Lorenz Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 Not sure this is the right area to post it, but I have seen styrofoam houses being built and see they have been built in Ireland and that a company in NI is also marketing them, have any actually been built in the UK. Basically sections of building cut from styrofoam, or styrofoam boards, then assembled into a house and coated in structural cement, passive and passive plus. They were very cheap in Poland, about 20k for a house. https://www.facebook.com/m3systempl/videos/747955855266063 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishjohn Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 more info onthis in english would be good --could be the way for me to line my old stone house walls -and not having to spend months repointing all the inside of the stone walls rather than building timber frame one inside of the walls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorenz Posted September 21, 2021 Author Share Posted September 21, 2021 (edited) A house made of polystyrene - Independent.ie Home (passivehousing.ie) There is a company from Ukraine that does something similar a friend told me about, not sure I can find details on that. There are videos on using styrofoam boards to build houses on Hawaii and elsewhere, walls, floors and roof all monolithic. Edited September 21, 2021 by Lorenz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorenz Posted September 22, 2021 Author Share Posted September 22, 2021 Foam Home built by G R Building Systems, LLC Scottsdale Arizona - YouTube G R Building Systems, LLC Green Rhino Building Systems, Scottsdale Arizona - YouTube Green Rhino Building Systems Basement Project - YouTube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 Two things spring to mind. Fire Safety. Could you get a mortgage on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorenz Posted September 22, 2021 Author Share Posted September 22, 2021 36 minutes ago, SteamyTea said: Two things spring to mind. Fire Safety. Could you get a mortgage on it. Sips, ICFs I guess they are not allowed for fire safety reasons and can you get a mortgage on them? Comes to mind many recent internally wood framed houses that go up quick, but burn a lot quicker. They are points I think about, but it is essentially a Structural Insulated Panel type system and less flammable than most recent builds I have seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 1 minute ago, Lorenz said: Sips, ICFs I guess they are not allowed for fire safety reasons and can you get a mortgage on them ICF is really a concrete house, so more time if the walls start burning to get out. SIPs uses well understood OSB, and often fire resistant PUs, but I do have reservations on SIPs for other reasons (shrinkage). Do these polystyrene houses have some certification in the UK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorenz Posted September 22, 2021 Author Share Posted September 22, 2021 22 minutes ago, SteamyTea said: ICF is really a concrete house, so more time if the walls start burning to get out. SIPs uses well understood OSB, and often fire resistant PUs, but I do have reservations on SIPs for other reasons (shrinkage). Do these polystyrene houses have some certification in the UK? That is why I am asking, they obviously do in the EU, does that carry through to the present in the UK. There is a company in Northern Ireland, but do not know if they have built any there yet. Think it is considerably safer than ICFs, as they just drywall the inside? The smoke will kill you quicker than the structure failing. Some of these styrofoam building use reinforced concrete pillars cast in, as in one of the videos I posted, especially when building a basement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishjohn Posted September 23, 2021 Share Posted September 23, 2021 certainly not the answer to my problems anyway . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorenz Posted September 23, 2021 Author Share Posted September 23, 2021 I have made an enquiry and wait to see if they answer, I did look at it in the past and toyed with the idea, but moved back to the UK. I think it lends itself to any design possibility, it is just a question of whether it is doable in the UK. I would like a passive Off Grid set up and this could work with that, and could dress it up to look like any style of building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam2 Posted September 23, 2021 Share Posted September 23, 2021 On 22/09/2021 at 16:47, Lorenz said: Think it is considerably safer than ICFs, as they just drywall the inside? Looks really interesting for a single floor structure - though not sure I'd be 100% happy in a 80mph wind though. Interested to understand why you think it is safer than ICF. Had a v quick look at one of the videos and it said it was an EPS house. An ICF house with the EPS lined with plasterboard I imagine (& hope !) is a fairly safe structure in that the concrete is robust to fire and the plasterboard will provide reasonable protection before heat builds up to allow occupants to evacuate. Why is an EPS house (not sure what is used for structural integrity to connect house to foundation etc) any safer than an EPS concrete house? 20K to build a house though is a bargain ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorenz Posted September 23, 2021 Author Share Posted September 23, 2021 They do build them several stories high from what I have seen. They have a reinforced outer skin, similar to ferrocement but using synthetic fibres these days, so similar types of structure have withstood Hurricanes and debris smashing into them in the States, so I do not think they will have a problem with high winds, especially as the surrounding more conventional builds were blown away. With the Polish example mentioned, they mostly seem to line it with plasterboard, but many are treated very much the same as the exterior with what I think of as a ferrocement type layer. I prefer this reinforced stucco type layer, as I may be wrong, but I think of it as stronger and having better characteristics than plasterboard. Depending on how the plasterboard is applied and how a fire might start, it might be burning behind the board before people become aware of it. There is a website somewhere, I came across it a few years ago, which lists different innovations in Styrofoam type buildings, but I have not come across it in recent searches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam2 Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 Thanks really interesting - waiting for the first Grand Designs to feature one ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorenz Posted September 24, 2021 Author Share Posted September 24, 2021 8 hours ago, Adam2 said: Thanks really interesting - waiting for the first Grand Designs to feature one ? May have happened already? There is the EPS mesh sandwich panels, which have been used in the UK. A friend of mine had some offcuts from a big project in Doncaster that used them about 15 years ago. I don't know what the logic is behind them, because they are full or cold bridges, so do not make sense to me at all, and they do not need to use metal to tie the sides together. So there must be some kind of advice for architects using foam blocks for building. Here is a company in the US; PROJECTS | strata (strataus.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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