I or H bricks or tiles with dowels for stronger, lighter assembled structures

[Peter Dow]

Peter, Are you paying attention.

Yes. I am paying attention.

 

[RickAstoria]

I'm from Scotland, which is not in England.

True but it is part of the United Kingdom like northern Ireland. Not unless a descendant of William Wallace finally freed Scotland from United Kingdom. Granted Brudgers might know the difference between the parts but Scotland is currently a tad bit more closely tied to England than even Canada politically. That may change in the future but that is a different topic than at hand.

 

[brudgers]

I'm from Scotland, which is not in England.

Does that explain the lack of building codes?

 

[RickAstoria]

Does that explain the lack of building codes?

No, they are subjected to the laws and rules (yes building codes) set forth by the UK but only in really recent terms has Scotland had been granted some authority to pass laws within the area of Scotland. Scotland is not as of yet a complete and independent country in the same sense as Canada or Australia is. They just aren't using the ICC model code platform.

Building Standards

This is more the substantiated comment on there code by me than my prior post(s) on this and is their "building codes" system. Again, it is its own sort of thing and therefore has little to no application in U.S. and if he follows procedures in Scotland for his plan than maybe it might gives some degree of credence and garner more attention by ICC which is a private corporation (be it profit or non-profit... don't care) and the States in the U.S. determines the codes as they are adopted and amended to fit into the state's needs and so forth.

 

[tmurray]

Peter, How is erection accomplished? Since the "bricks" are all interconnecting they would not be able to be laid in courses.

 

[ICE]

Peter, How is erection accomplished?

Shirley that's going to pop up in some strange web searches.

Oh my, you have your last name up there too. Well you can expect some strange e-mail offers for a while.

But no wait, nobody would do that. I mean really...who would use their real name on the Internet.

So the real Peter Dow out there is getting your strange e-mail. You're a diabolical person Peter Dow. And check you out Peter Dow, you've cribbed a picture as well.

http://scot.tk/

 

[Peter Dow]

Peter, How is erection accomplished? Since the "bricks" are all interconnecting they would not be able to be laid in courses.

The first point to note is that there are broadly two possible orientations for the HI-bricks when building a wall - the bricks in the "I" orientation or in the "H" orientation.

I orientation

If adding another row or course or layer of "I" bricks onto an existing row then one inserts the new "I" bricks from the side, either front or back, in a horizontal swinging motion similar to putting in golf, only one is swinging an "I" brick not swinging a putter. A short dowel section can be added inserted downwards after every brick is swung in place, or it would be possible to leave the insertion of dowel sections until perhaps every 2 or 3 rows of "I" bricks have been placed in which case the dowel sections can be longer.

H orientation

With the bricks being laid in the "H" orientation, the laying of bricks can be done from above or the side or some combination.

The bricks go in easier as Hs than they do as Is but unfortunately, the dowel sections are not so easy to insert in the H orientation when the previous row of bricks can obstruct sliding long dowel sections in.

The dowel sections may have to be no longer than a half-brick's length and inserted vertically into the appropriate dowel shaft of a neighbouring brick and slid along - and you need to do that 3 times - 3 1/2 brick dowel sections (they would slot inside each other to be sure to have maximum strength) to secure one H brick.

Now in the construction of some short structures, you might have or be able make convenient access to slide longer dowel sections in from the side (as I did when demonstrating my model), perhaps you can leave off the corners of walls till last and get clearance to slide longer dowel sections in. There maybe construction methodologies yet to be developed to enable convenient dowel insertion in the H orientation. Or it may be such a pain that way that the I orientation is almost always preferred. I don't know this being very early days and very theoretical before the first full size HI-brick has ever been made.

 

[RickAstoria]

The first point to note is that there are broadly two possible orientations for the HI-bricks when building a wall - the bricks in the "I" orientation or in the "H" orientation.I orientation

If adding another row or course or layer of "I" bricks onto an existing row then one inserts the new "I" bricks from the side, either front or back, in a horizontal swinging motion similar to putting in golf, only one is swinging an "I" brick not swinging a putter. A short dowel section can be added inserted downwards after every brick is swung in place, or it would be possible to leave the insertion of dowel sections until perhaps every 2 or 3 rows of "I" bricks have been placed in which case the dowel sections can be longer.

H orientation

With the bricks being laid in the "H" orientation, the laying of bricks can be done from above or the side or some combination.

The bricks go in easier as Hs than they do as Is but unfortunately, the dowel sections are not so easy to insert in the H orientation when the previous row of bricks can obstruct sliding long dowel sections in.

The dowel sections may have to be no longer than a half-brick's length and inserted vertically into the appropriate dowel shaft of a neighbouring brick and slid along - and you need to do that 3 times - 3 1/2 brick dowel sections (they would slot inside each other to be sure to have maximum strength) to secure one H brick.

Now in the construction of some short structures, you might have or be able make convenient access to slide longer dowel sections in from the side (as I did when demonstrating my model), perhaps you can leave off the corners of walls till last and get clearance to slide longer dowel sections in. There maybe construction methodologies yet to be developed to enable convenient dowel insertion in the H orientation. Or it may be such a pain that way that the I orientation is almost always preferred. I don't know this being very early days and very theoretical before the first full size HI-brick has ever been made.

How do you handle corners when two intersecting walls comes together. How do you may a strong corner connection?

Peter, have you design or constructed buildings before? Your description seems like you might lack experience in that in.

 

[brudgers]

Peter, the orifice could lubricate the rod as it is inserted during the mating process.

 

[RickAstoria]

Peter, the orifice could lubricate the rod as it is inserted during the mating process.

Sit Ubu sit. Good dog. Remember to behave.

 

[Peter Dow]

How do you handle corners when two intersecting walls comes together. How do you may a strong corner connection?

You may remember I posted this.

one could not use the same HI-brick to form a 90 degree edge as is used for a flat join, but that a special-purpose corner-brick would be required.

So for intersecting walls, then there would be 3 types of corner bricks for walls which meet at right angles depending on how many walls leave the corner2 walls - L3 walls - T4 walls - +This diagram is a rough sketch of a 4-way corner HI-brick. I have not tried to draw any rounded corners to save lots of time.

• for a 4-wall corner the HI brick has a + shape top and bottom,
• for a 3-wall corner then it's a T shape top and bottom
• for a simple 2-wall corner it's L shapes top and bottom.

There would be a further selection of HI-bricks to implement various architectural features - curved bricks, angled bricks, bricks to make beams etc. There's a fair bit of detailed design work yet to do.

Peter, have you design or constructed buildings before?

Not much really.I've sketched out a design for perimeter defences for a military base. (Link to the For Freedom Forums)I've super-sized a design for a pumped-storage hydro-electric dam. (Link to the For Freedom Forums)I've published some design ideas for armoured vehicles (Link to the For Freedom Forums)So these are my published concepts and designs but I've never actually had a budget actually to build anything, no.The only actual "building" I have done are a few minor DIY tasks around the house and some motor-cycle and car maintenance - that kind of thing.View attachment 660

View attachment 660

/monthly_2013_01/four_way_corner.jpg.54e70225a9817a85f28e3d19fead44f1.jpg

 

[Peter Dow]

I've tried to represent the dowel shafts in this improved diagram.

View attachment 661

View attachment 661

/monthly_2013_01/four_way_corner.jpg.0175cbcfaf02a5e36a65325177006d90.jpg

 

[tmurray]

The first point to note is that there are broadly two possible orientations for the HI-bricks when building a wall - the bricks in the "I" orientation or in the "H" orientation.I orientation

If adding another row or course or layer of "I" bricks onto an existing row then one inserts the new "I" bricks from the side, either front or back, in a horizontal swinging motion similar to putting in golf, only one is swinging an "I" brick not swinging a putter. A short dowel section can be added inserted downwards after every brick is swung in place, or it would be possible to leave the insertion of dowel sections until perhaps every 2 or 3 rows of "I" bricks have been placed in which case the dowel sections can be longer.

H orientation

With the bricks being laid in the "H" orientation, the laying of bricks can be done from above or the side or some combination.

The bricks go in easier as Hs than they do as Is but unfortunately, the dowel sections are not so easy to insert in the H orientation when the previous row of bricks can obstruct sliding long dowel sections in.

The dowel sections may have to be no longer than a half-brick's length and inserted vertically into the appropriate dowel shaft of a neighbouring brick and slid along - and you need to do that 3 times - 3 1/2 brick dowel sections (they would slot inside each other to be sure to have maximum strength) to secure one H brick.

Now in the construction of some short structures, you might have or be able make convenient access to slide longer dowel sections in from the side (as I did when demonstrating my model), perhaps you can leave off the corners of walls till last and get clearance to slide longer dowel sections in. There maybe construction methodologies yet to be developed to enable convenient dowel insertion in the H orientation. Or it may be such a pain that way that the I orientation is almost always preferred. I don't know this being very early days and very theoretical before the first full size HI-brick has ever been made.

Ok, that makes more sense now.

Now, typically for new construction materials to succeed they need to solve a problem. From what I can tell your product would be able to be quickly dis-assembled and re-assembled with little waste compared to existing building envelopes. Since we generally design buildings for a 50 year life span there is likely a small market that may profit from being able to disassemble the structural frame. I just don't see the potential market for this product.

 

[Peter Dow]

Ok, that makes more sense now.Now, typically for new construction materials to succeed they need to solve a problem. From what I can tell your product would be able to be quickly dis-assembled and re-assembled with little waste compared to existing building envelopes. Since we generally design buildings for a 50 year life span there is likely a small market that may profit from being able to disassemble the structural frame. I just don't see the potential market for this product.

The main advantage of being able to disassemble a structure or a building is for temporary buildings which you need to relocate every so often, or need to make major changes, to move a wall, add an extension, whatever.

So the potential markets for using this more expensive HI-bricks & Dowels technology will be when building big, strong or light-weight temporary structures.

• the stage for a music festival on a green field site
  
• a stadium which needs to reconfigure for different types of events
  
• vehicle storage and repair garage for oil drilling sites in Alaska / Canada / Siberia / Artic / Antarctic
  
• underground structures in mining
  
• flood or earthquake disaster or refugees from war zones or other homeless needing emergency shelters
  

Note that in each example application there would be a need to use different sizes, strengths and materials to make suitable I / H bricks & dowels for the different applications.

Where the loads are small and the need is for lightness then the I / H brick would be more like a big tile, a panel or an open tubular frame and as the loads get heavier so the brick size gets more compact, stocky and thicker.

 

[north star]

& & &



Peter Dow,

Thanks for continuing to post information on this Forum regarding

your design concept......Please do not be intimidated or discouraged

by the Forum members and other contributors......For the most part,

there are a lot of [ traditional ] construction types on here, and

there is an amount of skepticism as well........Sometimes we have a

difficult time in seeing the use & application of new designs that

haven't been tested & used in real world applications.

I will encourage you to keep developing your design......Have you

worked up some pricing structures for the various applications

that you mentioned, [ i.e - temp. stages, ...shelters, ...storage

facilities, etc., etc. ] to see how your various design models

will compare to the existing designs in existence ?



% % %

 

[kilitact]

Peter, I would agree with what north star posted. Sounds/looks like your on the path to a great design.

 

[RickAstoria]

& & &

Peter Dow,

Thanks for continuing to post information on this Forum regarding

your design concept......Please do not be intimidated or discouraged

by the Forum members and other contributors......For the most part,

there are a lot of [ traditional ] construction types on here, and

there is an amount of skepticism as well........Sometimes we have a

difficult time in seeing the use & application of new designs that

haven't been tested & used in real world applications.

I will encourage you to keep developing your design......Have you

worked up some pricing structures for the various applications

that you mentioned, [ i.e - temp. stages, ...shelters, ...storage

facilities, etc., etc. ] to see how your various design models

will compare to the existing designs in existence ?



% % %

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the idea of innovation and idea but that ideas need to be worked through and I am only critiquing based on what is presented and this is intended to be food for thought. That is in part of why I moved the thread instead of closing it. At this time, I feel that it is currently early in its infancy and needs to be analyzed and critiqued through intense scientific and engineering standards and documents necessary for engineers, architects and building designers would need and all the information required to demonstrate that it meets the codes and all HSW requirements to both the satisfaction of professional standard of care required by the judicial system, the licensing boards, and state & local building departments. When applied to actual buildings, people's lives are at stake and we need to address these issues thoroughly.

Peter,

Thanks for presenting the idea and feel free to continue to flush out your idea, get it tested through professional methods of testing and keep work on it. In the same regards as to the Tor-eg fellow with the "continuous strap" idea. keep working on the ideas and flush it out. Lets keep asking the hard questions and keep the critique going in a positive constructive manner.

Since I am only a moderator, I just simply explain my perspective on a few aspects. It is not to discourage but to give you things to think about and make sure it has been thought out.

 

[RickAstoria]

Ok, that makes more sense now.Now, typically for new construction materials to succeed they need to solve a problem. From what I can tell your product would be able to be quickly dis-assembled and re-assembled with little waste compared to existing building envelopes. Since we generally design buildings for a 50 year life span there is likely a small market that may profit from being able to disassemble the structural frame. I just don't see the potential market for this product.

Not quite true. Well... it depends on the building and use. We design buildings with various life-cycle factors but in general the structural should have an overall life-cycle of over 100 years. However, certain overhauls needs to be done at different intervals. However, if you are building a temporary or utility structure which can be replaced in the not to distant future then fine but when we design things like educational buildings, or other "primary structures" on a campus, we build them with endurance in mind. However, secondary or tertiary buildings aren't looked to have high endurance.

There are several life cycles and to be honest, it is not sustainable to build buildings in a "throw away society mentality". There is no such thing as "throw it away and its gone" it is just relocating and there is no such thing as a "free lunch". As design professionals (architects, engineers, building designers, interior architects or designers, landscape architects or designers, etc.), we are called and compelled to think about long term consequences of our decisions and sustainable and environmental prudence in the course of our practice in addition to immediate, short-term, and intermediate terms. We think about the different layers of life-cycles among many other considerations and adaptive reusability is important in our strategy of a design to be usable now and in the future. Designing a building is a public act and one with public consequence for good and for bad and everywhere in between.

 

[Peter Dow]

Peter Dow,Thanks for continuing to post information on this Forum regarding

your design concept......Please do not be intimidated or discouraged

by the Forum members and other contributors

I am not intimidated by members.

The only people that can intimidate me here are the forum moderators because they can move this topic into a less-good forum, already done once, or lock the topic or even ban me.

As for what anyone else posts here, it is like water off a duck's back.

......For the most part,there are a lot of [ traditional ] construction types on here, and

there is an amount of skepticism as well........Sometimes we have a

difficult time in seeing the use & application of new designs that

haven't been tested & used in real world applications.

I will encourage you to keep developing your design......

Thanks for your encouragement.

Have youworked up some pricing structures for the various applications

that you mentioned, [ i.e - temp. stages, ...shelters, ...storage

facilities, etc., etc. ] to see how your various design models

will compare to the existing designs in existence ?

I haven't no and I've no plans to cost this any time soon.

I have a number of interests on the go and while I am happy to update this topic when I make some progress, it won't be rapid progress if I am the only one active on the design.

 

[Peter Dow]

Peter, I would agree with what north star posted. Sounds/looks like your on the path to a great design.

Thank you very much.

 

[RickAstoria]

I am not intimidated by members.The only people that can intimidate me here are the forum moderators because they can move this topic into a less-good forum, already done once, or lock the topic or even ban me.

As for what anyone else posts here, it is like water off a duck's back.

Hey, I could have moved it to the one Brudgers suggested.

 

[ICE]

Hey, I could have moved it to the one Brudgers suggested.

It's not too late.

 

[RickAstoria]

It's not too late.

True but it all depends on how this thread topic goes.

 

[tmurray]

The main advantage of being able to disassemble a structure or a building is for temporary buildings which you need to relocate every so often, or need to make major changes, to move a wall, add an extension, whatever.So the potential markets for using this more expensive HI-bricks & Dowels technology will be when building big, strong or light-weight temporary structures.

• the stage for a music festival on a green field site
  
• a stadium which needs to reconfigure for different types of events
  
• vehicle storage and repair garage for oil drilling sites in Alaska / Canada / Siberia / Artic / Antarctic
  
• underground structures in mining
  
• flood or earthquake disaster or refugees from war zones or other homeless needing emergency shelters
  

Note that in each example application there would be a need to use different sizes, strengths and materials to make suitable I / H bricks & dowels for the different applications.

Where the loads are small and the need is for lightness then the I / H brick would be more like a big tile, a panel or an open tubular frame and as the loads get heavier so the brick size gets more compact, stocky and thicker.

Peter, I do hope my comments are seen as discouraging, but constructive as I intend them.

While driving home last night I was thinking of your idea and thought that temporary military bases would love this idea.