Formworks homes

anyone here familiar with them?

they cost about as much as a conventional house but require very little, if any heating and cooling as they are underground homes.
they can easily be designed to let in plenty of natural lighting so its not like you would be living in a hole
people who have had formworks homes have had fires and tornadoes and such pass right by and over there homes with little to no damge reported, so they are very sturdy and safe homes

heres a link to there site for anyone interested

http://www.formworksbuilding.com/

Very informative and interesting. Lots of detail on how they accomplish it.

I looked at this very seriously. A monolithic dome does the same thing, a a lower cost. If you hire MD contractors, cost may be the same. But read website at http://www.byoh.com/ and apply it to a dome; all the subs know what they're doing and the cost goes way down. Consider basalt rebar instead of steel; it is much easier to work with, and labor and concrete savings more than make up for added basalt cost.

thanks for the link
i'll have to look at it in more depth when i have the feeling to

i am still planning on doing a formworks house unless i see soemthing better before hand
but i was never planning on going directly through formworks
i would much rather do it through a trusted contractor as the things nessacary to build a formworks house are all skills that i or members of my family have learned or someone in hte family knows someone who knows how to do these things(sry for the terrible sentence structure there lol)


the strength, extremely low maintainence and ability to make the home undetectable are definately what sells me on the general idea though

The Formworks system is a proprietary system; you would have an almost impossible time getting the steel framework fabricated. The large pieces are curved I beams with slots in the outside to accept the rebar. You can use rebar or basalt rebar instead of the I beam ribs, though It takes more pieces. In order to shoot the shotcrete, Formworks places foam pieces against the steel framework. I believe an airform balloon works much better. Review each process very carefully to understand all the steps. A website called the Mortarsprayer.com has an explanation of how to form an airform yourself.

You might want to have a look at:

http://www.subsurfacebuildings.com/Links.html


The TerraDome method is my favorite. The roof is domed so you can put unbelievable amounts of weight on top. This system is used by several contractors in different states. It uses modular forms in two sizes.


I don't think I would attempt to do the shell myself.

Well, if you have money you can do anything. Just remember, you will need lots of strength and flexibility for seismic issues we all will have to deal with. Lots of guys say they build to spec, HA! Buyer beware. I think there are cheaper and better ways to go, that just my opinion.

Daniel Morse wrote:Well, if you have money you can do anything. Just remember, you will need lots of strength and flexibility for seismic issues we all will have to deal with. Lots of guys say they build to spec, HA! Buyer beware. I think there are cheaper and better ways to go, that just my opinion.

Once workmanship and seismic issues are addressed, underground housing simply excels.

1) fireproof
2) emp resistant
3) intrusion resistant
4) zero/low cost heating and cooling



What cheaper and better building methods would you employ? I'm always open to education.

Well, Ja, Not knocking the underground home issue. But lets face facts. Unless your rich, mortgaged out your bottom hole or mummy and daddy got cash building with contractors is extremely expensive. NOT to mention the issue building codes. Its a great idea. But most of us mortals just do not have 200,000 to spend on a glorified basement.

I do not trust anyone making profit on me. I just do not. I want to,.....

Now, to be EMP prof, it needs to be enclosed more than having an open face. It must be a true faraday cage. That means all sides. Underground does not mean EMP prof. There are grounding issues and wavelengths to consider. I can talk on my cell phone in a sub basement of a sky scraper, but not my root cellar. Think about this.

Fire resistant. You forget all those goodies inside will burn. And an explosive event (God forbid) can cave one in or blast in and around an open side. Not to mention collapse any underground structure not reinforced. I mean reinforced.

Low heating and cooling. You will still need to heat and cool. Caves are not comfy and get dank and danker. I will not get into water migration. Remember, Hoover dam leaks a little. That is the reality of structures made of the "cement pond stuff."

Intrusion. I can get into anything. Especially those pretty windows and doors. They musta cost a fortune! I love glass. So satisfying when it breaks. Ahhhhhhh!

Air exchange. You have to have it. Weld in a tank some time. You will understand my point. Or fart in a small bathroom and try to read a book with a flashlight in a heat wave. Hmmmmm.

Dude, I am not knocking the idea. But lets stop dreaming of mansions under the earth. A solid structure can and will be needed if you want to live underground. Unless your using your own timber, are experienced in cement and have land where the building codes and nosey people will let you. I say rock on. But lets all be honest. This is an undertaking. Unless built well, very dangerous in my opinion. I think its a wonderful idea to have a hobbit hole. But keep it real. Talk about the issues and very real dangers of underground structures. I can not think of a worse thing than being trapped in a corner of a structure underground during a fire.

But hey, its cool to think about and keep the talk going. This is where new ideas and innovation comes from. I am just bitter. I tell people that a home or shelter underground is not safe unless I can park a few cars on top. Think about it.


However, I would not fill in my "fab root cellar" for anything. Daddy built a very strong, secret and safe little place to put his potatoes and precious babies for a better tomorrow, just in case.