Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Why are all houses these days made with Styrofoam????!! 41Feb 08, 2014 8:58 pm Why was my post deleted????????????????????????? Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: Why are all houses these days made with Styrofoam????!! 42Feb 08, 2014 10:33 pm 2-cupcakes-pls just build the house out of bricks Ditto Re: Why are all houses these days made with Styrofoam????!! 43Feb 09, 2014 12:20 am oncewerefurriers Dr House ST-Hardy LOL!! What a good giggle all the replies to this post have given me Although it may seem unstable and not a great way of building, the simple fact is that all these new designs have to be passed through vigorous testing and pass many laws and standards to be safe and liveable. If they didn't, they wouldn't be used. Simple as that. They said the same thing about Asbestos. And we all know how that one turned out. Is your doctorate in strawman arguments? Its not a strawman's argument. They actually KNEW about how bad the Asbestos is for over 70 YEARS but kept quiet about it (just google or wiki Asbestos) and only in the 70s (and late 80s in Australia) did they stopped using it and banned the use of it in 90s. "Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is almost always somebody screwed up." Re: Why are all houses these days made with Styrofoam????!! 44Feb 09, 2014 12:31 am seano Oh crap. And to think waffle pods are made from polystyrene too! Better not jump up and down too hard, or use a jack in the garage lest it go through the floor! How many engineers and research would it have taken for them to work out polystyrene is suitable for the walls, and has some great advantages? Someone didn't just start using it without a whole lot of testing and analysis. No, the waffle pods are only acting as formwork / mould for the cement to pour and settle in. The strength of cement/concrete slab with steel rebars is undeniable. The polystyrene / Styrofoam wall we are talking about here are just that - Styrofoam. They have very little strength in them. "Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is almost always somebody screwed up." Re: Why are all houses these days made with Styrofoam????!! 45Feb 09, 2014 12:50 am We had a house constructed from styrofoam panels in the tropics, and it was fantastic. By far the lowest use of a/c amongst friends with similar size houses. The outer walls were 100mm, with cement sheeting then render on the outside, and gyprock on the inside. The sheets slotted into a light steel frame. The ceiling panels were also 100mm with colourbond on the upside and gyprock below - looked just like any other ceiling from within. Extra benefit was you could walk all over the ceiling panels in the roof space and use the whole area for storage. All internal walls were solid core with gyprock pre-applied. The whole house was a stressed member and had the highest possible cyclone rating. Try punching a hole in the side of an esky and see who comes off second best. Re: Why are all houses these days made with Styrofoam????!! 46Feb 09, 2014 1:30 am oncewerefurriers : In some way, you are right. EPS has problem and issue with moisture which greatly affect its performance both thermal and strength. So as a newly piece of EPS, it has some level of impact resistance, but in time this will drop with at greater rate than XPS. However with proper care and moisture barrier, it has similar performance as XPS. Also, there are other ways to improve structural strength and impact resistance of EPS, one of those is by adding soil + rocks in the manufacturing process.. Stewie D: Sure! The first thing easiest to look at are the technical manuals from different suppliers. The basic thing to look at is the compressive strength in either kPa or MPa. XPS: can look at foamular and isoboard http://www.foamular.com.au/images/Tech_ ... 1-6-10.pdf http://www.isoboard.com.au/files/PIB-IS ... ne2009.pdf Out of these 2, I prefer foamular and will be using that for my build. EPS: AMC is one of those I come across with a easier to understand technical manual. Most EPS manuals come with more vague information on impact resistance and most will provide information with additional information on application requirements to improve this aspect. ie: mesh reinforcement. http://www.amcfoam.com/PDFs/EPS%20broch_web.pdf Geo EPS is the one I just mentioned with soil+rocks added to EPS process. I don't see it around Aus thou. http://www.expol.co.nz/pdfs/EPSGeofoamA ... alData.pdf Bricks: The easiet is to look at boral. http://www.boral.com.au/pavers/brick_te ... whole_.pdf There are a lot more, but these will give everyone a start on looking at these products.. I have looked at other things as well like ICF etc.. There are really lots to learn when you look at building a house. Re: Why are all houses these days made with Styrofoam????!! 47Feb 09, 2014 8:04 am Stewie D Quote: Oh crap. And to think waffle pods are made from polystyrene too! Better not jump up and down too hard, or use a jack in the garage lest it go through the floor! Seano, I think the fact that there is little difference between a standard 100mm conc slab with a sand sub-base in regard to a wafflepod slab on polystyrene is the reason why you hear very little about car jacks going through them - see Saint Mikes thread on urban myths. Those pictures by the way that Dr House posted are of a product called Zego although I presume there would be other similar ones out there. Stewie I love a good myth: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=62127&hilit=urban+myth I told the story about how we were told ours was to be a WP slab. Read up on it - learnt all I could. Asked questions. Then to find out they changed their mind - put in a normal slab. Never knew why ... But - friends with a WP slab claimed it was better in an earthquake in their area. Not sure if this is true - but they are happy. Re: Why are all houses these days made with Styrofoam????!! 48Feb 09, 2014 8:20 am Snowing, here is a detail for our upper storey I drew a while back using rendered poly sheets for the external cladding. It seems you will be doing something similar. http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc455/stewiesno1/FIRSTFLOORFRAMINGREV2_zpsd547e035.jpg We may decrease the air gap to 20mm ( that is where I want the sparky to run his wires ) but increase the thickness of the poly to 75mm. Thanks for the links too. I've already had a look at the foamular and it is one on our shortlist. Stewie Re: Why are all houses these days made with Styrofoam????!! 49Feb 09, 2014 5:42 pm oncewerefurriers Are Cockatoos renowned for biting buildings? What would entice them to bite a rendered polystyrene building rather than a rendered brick one, or a timber clad one? Unless someone told them it'd be fun. I'd say they are renowned for biting buildings! They'll have a go, if they're getting nowhere they'll get bored ... but if they're having an effect it's great fun for 'em! And regarding "unless someone told them" ... one discovers something can be ripped apart, then their mates appear en masse to have a go. So many street-lights along Epping Road & Lane Cove Road with the seals ripped out or hanging down, because one of them discovered it, so many of them rip the rubber out &/or get it loose enough to swing back & forth on like some big white trapeze artist. Re: Why are all houses these days made with Styrofoam????!! 50Feb 10, 2014 10:51 am I agree Forg. Those flying feather dusters have very strong beaks. I saw a house up in the Blue Mountains with lovely WR Cedar windows and doors that had been attacked by a large flock of cockies before they were all painted and they did thousands of dollars worth of damage in only a couple of days. Stewie 8 6156 I'll be here once a week, lets make that Mondays. If you have a question, this will be the day I will log in for a look around.. If your lucky, sooner. Ask away...… 0 6369 i imagine you also have another contract with an architect? and yeah, whatever other's said about special conditions and appendices 16 16026 |