal 2x4's, I am adding more reinforcement wire within the L shape panels, and totally do away with the metal 2x4,s, this will also reduce cost. My Ideas are to reduce materials, and construct in such a simple way to create high strength, instead of adding, and adding until the cost is out of reach, and creating construction overkill. One could also within the mold create a nice exterior board, brick, or stone pattern.

THAT METAL FORMER IS CALLED PROGRESSIVE ROLLER

Why not just put dowls and holes, or holes for dowls in the 2x4's, it would save alot of work. Maybe modify PVC cap plugs, by putting a groove in the 2x4 can lock in to. With something like a screw the concrete can Holt to on the end, then something like a 4" piece of 1" dowl can be tapped into one side then slide together! I don't know if it makes sense, but hey, it works perfect in my head!!! Ha-ha..

Consider: Would anyone ever stack 2" x 4" bricks by standing them up like soldiers side by side? Of course not, there is no strength. With a 3/4 tongue and groove, a minor shift in the ground (or earthquake) and the groove joint opens. With just 3/4" inch shift and the whole building collapses. If instead of a 2' x 8' panel you do 4'x4' panels with grooves at 2' interval then you can placed them so they can overlap by two feet. ( effectively 4'x4' bricks) Not optimum, but stronger. There's a real good reason we overlap bricks, and there is a reason they are strapped to the wall every four feet after every few courses. I doubt if your design is very safe so far, but I love that you are working on it.

you can do this new style with your next doghouse. test model.

I have one question about AIRCRETE. Is aircrete as sound proof as solid concrete? Can they be used in sound proof outdoor walls?