On the surface that sounds reasonable, but the answer requires more. As several others have mentioned cinder blocks are different from CMU (concrete masonry units) but still the price is similar. A block may cost about $1.00 ea while wood studs are $2–3 ea. You need one stud every 16″ plus bottom plate, double top …
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Are skyscrapers now being made out of wood? Why would construction companies do this?
Historically there have been a number of factors limiting wood framed high rises. First, has been combustibility. With such large populations that have to pass through such narrow areas such as elevator and stair cores an increase of possible fire made such designs unfeasible. North America and Europe had hard caps on wood framed buildings …
Why don’t home builders put sod on the roof instead of shingles?
You’ll get a lot of simple single point answers on this, but there are a lot of reasons for and against. Let’s start with a simple pro and con list: Pros Cons So basically, you do have an aesthetic, but you’ve more weight and water issues vs better thermal qualities. Most of these number will …
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How concrete alternatives like ferrock are dealt with? How it can be transported from the mixing plant to the building site, is transporting and mixing ferrock or other materials similar to concrete or not, are they easier than concrete to deal with?
Firstly, ferrock is concrete, just with a different aggregate make-up. It is applied like concrete, transported like concrete; it is concrete. So, ferrock is concrete with a sizable content of waste iron and silica. The strength varies greatly depending on the proportions used, but, generally, it comes in at 5,000psi – 7,000psi at 7 days. …
What is the minimum slope for an exterior concrete slab to properly drain water, but not to be so much a slip hazard?
This question contains two parts going in different directions. The typical answer (the one supplied by most building codes) is 1/4″ per foot for drainage. The actual minimum slope for drainage is closer to 1/64″ per foot. At that slope gravity stops becoming the driving force behind water. Air movement, surface tension, and capillary flows …
What are the main obstacles of building bridges using carbon (nano) tubes? When could we overcome those obstacles? Would infrastructure built using this technology together with concrete be cheaper and more robust than steel and concrete bridges?
I’m not sure these are the ”main” obstacles, but certainly major ones. Supply. A bridge or any infrastructure project would require many many many times more carbon fiber than other objects that use it. A single bridge would likely require the entire annual output or more just for the bridge due to volume alone. The …
How is an underground courtyard different from a courtyard at ground level in terms of architecture?
First lets define a courtyard. A courtyard would be outdoor space enclosed sufficiently by a building or structures to create a clearly defined area. Sometimes it can be an indoor space that is treated as if it is an outdoor space. An underground courtyard could imply two different versions, as I see things. First, a …
Why is architecture considered the toughest course?
Architecture school pretty much revolves around a class called studio which you take each semester with a different topic. By design all other courses you take in architecture school feed directly into studio, or are best taken away from studio. Studios can take nearly any form from lectures to field trips to 1000 page essays …
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What is the aim of plastic waste in road construction?
In some cases it adds to the binder material, but for most cases it acts as aggregate (same as the rock or gravel added to concrete).
What happens if we build roads with plastic and a low melting point metal?
In principle, you need a structural material (aggregate) and a binder (asphalt or cement). Rock is a plentiful strong material for aggregate, but broken up concrete, glass or plastics works as well. I’m not seeing what the point of the low melting point metal would be unless your description is to use metal and plastic …
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