Concrete Thinking: The House of the Future? 

😂 yeah...

Desert Rat Gardener , you may want to look into heat melt embedded into the concrete roof. Ski resorts use them.

Buck ey thhank you

Check out 'the verge' they have a home or the future alright

Niner Gal909 negra edionda if life was just that easy

Yeah I got that too. He just made that one up.

regular homes are always from concrete

not in America

Known, and widely considered for use, are two different things.

What people? The point here is that concrete houses are a new thing for most Americans.

Me too!! Shipping to Florida?

Ca

are all peoples live in subtropical climate like you?

Concrete houses work better in some places than others. They are certainly a lot easier to fireproof. Thermal mass is a benefit if the temperature cycles around a comfortable mid point, but it can be a nightmare if it's consistently hot or cold, especially if you want to heat of cool rooms only when they are used. The only insulation in most concrete is that which is deliberately added, making the wall thicker and eating up space. Concrete can only be made earthquake resistant by adding a lot of reinforcement, and even then, any damage is harder to fix than with wood. Some areas don't have access to high quality concrete, and in some places, contaminated mining has led to concrete cancer of various forms (Google "cornish prefab", "concrete pyrite" ). Any structural problems in concrete are much more dangerous than those one finds in wood construction; almost all of the fatal building collapses in the world are in concrete and masonry structures. In cold areas, road salt can drastically shorten the life of concrete; my town had to demolish a parking garage that was only 30 years old. It's much easier to insulate wood frame construction without adding cost or bulk, though it's always better to add an external layer to avoid any direct thermal bridging. Contrary to one of the commentators in the video, wood construction can last indefinitely and is very easy to repair while modern concrete has about a 100 year lifespan in good conditions (it can be fixed with various patching methods, but it's an uphill battle). The special concrete they mentioned might have been some mix of Roman pozzolan concrete, which has lasted for hundreds of years in Italy, but it's not available everywhere and shipping can be a major expense with such a heavy material. The "tornado test" was impressive, but a big problem with panelized concrete, both precast and tilt-up, has been the joints between the panels (Google "ronan point disaster"; the temptation has been to bolt the sections together at the top and bottom, but they need a lot of bolts, or a grout-lock, to give the whole structure the strength of each panel (this is also a potential problem with panelized wood construction). Still, this system looks promising, at least for some places; I hope a marketable version becomes available if it can be made at a reasonable price.

@@pcno2832 You make many interesting points. What do you think limits concrete life to 100 years? It would be interesting to know how to increase the life span. Any thoughts on structures such as Coit Tower and the foundations for the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco? Those are about 90 years old. Curious about your comment, I looked around and found the William E. Ward house in Rye Brook, NY and the Highland Cottage also in NY from about 1870. Not sure how the concrete is holding up in those structures. Joseph Aspdin is credited for patenting Portland cement in 1824. I wonder if there are any structures from Joseph Aspdin still surviving. Also, curious about the pozzolan concrete you mention. I wonder what steps to take to make concrete last longer.

ha-ha

"The reason the U'S builds wood houses is more political than economic. That's another story." - Please provide irrefutable proof for this claim

@@fabian2314 www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/06/11/green.building.material/index.html

The US build houses from timber because of the abundance of timber available. It has more to do with tradition and politics.

@@jeremyfarley6650 did you read the article I posted? It most definitely is political in nature.

@@farajianderson7690 Article is about Kalifornia? Nobody cares about Kalifornia.

ha-ha --- stupid opinion