Page 42 2025 Spring Home and Garden LINCOLN DAILY NEWS April 2025 As for hurricanes, ICON states that their structures meet the Institute for Business and Home Safety’s Fortified Gold rating. “Fortified Gold is the recognized industry standard for buildings that are at reduced risk of loss during a hurricane due to high winds.” Seeing as how, if you are reading this, you likely live in Logan County, or at least the Midwest, wildfires and hurricanes are the least of your worries. You likely would like to know how these houses stand up against the high winds of tornadoes. The tests that ICON have conducted for one of their types of walls have passed the test necessary to have their walls used in the construction of a tornado shelter. According to ICON, passing this test proves “the ability to use the walls to construct tornado shelters within homes or buildings.” Nothing was directly stated about the tornado resistance of their 3D printed structures themselves. This still leaves one very important question: what is the cost of a 3D printed house? If going by the numbers from the Wolf Ranch community in Texas, it would seem not very affordable. It turns out that, not unlike homes built in more traditional fashions, this answer can vary largely. According to the website Home Guide, the cost of printing only the walls and floors can range from about $10,000 to $35,000. The cost of a fully finished 3D home, on the other hand, can range from about $150,000 to over $500,000. According to this website, the price of only the walls and floors does not include “roofing, plumbing, electrical wiring, doors, windows, insulation, heating and cooling, or interior finishing.” This article also lists the lifespan of a 3D printed home at fifty or more years, if properly maintained. Three dimensional printed homes seem to be becoming more common. With entire neighborhoods popping up, it is likely that you may start seeing some for yourself soon. Love it or hate it, this style of home building does not seem to be going anywhere. Could 3D printing be the future of architecture, or is it just a fad that will fall by the wayside before too long? Only time will tell. [Matt Boutcher] Sources: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Ko3gsprXiX8 https://constructiondigital.com/top10/top-103d-construction-printing-companies https://cobod.com/what-is-a-3d-printed-home/ https://cobod.com/global-inventory-over3d-printing-buildings-shows-cobod-leadingpositio/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/worldslargest-3d-printed-neighborhood-nearscompletion-texas-2024-08-08/ https://www.iconbuild.com/newsroom/ building-resilient-3d-printed-homes-testingfor-fire-hurricanes-and-high-wind https://homeguide.com/costs/3d-printed-housecost
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