"Britain's industry and populace uses at least 50 million tonnes of timber a year. More than 75% of this is softwood, and Britain's forests cannot supply the demand; in fact, less than 10% of the timber used in Britain is home-grown."
On the other hand, over here in North America, we import very little lumber...
https://ecofriend.com/no-wood-house-its-cost-effective-eco-friendly-too.html << Things such as this house; uses no wood in it's construction. Others are the same.
...made of iron ore tailing giving birth to yet cost effective, eco friendly houses...
So basically it's made entirely out of dirt? I seriously doubt that...
We can't get away from using wood, aside from building materials, it literally has thousands of other uses. Even most synthetic materials contain or use wood byproducts in their production (such as cellulose & lignin)
Coatings, Stains, Ceramics, Plastics, etc. all contain wood byproducts
@wildbill83 That house doesn't contain wood; neither does other houses of it's kind like modular or 3d printed houses.>>https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/12-18-march-2018/3d-printed-home-built-24-hours-tackle-homelessness/ << these do use wood; but other materials can be substituted such as recycled or reformed plastic, metal etc.
Also it's not about not using wood at all; just reducing our need for it.
@wildbill83 It is reinforced though. They are up to building code. Also as I stated; it's not about stopping the use of wood everywhere. For example, you don't need wood for paper. Millions of trees are felled for paper alone each year. You can recycle paper / card as well as making it from renewable sources such as Hemp.
simply put, wood is and always has been the most economical & environmentally friendly building product, there is no renewable alternative that even comes close to it's low cost and durability.
we have plenty of wood buildings that are hundreds of years old and still standing today, long after many newer concrete structures have crumbled to the ground...
The automated printer, called The Vulcan, produces strips of mortar which are layered on top of each other within a pre-defined template on tracks, similar to smaller-scale 3D-printers.
I've never seen a 3d printer that can print solid bars of 1/2" rebar & weld them together, have you? 🤔
@wildbill83 https://buildwithstrength.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/02-NRMCA-BWS-ICF-v2-Infographic-NS.pdf << You can also use ICF's as seen in this link.
Here >> https://homeguides.sfgate.com/methods-house-construction-8755.html << Goes through more with the advantages & disadvantages of each.
@L33TH4X0R I'm familiar with ICF's, they're not 3d printed...lol
They're also expensive and not suitable (nor practical) for asymmetric structures; Nor can they be used in certain conditions depending on frost line, soil compactness, structure weight, etc.
The only ones I've done personally were all for mobile homes
Not to mention they're only used for foundations of homes, not entire structures... (can't plumb and wire a solid concrete wall, nor is the R rating/insulation rating enough for a residence)
@wildbill83 I didn't say it was 3D printed. I was offering alternatives.
There are plenty of places where wood can be reduced; not excluded, reduced. That was my point. I know wood is good but it's not necessary all the time in everything it is used for.
I have a very nice garden studio office built using recycled Plastic, Steel & Wood - yes Wood; it's not strictly a wood though as Bamboo was chosen. It's technically a grass but it's been used for centuries as a wood substitute.
ICF's are just concrete forms; and buy the time you buy forms, the concrete, rent a concrete pump to fill them, and pay the labor (which is far more intensive than laying block), it's considerably more expensive; not to mention that concrete prices fluctuate wildly, especially in recent years.
@L33TH4X0R it all comes down to cost... few people are going to justify paying 25-30% more for a house that costs 200-300k+ to build/finance in order to save a few dozen trees...
@wildbill83 Unfortunately it always comes down to cost. But the more you do things the cheaper they are. Pineapples used to be 'rented' to show wealth.
@L33TH4X0R but anyways, back to the original topic... if people were really concerned about "saving the forests", they'd quit buying all this cheap, mass produced, ikea, wal-mart, etc. shit made from processed lumber/MDF, much of which is sourced from virgin forests/jungles (and in many cases, logged illegally from national parks/forests) and buy locally produced furniture made from locally sourced renewable timber that's actually built to last...
