Subject:
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living in an ABS house?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Tue, 15 Feb 2005 20:17:02 GMT
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Viewed:
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708 times
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A post in the Toronto newsgroup about building a concrete home has put an idea
in my head, and now it won't leave me alone. Maybe spitting it out here will
make the voices shut up. :)
The idea: could some enterprising company (ideally, TLC) develop a line of large
interlocking bricks, perhaps comprised of an ABS plastic shell filled with some
form of insulation, such that you could actually build a home out of it?
All right, crazy I know, but let's just explore it a bit. Each brick would be
maybe 100 x 40 x 20 cm or so, though of course you'd want several different
shapes, perhaps corresponding to 2x2, 2x4, and 2x8 LEGO bricks. We'd also need
some plates, for floors and ceilings, and some beams in various long lengths
(which would of course be more expensive) for holding up the ceiling or second
floor. The beams might need to be made out of some tougher material, but would
still interlock with the standard bricks.
There would of course be roof bricks (slopes) too, for making the roof. Maybe
even curved bricks, with which you could make many more interesting designs.
I'm not sure how one would attach siding or interior drywall -- perhaps you
wouldn't. If the bricks came in a variety of colors, maybe that would be good
enough. Or, instead of expecting one brick to be both inside and outside wall,
the bricks would be made equivalent to 1x2, 1x4, and 1x8 LEGOs, and you'd use
different color (and texture?) bricks on the inside and outside walls. You
could even build your walls with a suitable gap to make it easier to run wires,
pipes, etc., which would come out through specialty bricks containing outlets or
fixtures. Other specialty bricks would provide attachment points for pictures,
shelves, etc. (much like in a concrete hotel or dormoratory).
I think the thermal properties of such a house would be comparable to a
wood-frame home, especially if you filled the gap behind the outermost walls
with extra insulation.
Security? Doesn't seem like a major problem to me. To break in, an intruder
would have to climb all the way up to the roof and start prying bricks off
there. It'd be substantially easier to just break a window in a traditional
home.
Cost is certainly a concern. I can imagine the basic bricks costing a couple
bucks each, with specialty bricks and odd shapes costing more. But that's still
reasonable; you'll sink thousands into the bricks for your house, and thousands
more for the wiring and plumbing, but hey, it's a house. And when you get tired
of the layout, or want to add on an extra room, you just rip it apart and build
it different. How cool is that?
All right, no doubt about it, it would be a niche market. Not many people would
want to live in a LEGO house, and of those, even fewer would be able to talk
their wives into it. :) Still... can anyone see any obvious reason this
wouldn't work?
Thanks,
- Joe
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Message has 7 Replies:
 | | Re: living in an ABS house?
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| SNIPPIFIED Certainly an idea that has gone through my head a few times as well, and as for your last question, it makes me think of foundations. How would a house with such a heavy weight (AFAIK, it *will* have a considerable wieght) be able to be (...) (20 years ago, 15-Feb-05, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: living in an ABS house?
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| (URL) Here are some you can start with. But of course the ablity to move and stack them becomes a bit limiting for the normal "do-it" yourselfer. jt (20 years ago, 15-Feb-05, to lugnet.general, FTX)
| | | Re: living in an ABS house?
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| (...) SNIP (...) Well, there's already (URL) this> and (URL) this>. In all reality, I think it would be cheaper to use conventional building materials rather than ABS. Labor alone would be a killer. -Duane (20 years ago, 15-Feb-05, to lugnet.general, FTX)
| | | Re: living in an ABS house?
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| Hate to burst your bubble, but it'd be a *HUGE* fire hazard! ABS and other plastics are basically just solid oil. They'll burn like mad once they reached a certain temperature and started to outgass. Even covering a wall with baseplates would (...) (20 years ago, 15-Feb-05, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: living in an ABS house?
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| (...) But all that a burgler would need is a giant 1X2 tile with dynamite print...or a ladder and a giant brick seperator. ; ) On the serious side, you'd have to find a way to waterproof the roof. I don't think LEGO-like interlocking pieces could do (...) (20 years ago, 16-Feb-05, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: living in an ABS house?
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| In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote: SNIPPALOT (...) I'm a draftsman in a timber frame home design company, & one of our clients is using these: (URL) the foundation. They can be used for the whole house tho'-and check out those studs! ('For Trade' (...) (20 years ago, 16-Feb-05, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: living in an ABS house?
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| (...) A chainsaw would probably be quicker, and no more obvious despite the noise! People tend to notice when someone is on the roof. Heh - if Santa was too fat to fit down the chimney, he could modify it :-) (...) It's a new house every day! (...) (20 years ago, 16-Feb-05, to lugnet.general)
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