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3D-printing technology continues reshaping how homes are built, making the process more efficient and less expensive. These 3D‑printed houses are more durable and can be easily customized.
Virginia Tech is becoming a national leader in 3D‑printed housing research. The university has helped build four homes in Virginia and is currently producing five more.
“We can basically deploy a robotic arm now to build structures, and we can make it mobile and bring the technology out to the site,” said Andrew McCoy, the Interim Managing Director of the Coalition for Smart Construction at Virginia Tech, as well as the Director of the Virginia Center for Housing Research.
He said the robot works like an inkjet printer, but with concrete instead of ink, layering material to build up the walls. The 3D‑printed homes are around 1,400 square feet, and the team has been working closely with Habitat for Humanity.
“We’ve been printing three-bedroom, two bath homes with a nice, big kitchen,” he said. “Dining room, living room kind of combo. And they’ve been very well received.”
The robotic arm is a major advancement from the previous method, called the gantry system, which required four posts for the printer to move along the X and Y axis. That system couldn’t easily go from one location to another. The robotic arm they use now sits on a base with crawler treads, making it more mobile and flexible.
“It can go on a construction site and move all around the site,” he said. “It’s very independent and very customizable. And we could print much larger homes.”
McCoy said the traditional way of framing a house can take a couple of weeks, with multiple trades working together. In comparison, they can 3D‑print a wall in about half an hour and potentially build five walls in a single day.
One of the biggest advantages of 3D-printing is how easily a home can be customized. Unusual shapes and design features that are typically expensive or labor‑intensive become far easier to achieve, without added cost or the need for a specialized crew. McCoy said one home they’re printing now had a specific request for the façade.
“They wanted a brick facade,” he said. “This thing basically preprints all the facades, and then we ship them out and we attach them, and they’re done.”
He also described 3D‑printed homes built with reinforced corners for durability because of their location in a flood‑prone area.
“They have these thicker areas that make them stronger to basically divert water,” McCoy said.
The technology is a way to combat the labor shortage and rising cost of materials. The state of Virginia is investing in innovation to bring more housing into the market, creating a series of grants through Virginia Housing, the state’s housing finance agency.
“The whole purpose of these grants is to basically introduce technology into the market, bring builders in and show them how to use it, and take the financial risk off the builder so that they’re willing to try it,” McCoy said. “[With] these grants, that’s how we’re able to create this system. They helped us fund the process of figuring it all out.”
Their goal is to continue improving 3D‑printing research — investigating what works and what doesn’t, lowering costs, and speeding up the process.
“I feel like if other states would try to do some of this, that’s how we’re going to make some good inroads into the housing crisis.”
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