Concrete City

[Bill Kibbel]

Garden Village of the Anthracite Regoin

http://www.itsveryeasytoremember.com/Pe ... _city.html

[Rob Amaral]

Didn't Thomas Edison have something to do with concrete housing like this?? That looks like officers quarters, North Korea Communist Party..

[John Kogel]

It was not too bad in the kitchen beside the stove. The concrete outhouse out back was a bit of a hardship. []

[Steven Hockstein]

Didn't Thomas Edison have something to do with concrete housing like this?? That looks like officers quarters, North Korea Communist Party..

Thomas Edison tried to develop a way to mass produce concrete houses but it did not work out and he abandoned the idea.

Here is a link to some photos that I found of a development of his homes that were built not too far from me. I find it amusing what some of the owners have done to make their homes look unique (my nice way of saying ridiculous).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22202402@N06/2993350452/

[kurt]

This is interesting. Concrete housing. Didn't work out so well.

The entirety of all Chinese construction is concrete boxes in varying forms. Pure concrete construction without a lot of very thoroughly considered and applied moisture and energy control elements, is a really lousy way to build a residence. I saw a lot of problems. Big. Problems.

Not surprisingly, I saw a lot of different waterproofing coatings being sold at storefront shops in every city and village.

OTOH, I went through a few early to mid 19th century rammed earth and mud brick houses covered about 1/8" thick with some seemingly very pure lime. This was in low elevation mountains with no freezing, but wildly changing inclement weather. Lotta rain, high winds, etc.

In the locations where the tile roof was still functional and other drainage considerations were present, the mud and lime walls were in perfect condition and the interior dirt floor space, while obviously raw and primitive, was dry and was reasonably comfortable. The interiors were also heavily smoke stained from smoking meat and portable heat sources, hung with drying corn, potatoes in corners, etc., but it was probably pretty comfortable for 150-200 years ago.

[David Meiland]

Bill, great link.

There are a couple of poured concrete houses in a state park here, from the 1930s I think. They make for some unusual IR. They had huge amounts of cordwood stacked outside.

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[mjr6550]

You can make a pretty nice place out of concrete.

https://www.google.com/search?q=fonthil ... 088%3B2320

[Bill Kibbel]

You can make a pretty nice place out of concrete.

https://www.google.com/search?q=fonthil ... 088%3B2320

Yeah, that "nice place" is a maintenance nightmare with a horrible indoor atmosphere. Fonthill was an early 18th century stone farmhouse and carriage house. Mercer encased them in concrete and then kept adding on until he thought everyone was impressed. That farm is just one small piece of Bucks County's heritage he either destroyed or altered for his own amusement.

[Rob Amaral]

Concrete houses = one word "Dank"

[mjr6550]

You can make a pretty nice place out of concrete.

https://www.google.com/search?q=fonthil ... 088%3B2320

Yeah, that "nice place" is a maintenance nightmare with a horrible indoor atmosphere. Fonthill was an early 18th century stone farmhouse and carriage house. Mercer encased them in concrete and then kept adding on until he thought everyone was impressed. That farm is just one small piece of Bucks County's heritage he either destroyed or altered for his own amusement.

Bill. I'm sure you are right about the maintenance nightmare, etc. About like Fallingwater and many other buildings designed by FLW. Just pointing out that not every concrete building looks like a box.

[kurt]

Fallingwater is Fallingdown. How many times have they spent dozens or hundreds of millions to put it back together?

I was there in the 70's. It was the definition of dank moldy concrete box.

[Tom Raymond]

There is a neighborhood of modest ranch homes about 20 miles from here that are all concrete except the roof framing. Simple postwar homes that one would never know were different, until they went in the basement and saw all the concrete overhead.

[kurt]

There's a few of those in the midwest. The one's that work have big eave overhangs and architectural features that shed water. I owned a cast concrete house in Kalamazoo for a few years; dry as a bone.

OTOH, there are some that are dank moldy boxes. Not exactly sure where the dividing lines are that make some work and others don't.

[Jerry Simon]

There's a few of those in the midwest.

Just did this one in February; Western Springs, IL Client said there were about a half-dozen in the neighborhood, all by the same builder. Built 1933. This modest 1,500 sf or so house is now 3,500 sf

Before & after pics. . .

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[hausdok]

Lots of concrete homes in Korea. They seem to work. Probably because they are really well ventilated.

I know a home inspector that lives here in Kenmore that lives in a ICF house. Very quiet and comfortable inside.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

P.S.

Amish Mafia is on tonight on the discovery channel. I keep expecting these so-called Mafioso to go see "der Gott Vater" at which point Bill Kibbel would be revealed and they'd all be kissing his ring.

[John Kogel]

Yes, there are a few ICF buildings here, styrofoam Lego blocks filled with concrete, warm and very strong.

Inspector horror story, a true story - He inspects the house, picks out a few deficiencies, the usuals, the client is happy and buys the house. 3 months later he gets the call "Why didn't you tell me all the walls are made of concrete?"

It could happen to anyone I think, especially if preoccupied. Expect the unexpected.