The price is right for this housing method

arrugala

Bronze
Nov 7, 2010
967
2
0
If you can locate enough of these in the dr , then your going to have inexpensive home life.
2dj2ft5.jpg
. Try not to incorporate a fireplace or heavy smokers ! These are made from storage skids. With a 500 to a thousand budget , your in ....
 

arrugala

Bronze
Nov 7, 2010
967
2
0
PALLET HOUSE – MULTIFUNCTIONAL GARDEN SHED OR CABIN
The Pallet House prototype designed by I-Beam Design was featured in HRH Prince Charles’ Royal Gardens as part of an exhibition on sustainable design, organized by Prince’s Charities, Start, along with The Earth Awards, The Financial Times and IBM. The interior was decorated by Wallpaper magazine.


The inspiration for the Pallet House Project came from the fact that 84% of the world’s refugees could be housed with a year’s supply of recycled American pallets. With one and a half year of pallet production in the US alone, 33 million refugees can live in a Pallet House.
Nearly 21 million pallets end in landfills each year which can house over 40,000 refugees.
Pallets are specifically designed for transport and delivery – so cost is negligible when carrying shipments of food, medicine and other types of aid to refugees. A 250 square foot ‘Pallet House’ requires 100 recycled pallets nailed and lifted into place by 4-5 people using hand tools in under a week.
 

arrugala

Bronze
Nov 7, 2010
967
2
0
Nothing that a couple of hungry bouviers couldn't sort out with an addition of good creative security measures
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
what creative security measures? this is the house for pobres, they have no security measures. i have seen badly done wood and zinc houses that could be brought down by a kick. this is not that different. the issue i have with projects like that is that they are rich man's play. i could easily build a house of scraps from the landfill: odd wooden planks, half broken cement blocs, odd pieces of wood, metal or plastic. houses like that already exist in DR. all it takes is a desperation. projects like this are nice little constructions from brand new materials, a charitable exercise in futility. great project for prince charles, no doubt. no relevance to DR, thou.
 
May 29, 2006
10,265
200
0
There's another thread on this system:

http://www.dr1.com/forums/living/139226-pallet-houses-dr-haiti.html

It has numerous flaws that would make it a no-go in the DR, esp having untreated wood in contact with the ground. I think it would have a lifespan of about 5 years. No Dominican is going to want to live in that. They like cinder blocks. Maybe for a chicken hutch...

I disagree though that it would be easy to break into. Pallets are tough.

When my dad was in Peace Corps in the late 60s, he was in a program making adobe housing. Great tech used since before Columbus in Mexico and other countries. Only prob is Dominicans will not live in a mud hut. They changed the program into making cinder blocks and couldn't keep up with demand.
 
May 29, 2006
10,265
200
0
I agree that this is "feel good" green tech without any practical use...

There are all kinds of things that can be done with pallets. One idea I'd like to explore is using them for Fish Aggregating Devices. Nail a stack of them together then chain them to the seafloor with some floats out in the open water with GPS. They'd attract small fish which would then attract bigger fish.

Another idea I had for them was for shelter for lobsters. They'd rot of course, but that is what would attract lobsters and other biomass:

24502_1379344001142_1195190_n.jpg
 
May 29, 2006
10,265
200
0
can anyone tell me why builders here do not use prefab technology?
The main advantage of prefab is saving on labor costs. I can see it for modified shipping container homes, but those have problems as well. I went to a prefab housing factory about five years ago in PA. It's an assembly line process and the guys working on make about $10/hour compared to $15-$25 for onsite workers and they can build a whole house in about a week, with another week for setting time and finish work.
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
The main advantage of prefab is saving on labor costs. I can see it for modified shipping container homes, but those have problems as well. I went to a prefab housing factory about five years ago in PA. It's an assembly line process and the guys working on make about $10/hour compared to $15-$25 for onsite workers and they can build a whole house in about a week, with another week for setting time and finish work.


Peter, what do you think of this?

Turn-key Jamaican homes - YouTube
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
exactly. the point of prefab is saving on labour and time. labour in DR is cheap. and for poorer folks time is of no meaning since they build their houses whenever they have some cash to spare, it may take them a long time, they do not care. richer folks do not care much about costs anyway, they want something that will last.
and finally, TRADITION. i have been here for years and i have only seen a handful of modern style houses (not counting million dollar homes of the very rich). people here want the same house as the neighbour. and that means cement blocks throughout.
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
exactly. the point of prefab is saving on labour and time. labour in DR is cheap. and for poorer folks time is of no meaning since they build their houses whenever they have some cash to spare, it may take them a long time, they do not care. richer folks do not care much about costs anyway, they want something that will last.
and finally, TRADITION. i have been here for years and i have only seen a handful of modern style houses (not counting million dollar homes of the very rich). people here want the same house as the neighbour. and that means cement blocks throughout.

very true, dv8..very true.
 
May 29, 2006
10,265
200
0
That's not the same as a real prefab, which is shipped in two to four sections then set on the perimeter beam. The prefabs are shipped already painted with carpets, electric, plumbing, windows, roofs and most of the siding.

Interesting tech and structural panels have great potential. Glad he's not using OSB with lots of glue, which break down eventually esp in the tropics.
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
That's not the same as a real prefab, which is shipped in two to four sections then set on the perimeter beam. The prefabs are shipped already painted with carpets, electric, plumbing, windows, roofs and most of the siding.

Interesting tech and structural panels have great potential. Glad he's not using OSB with lots of glue, which break down eventually esp in the tropics.

the prefabs in Jamaica are slightly different. they are just unpainted slabs which are bolted together at the site, then all the detailing is done once the basic structure is upright.
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,966
113
The main advantage of prefab is saving on labor costs. I can see it for modified shipping container homes, but those have problems as well. I went to a prefab housing factory about five years ago in PA. It's an assembly line process and the guys working on make about $10/hour compared to $15-$25 for onsite workers and they can build a whole house in about a week, with another week for setting time and finish work.

Was that in Stage College, PA?

Prefabbing concrete and block houses could be an issue in the DR.
Concrete panels, could be a good solution.
Wood is prone to termite infestations.

I see more work being done here with Styrofoam being used, CMC in Cabarete and a house recently built in my development both used Styrofoam/stucco.
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
Was that in Stage College, PA?

Prefabbing concrete and block houses could be an issue in the DR.
Concrete panels, could be a good solution.
Wood is prone to termite infestations.

I see more work being done here with Styrofoam being used, CMC in Cabarete and a house recently built in my development both used Styrofoam/stucco.

they have been building concrete panel prefabs in Jamaica since the 1960s
 
May 29, 2006
10,265
200
0
I forget what company it was but it wasn't in State College. There are many modular home companies out there now. One reason why PA is popular is the Amish make up a big chunk of the workforce and they will work for cheap.

We used ICF(foam block) for the foundations on our build. Some good points with ICF, but not much need for it in the DR since R-values aren't that important and they would be expensive to import.
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,966
113
I forget what company it was but it wasn't in State College. There are many modular home companies out there now. One reason why PA is popular is the Amish make up a big chunk of the workforce and they will work for cheap.

We used ICF(foam block) for the foundations on our build. Some good points with ICF, but not much need for it in the DR since R-values aren't that important and they would be expensive to import.

I am seeing foam slabs in the new construction here in Cabarete being used in the walls and the roof. Re-bar and then stucco instead of blocks.