A new modular prefabricated house inside in manufacturing facility. iStock Photos
As rents soar and housing grows increasingly scarce, millions of Americans are struggling to keep a roof over their head.
In a bid to tackle this crisis, builders are using innovative ways to rapidly increase housing supply.
From 3D printing to factory-built homes to using hemp, builders are exploring unconventional methods to construct homes faster without burning a hole in the pockets of the buyers and renters.
Adrianne Todman, former acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, emphasized that the shortage of both homes for sale and rental properties is a pressing issue and that embracing innovative construction methods could help bridge the gap more quickly.
“I can only imagine what our housing situation would be like now if we could have made a decision to be more aggressive in adopting this type of housing decades ago,” she said.
Building homes like cars
Fading West, a Colorado-based homebuilding company, is using factory-built modular homes to address this crisis.
Inside its facility, homes move down an assembly line, built step by step like cars in a factory.
From flooring, walls, and roofs to even kitchen countertops, townhouse-style homes are built in a factory.
These houses are nearly 90 percent complete before they are shrink-wrapped and shipped.
At their final destination, they are move-in ready within six weeks.
“You can build faster. The faster you build — even at a high quality — means the lower the price,” Eric Schaefer, the chief business development officer at the company was quoted by AP as saying.
“We see this as one of the pieces to the puzzle in helping solve the affordable housing crisis.”
In just over three years, the company has produced more than 500 homes, each taking only five to seven days to build, even during the harsh winter season.
A high-tech 3D printing solution
Beyond factory-built houses, builders are also experimenting with 3D printing technology as a potential way to ease the housing crisis.
Using a computer-controlled robotic arm, a nozzle steadily layers lines of concrete, forming walls that can take shape quickly.
It can also form curved designs that traditional concrete blocks can’t achieve.
Grant Hamel, CEO and co-founder of VeroTouch, said that technology could eventually reduce labor costs and the time taken to build the house.
“It’s a long game, to start chipping away at those prices at every step of the construction process,” he said.
While the novel idea seems like a great solution, it’s fraught with challenges.
The 3D printers are expensive, and so are the engineers and other skilled employees needed to run them.
Moreover, it’s also not recognized by international building codes, which puts up more red tape.
“The technology is also generally restricted to single-story structures, unless traditional building methods are used as well,” Ali Memari, director of the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center, Memari said
“It’s a technology at its beginning, it has room to grow, especially when it is recognized in code,” he said.
Hempcrete: A sustainable alternative
Believe it or not, builders in US are increasingly using hemp in the construction of walls.
Hemp is combined with materials like mineral lime to create “hempcrete,” a natural insulation that is both mold and fire-resistant and can serve as an outer wall, insulation, and inner wall all in one.
While hempcrete still requires wooden studs for structural support, it replaces three separate wall-building components with a single material, said Ali Memari, a professor at Penn State University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Memari is currently involved in research aimed at developing hempcrete that eliminates the need for wood framing.
Unlike trees, which take years or even decades to mature, up to a million hemp plants can grow on a single acre within just a few months, making it a fast and sustainable alternative for construction.
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Hemp belongs to the cannabis family, but it has far less THC as compared to marijuana.
In 2018, Congress legalized the production of certain types of hemp, paving the way for its use in construction.
Last year, the International Code Council, which sets building codes for all 50 states, officially recognized hempcrete as an insulation material.
However, several obstacles stand in the way.
Regulatory uncertainty over hemp cultivation and the steep cost of processing equipment remain major hurdles to hempcrete’s widespread use in housing.
Despite these challenges, hempcrete shows promise as a sustainable and efficient building material, offering a natural alternative for insulation and wall construction.
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ABOUT THE EDITOR
Neetika Walter With over a decade-long career in journalism, Neetika Walter has worked with The Economic Times, ANI, and Hindustan Times, covering politics, business, technology, and the clean energy sector. Passionate about contemporary culture, books, poetry, and storytelling, she brings depth and insight to her writing. When she isn’t chasing stories, she’s likely lost in a book or enjoying the company of her dogs.
