John Kettler Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Just learned about Concrete Canvas from my brother and was totally blown away. Makes inflatables permanent and fireproof. Strikes me as just the exterior layer for buildings and homes in wildfire prone zones (see blowtorch demo) and could be great for rapid housing and support building creation in disasters. The closest thing I've ever seen to it was making buildings by spraying gunnite (think swimming pool concrete) in successive layers over a balloon, then deflating it. Unsurprisingly, Concrete Canvas has won scads of awards. http://www.concretecanvas.co.uk/index.html Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I'm pretty sure we saw this a year or 3 ago too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I recall about 35 years ago someone of my acquaintance touting the idea of some construction company he had heard of. Seems the idea was that you would take a bulldozer and push up a mound of dirt. Then you would put a layer of concrete over that. Once the concrete had hardened and cured, you did the dirt out and hey presto! you have an instant habitable dome. Well, maybe not quite instant. Apparently the idea never took off or became a commercial success. Perhaps the necessity for the bulldozer made it prohibitively expensive or something. Anyway, these new ideas seem more practical. I'm not sure I'd want to use a concrete building for anything but a garage or a workshop though. Just don't seem to have the necessary bunker mentality. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilhammer Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Why must everything new to JK be 'mind blowing'? http://www.rilem.net/fiche.php?cat=conference&reference=pro030-022 http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jact/1/3/1_231/_article http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TWG-40NFS8T-G&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1067027534&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=738b2ff74c86b051ade32e6452a353fd http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?9202285 If you ever visit a construction site or read materials literature you might be 'blown away' by a great many things. Really, this 'Revolutionary Product' stuff is just 'shocking' copy for advertisement. What is 'new' is the application, and by new, so 4-5 years ago. One might ask why it was not a necessary invention before that - cost - steel buildings, etc, where much cheaper at one time. One can argue that cement impregnation is as old as man's construction activities - ever hear of bricks? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 I recall about 35 years ago someone of my acquaintance touting the idea of some construction company he had heard of. Seems the idea was that you would take a bulldozer and push up a mound of dirt. Then you would put a layer of concrete over that. Once the concrete had hardened and cured, you did the dirt out and hey presto! you have an instant habitable dome. Well, maybe not quite instant. Apparently the idea never took off or became a commercial success. Perhaps the necessity for the bulldozer made it prohibitively expensive or something. Wouldn't it be quicker and easier to use a big inflatable rubber balloon, like they used for building bunker domes in the 1930's? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Wouldn't it be quicker and easier to use a big inflatable rubber balloon, like they used for building bunker domes in the 1930's? I dunno. Maybe they never heard of that technique. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 That's possible. The invention was American and was used eg. in construction of Mannerheim line in Finland, but sometimes people forget that the wheel has been invented. Or too high license fees make it an undesirable solution. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 28, 2009 Author Share Posted October 28, 2009 Stalin's Organist, My choice of phrasing clearly indicates I was referring to my personal awareness of this technology. Wilhammer, What? Not even a "Welcome back!" before assailing me? Suggest you reinvestigate brick technology. Bricks can be made from nothing more than mud placed in molds and sun dried. No concrete impregnation there. The Romans, though, did invent Portland type cement, and the Pantheon is a superb example of concrete engineering to build the dome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon,_Rome Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilhammer Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 The best bricks have a binder in them - straw - the best materials in construction always have a matrix in them, just as cloth mixed with cement. Bricks will fail if they are just mud - unless the mud is a conglomerate. You might want to reinvestigate Mud Technology.... As to welcome back - Hell, I am not even sure you exist - Alien Phaser Laser Holographic Mind control channeled through some poor sap on the Intertubes is most likely 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jack Ripper Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Welcome back, John Kettler. Time to make a new tinfoil hat! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 Wilhammer, Pretty funny! I am, of course, aware of the virtues of adding straw to mud brick, starting, I believe, with something I learned in Sunday school as a kid. More recently, I watched somebody making mud bricks on Amazing Race and believe I also saw it done on some ancient civilization doc. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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