I have an idea, I am to old to start a new venture, but someone out there may want to pursue this idea. I would like to build aircrete logs. Based on the toys we all played with when we were kids, Lincoln logs. These could be pre-manufactured so really almost anyone could buy the logs and construct a building. There would need to be different lengths made say like 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 feet etc. There would need to be some that had special ends with channels for doors and windows. There could be some that are pre wired with wall outlet boxes and switches. Logs could be pre-colored or surfaced in some cases. A building could be constructed permanently by bonding the logs together, or could be temporary and disassembled and moved. I think this could be an amazing new business that could revolutionize small buildings. And it would allow for any person to DIY.

Hey, just an FYI... you should wear a mask when handling most sand products, but especially perlite. Even outside. the tiny dust particles are actually microscopic shards of processed volcanic obsidian, once you breathe them in, they stick into your lung tissue and are likely to never leave your lungs, causing silicosis. Silicosis symptoms are not often immediate and can present years later.

Great video! It would be great to see a cost and time compared analysis of air Crete vs. stick frame construction.

I would have added 2” foam insulation to the outside with metal lathe for the stucco. That would have given at least a little isolation to the metal studs helping reduce thermal transfer to the inside from the metal.

You can set your forms on top of plexiglass and it will leave a slick as glass finish.

This is brilliant. We built a house using tilt panels that was poured in two layers with insulation between the two layers of concrete held with fibreglass pins with a narrow area in the middle of pins to act as a grip within each layer of concrete. We needed a crane as the panel where heavy. Plumbing and wiring was in the insulation area mapped out to find it again. I couldn't believe these pins held the bottom layer as we lifted them but they never failed. They had steel mesh all over and rebar with extra rebar at lifting points.

On a building the problem with leaving the metal studs is that metal is a great conductor of heat and defeats the insulating properties of aircrete, if you are trying to maintain a comfortable temperature in the structure.

Hey good to see you back again! Thanks for the tips.

Thanks so much for all the info & tips! 👍🏼

It looks great.

Thanks!

Loved the learning experience and the final results!

Just wondering if you could build a large house - maybe Spanish Adobe style - by forming walls and pouring the mix into 8” or 12” thick walls (what would the R value be on those babies?). Lots of potential here. Builders could have forms that go together like erector sets. The exterior walls go up. The interior walls would be just partition walls. Maybe for electrical there would be furring strips and drywall, or maybe conduit and boxes could go right into the pour?

Thank you for the video. So helpful and inspiring!!

Great Video, adding to my library. Looking to making raised planters.

Spot on and straight to the crucial points. Salute.

you are one complex builder and enjoyed every second!

super helpful tips...thank you

this was great! thank you

Love you both! Thank you so much for your detailed and well-done instructions!

Excellent aircrete ideas

great video...thanks you guys...have a great day!

Man, building the shed you built one awesome family and couple of young men.

Man that´s what I call a brillant idea ! Congratulations!

Nice family headed by a hardworker, Darwin GOD bless your family.

You are a genius!

Thanks for putting out a video. One of my faverite ways to build with aircrete.

Nice work, thanks for sharing your tips. very helpful.

Very good job!

Thank you for your great videos!

Like always you do review and you telling us what's work and how to improve it. Love your video!

Awsome video. Thank you.

What an awesome video. Much appreciated the notes about what didn't work. Probably saved me a lot of failed panels.

THANK YOU! For the practical information, sans elevator music 👍

Finally about to start my own aircrete journey. I'm not going to buy one of your premade foammates because I want to make my own, but I do want to donate a bit once I can afford to. You're awesome Darwin. Seriously, I say that because I got these ideas and then I discovered you'd already done my ideas before I even had them. One small difference is instead of a doghouse, I'm building a chicken coup.

Thanks for the video and all the info Love the hat brother 👍

Loved the bit about the proper 'spin/vibrate" any cook could tell you not to 'blend' but to 'fold' foamy substances into solid mix. Who knew home economics class could be practical.

Excellent video. Great channel and family. This is what I want when I come to KZfaq.

Excellent example dude thanks for the tutorial it’s awesome to see the whole family getting involved me and my stepdad want to do something like this to

Looking forward to using the FoamMate...going to be an exciting year next year up on the property.

doing good!

Very Good!!!

Great stuff..

Darwin, This Do and Dont video adds so much substance to the original video! Thank you for all your efforts and for sharing. Would like more information, if possible, on the stucco sprayer you mentioned. Thank you!

You are the best!

Nice video, very interesting and informative.

You have been honest on your project. Great program! The good and bad of the project. 5 million views shows interest on this type of materials. I’m sure many of the viewers are professional contractors observing you as the spear head for future projects. Once again congratulations on an excellent program of pure honest advice.

just excellent

im just following your vids & put highest respect for your hard work to share experiences. best regards from far east. Indonesia

awesome vid thank you

Wow, awesome video. Excellent format and great information. I'm getting that can do attitude! Thanks. 👈😎👍💕

Hey Darwin. Thanks for posting this video. I have something you might try instead of stucco you might look into the Cork Spray which insulates, and can be sprayed on in different colors.

Thank you for your research. Looks really engineered

Cheers!

giving a hell of a lot of thumbs ups

Great job, cant wait,,

Muy bueno lo que haces !!!!! Falta la traducción de los materiales que usas, así lo hacemos por acá también jaja. Felicitaciones 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Genial saludos cordiales desde Patagonia Chile.. Linda familia

Love the video. I used to live in AZ. Most new homes are done in stucco there. The construction of stucco walls there are done as follows. 1) they attach semi-rigged foam sheet(1/2 or 3/4 inch) over the stud surface. 2) then they attach a thin foam sheet(1/8 or 1/16 inch) over the surface. 3) then they attach chicken wire over the surface. 4) then they spray on the stucco and 5) spray paint. Ever consider making this a full time gig? I would love to be involved in a LARGE SCALE aircrete biz. Building/selling low cost prefab homes(panels) and sub-out the installs.

I have often wondered about this. Glad to see it worked! It would also be possible to just trowel on concrete face too I guess.

I LIKE IT

Nice Video. Here's a tip on cutting wire hardware clothe. I used an angle grinder with a cut off wheel, but cut it while it's still rolled up tight. You can cut all the way through if you rotate the rolled fencing.

Cool!!!

Terrific work Darwin. In the age of instant answers on KZfaq, it is reassuring to see that you have done the hard work of experimenting to get the results. I see that a bunch of people are thinking of using a similar method to this for building a house, including me. Have you yet determined the limitations in size, strength and application for building using these types of panels?

Thanks, Darwin, I am now going to build my storage shed with this process. I'm deciding on the stucco finish but I do like using a trowel to finish off this stuff. Looking to put a flat pitched roof of 10 deg. pitch. Do you have any ideas as to what one should finish off the roof, what materials would work best? Thanks for any input you can suggest.

The cement mixer apparently works well if you first weld in large mixing paddles, I saw someone who customized theirs and got a beautifully smooth mixture just using the cement mixer.

I’m thinking sheds, raised bed gardens (reduces stooping and kneeling), storage under my tiny house, dog kennel, and maybe a patio to expand my outdoor area to a four season porch. A smokehouse and root cellar/storm shelter. Naturally, cost is a big consideration since I have no idea what this stuff costs to make. But I’m having fun thinking about what could be done.

Reminds me of Tilt wall with foam to make "walls" lighter. Very nice

I've been bouncing around the idea of building a home with aircrete, but I wanted to basically do a pole barn style with 10" posts and using either a double layer of chicken wire between the posts or rabbit wire like you used and simply screwing 3/4 inch plywood between the posts to act as the form. After seeing your video, I'm thinking seriously of using your panel idea for the interior walls. My question is, how do you connect one panel to the next with the metal stud frame?

Two thumbs up my friend!!

Great vid, so helpful. Much good advice. Did you have to get permits where you live? No. 1 thing - Hard hats when assembling - there's a reason the trades use them. No. 2 - can I buy you a pair of gloves? No. 3 breathing filter of some sort - don't abuse your delicate lungs. I saw your No 1 bad thing coming - sheers to cut the rabbit wire - saw that one coming.

First of all, thank you for sharing so much information. Here I am thinking about making these panels as follows: on one side I place a drywall sheet (internal side), on the other side (external side) I place a cement board. That way you would only have to treat the joints. What do you think of this solution?

The secret to using a cement mixer is as follows...…...Put in dry Portland...….then put water in slowly...….make it real dry and get it all just wet. Now run the mixer for a couple of minutes. The dryness of the mix lets any clumps trying to form be rubbed away....You are free to add water if you need it thinner. If you put too much water to start.....you get bad clumping. I hope this helps production. I am really enjoying your work and good ideas. Thank you all.

Excelente video. Felicitaciones !!! Una pregunta : No se mostró como unes los paneles . Puedes mostrar eso ?

good luck.......................................................

How did it hold up to winter? Looks great.

I LOVE Aircrete, you make it look like I could get a team together to create aircrete structures plus so much more. Because of Covid I have not made it back to Mexico, now my first grandone, a boy will be arriving in May. I still want the Mexican people to get aircrete!

I think you have a good construction method..

I am so loving all of you . Just so appreciate so much that you show the things you dont use anymore & ones that work better for you . Makes my little projects so much easier . I got a old trampoline for free & was going to use it as a wood shed or even a camping dome tent that I could heat with a rocket mass heater - your version - We have bear around at times here I was watching this video &think I may try to make a form with air crete to match the circular shape of the trampoline shape Makes so much more sense to have that as protection than just the netting going around it May be over doing it but how often does a person get eaten by a bear . I can still camp till the forms I make are filled & cured You all just amaze me constantly

Hey mr D. Have you ever considered making your pannels like interlocking like flat Lincoln logs

I subscribed your video here I learned more then 20 other channels

We used cheapo orbital sanders (about $15-25) to get rid of voids. Works a charm. Just layer up some electrical or thicker duct tape over the pad.

Good video just need to get my foam mate from the Kickstarter I was # 22 to jump in on that only few more weeks until spring wooohoooo

Hi Darwin, As always, your video is informative and useful. On a side note, you are looking like you need a vacation or some rest. I hope you are okay. I will be using some of your information as I “retool” my company that I inherited, Poulin Domes, to build light-weight but super efficient, buildings. When I start producing these buildings, I would love to mention you and thank you for the inspiration to actually work with foamcrete. I really believe that (even though it has been used in Europe for many years) you have almost single-handedly made foamcrete a viable option for people to consider and use in the USA. Thank you for your tireless work on this. You really have no idea what sort of impact you have had to date.

5 million views because everyone needs more space and aircrete is easiest way to get that space and learn a lot and have fun doing it brings out the kid in us

Great work..i would like to learn how to build can you train?

Thanks for such a great video sir now I would very much like to have one of your foam maker how much does it cost and where can I buy 1 thank you

Great video tutorial once again. I'm considering building a tiny house out of this majic mix you've created. But I think the cost is going to be to much. So then I thought maybe just the north wall. I dont know, just thinking. If you have any ideas I would appreciate it. But ease no smart mouths. Thank you Mr. Honey du!

Fascinating, Did you get any grief from the County as to permitting and inspections?

Usually Concrete Will Rust Out Steel which it is in Contact with. This can Occur fairly Quickly. This is Mostly Caused by Different Expansion Coefficients of Concrete and Steel, Plus Moisture from Rain, Humidity etc. Good Luck to this Bloke.

Thanks for this. Good video, as usual. Can you post a link to the spot welder(?) you used? Thanks!

I would have put studs and cladding over the outside to match the surrounding buildings. But a great experiment no the less.

A cheap 1/4 sheet sander works great to vibrate the panels too.

I'm sold on this, I used to work PolySteel construction, (stack styrofoam hollow blocks up like Legos and fill them full of rebar and concrete) and I see this as a poor man's alternative to a high dollar building method, with very little difference from that of house framing, it is pure genius! I am going to get my experience from making raised beds first!

Great video. Thanks! I'm not understanding the real value of the aircrete since you're using steel studs. Isn't it really just functioning as insulation at that point?

Great work! Where did you get your foam generator? What kind of cement do you use. I thinking about 6” panels on 2’ center to build a house on the farm. Ron

That's the first time I have seen a concrete garage. That would be a perfect tornado hideout.

Any idea if you can use this method to build a house and what home type or zone they would fall under?

It looks to me like there are better ways to build a shed, I would use wood since I live in a forest. It does look like you have done some excellend R&D through building this shed so that is a good thing, thank you for sharing your tips and tricks with us!

Very inventive, Similar to Seawall I did 30 years ago. One question? What is the square foot cost for aircrete at your thickness per square foot? Thanks.