Shotcrete replacement?

[game_hunter]

I just read about a new more environementally friendly concrete replacement called Gigacrete.

I was wondering if this could be worked in as a replacement to the standard shotcrete to green the domes a bit and what effect that might have on their thermal mass.

Mr. South? Monolithic team? Dome builders?

[Jason]

Looks like an interesting product.
Why don't you get a sample or two and try it out.
Less us know if it sprays and sticks and such.
Then have an engineer look at it.
The trick, for me, is that we know concretes properties and jus tbuilding a dome already puts us out in a limb.
I, personally, do not want to put a ton of money into a home with an untested product.
BUT, try the stuff out and maybe we can find a use for it, if not in the dome structure then somewhere in the outdoors, patios or some such.
Jason

[game_hunter]

I'm already pushing my finances to the limit to build an IO-20 rental complex in the next year so I can't nearly afford such a risk, but I'm hoping Monolithic can weasel some sample product from these guys with the promise of huge future purchases under the assumption it works. Either way Monolithic could afford an experiment with the stuff to see if it works.

I'm also hoping someone with shotcrete experience could look at this stuff and say easily just based on their experience and the specifications whether it has any chance of working.

Either way I think I'll try to use it for non-dome elements of my property like the cement under the mailboxes and bike racks and possibly the walkways if I go with concrete for those (Not likely as I'm leaning towards Rubber Sidewalks or some sort of completely natural earthen path).

[Jason]

Yeah;
R&D is expensive.
Jason

[hitssquad]

I'm also hoping someone with shotcrete experience could look at this stuff and say easily just based on their experience and the specifications whether it has any chance of working.

It does not use any Portland cement. Grancrete replaces Portland with magnesium oxide and potassium phosphate, but I do not know (or I do not recall) what Gigacrete uses. However, Google returns 8 hits for:
http://www.google.com/search?q=gigacret ... m+oxide%22

Create Healthy Homes
Gigacrete Makers of magnesium oxide and magnesium chloride-based building products, including Stucco Max

There are many (dozens/hundreds of?) well-known commercialized substitutes for Portland, and Richard McCabe has stated on the ferrocement list that none of them (other than fly-ash, of course, but only as a partial substitute) do as good of a job as the real thing. Given that he seems to be an environmentalist, and given that many of the substitutes for Portland are claimed to use far less energy to produce, I find myself inclined to believe him.

Here is a thread from Apr 29, 2005 on Gigacrete:
http://bbs.monolithic.com/viewtopic.php ... crete#5983

I also checked out gigacrete and stuccomax too. Gigacrete is only available if you open a factory and make panels (costs range from 1.2 - 5+ million). Stuccomax looks like a great product too but is only available in 2,000# bags and you have to get it shipped from Las Vegas, NV. Both gigacrete and stuccomax are available through Structures U.S.A.

In addition, there are three other year-2005 threads, from January, April and November, asking about Gigacrete, but no substantive information is provided.


This blog says:
http://materialicio.us/tag/cement

Gigacrete [...] Products include: PanelSystem, Stuccomax, StuccoMax-E (Environmental), Floor Overlay, PlasterMax, GigaCast and GigaPatch.

So, maybe Stuccomax is the same thing as Gigacrete, but without the coarse aggregate.

[FenixDome]

Curiosity got the better of me. I found the website for StuccoMax, found the address and looked it up on MapQuest. It's out by the Speedway. Between Petro TruckStop and the Speedway.

[DBS]

This is David at Monolithic. You are all right about new products and ideas we have to weigh a few other things. We want to stay within the code. This eliminates bunches of the "new" stuff such as papercrete etc. We do a lot of r&D here but we have to see some benefits before we do. So far these special concretes don't show me. Concrete is green. For one thing you build it once for 50 lifetimes if planned right. The energy savings of the MD will make up for any energy used in making it.

We eliminate most of the fire deptartments, etc. Obviously the other guy must have them. Our society has been a throw away for so long we can't get it out of our system.

I am not being critical. But think of the long haul. Our homes we see around us are one generation homes as are our schools, etc. That is a huge drain on our resources.

Sorry I am just on my high horse.

[game_hunter]

I'm not offended. Just trying to think in greener terms. Since I intend to market as green rentals I need to think how a green smart renter would to cut off accusations of greenwashing my product. I consider it a trade off as well but am trying to find possible replacements at the same time since I'm still in a holding pattern on moving forward with the land purchase and building.

[sk8erdie]

I'm thinking about making monolithic dome out of the new type of flexible concrete called ECC created by a poffessor out of michigan by the name of Victor Li....Wondering if monolithic has been looking to test this material......it seems prommissing....http://ace-mrl.engin.umich.edu/NewFiles/invention.html

Dan

[Umtallguy]

fly ash is an interesting filler product, but it can have very nasty amount of arsenic and other heavy metals in it. They built a golf course out of it in hampton roads, and apparently failed to consider the massive amount of irrigation leaching it into nearby well water...