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Rendering of 3D-printed home in Riverhead , New York .
“ We are really hoping that this tool can be used to make the work of construction workers easier . They can work smarter and not harder , since we ’ re all facing a labor shortage .”
— Kristen Henry , chief technology officer , SQ4D fixed and prescribed track and deposits concrete or other materials of choice layer by layer . As a new layer of concrete is added , the older one cures .
The additive manufacturing process usually prints the interior and exterior walls of the house and utility conduits . Construction company SQ4D , which built the Riverhead home , also prints the concrete foundation . Workers construct the remaining components , such as the roof and rebar , for structural reinforcement and integrity .
Once complete , the houses can be customized on the inside . “ The inside of the home can look very similar to traditional [ wood-frame ] houses in that you can just plaster the wall for a nice flat look ,” says Kristen Henry , chief technology officer at SQ4D . “ Owners can also choose to preserve the look of the layered 3D-printed lines or have an accent wall in places .”
MEETING DEMAND The construction industry faces a steep labor shortage : There were 300,000 to 400,000 open jobs in the sector in the fall of 2021 , according to the Home Builder Institute . Residential construction accounts for just under half of all industry jobs , and 3D-printed homes might make a dent and help companies do more with fewer employees .
“ We are really hoping that this tool can be used to make the work of construction workers easier ,” Henry says . “ They can work smarter and not harder , since we ’ re all facing a labor shortage ,” she adds . Indeed , labor is one of the many issues that additive manufacturing is looking to solve eventually .
Another advantage : faster turnarounds . The average time to build a home is just over six months and a custom home is 12 months . It took SQ4D approximately 80 hours to print the foundation , and interior and exterior walls for the Riverhead home ; the whole process was spread out over 18 print days . Henry is confident that future iterations for a house the size of the Riverhead home will be completed in fewer print days over a span of about 30 days . ICON , a construction technology company , uses an in-house mobile gantry-style 3D printer called Vulcan , which can print about 500 square feet in 24 hours spread across several days to complete the full wall system of a house . ICON can print two or three homes simultaneously , which further increases the speed of delivery .
AN EYE TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY SQ4D ’ s 3D-printed homes are much stronger than necessary , which equips them to better withstand natural disasters , Henry says . “ The requirements for building codes for any concrete used in traditional homes is [ that it must withstand pressures of ] 3,500 pounds per square inch ( psi ),” Henry says . The concrete in the Riverhead home withstood more than twice that , she reports .
PHOTO COURTESY OF SQ4D