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New cement Technology
HIGHLIGHTS
Can be made up to
one-fifth the weight of concrete and maintain 1200 psi
Mix designs can be made
up to 9,000 PSI
Eight (8) hour
curing time versus 28 days for concrete
Erect houses potentially
five (5) times faster than comparable masonry structures
Construction of homes at
approximately 80% the cost of wood framed homes
Can be stacked up to
four (4) stories high
Environmentally friendly
– does not use wood
Unlike concrete,
GigaCrete panels will not crack
Resistant to: hurricanes
(Category 5), earthquake (Zone 4), fire, mildew, mold, and insects
Non-combustible
Can be made bulletproof
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EVOLUTION OF DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCT
DESCRIPTION |
Company founder Andrew C. Dennis, an
architecture and industrial designer, wanted to design a hurricane resistant
house for himself in the Caribbean. Unsatisfied with the products available, he
ended-up creating Stuccomax. The product, now sold in 50-pound bags, is about 10
percent more costly than normal Portland mix stucco at 70 cents per-square-foot,
but has been tested at up to 10,000 pounds per-square-inch (psi) at three
independent labs. It's resilient enough to withstand a Class 5 Hurricane or a
shotgun blast. Stucco's normal strength is 600-psi.
GigaCrete Inc has gone to enormous lengths to make sure that its product is at
the leading edge of today’s technology. Rigorous research into so called
state-of-the art panel systems culminated in a conclusion that the panelized
housing industry has not made significant progress in updating technologies and
is reliant on the volatile lumber industry.
Lumber based technology is ancient and fraught with problems from
environmentalists, fire, warping, mildew, insects, rodents, moisture and
availability. Lumber based construction is surely headed for extinction as the
worlds’ resources are depleted and costs continue to escalate. Probably most
critical of all especially in the USA is the un-insurability of wood based
structures in hurricane and fire risk areas.
The decision to create a new material using no wood was an easy one to make.
Considerable quantities of waste materials are disposed of in our landfill sites
often at great cost to the manufacturers of the waste materials and to local
government Also we should mention the environmental damage. This resource
became a specific target to find fillers for the new technologies. Equally as
important is the often, FREE or REDUCED COST of these materials. Due to low
filler costs the new composites became very inexpensive to produce. Several
materials were deemed highly suitable after numerous materials were tested and
have been laboratory tested with incredibly good results.
New composites were formulated consisting of binders and fillers as high as 80%
of the volume of the cast material. These fillers include waste ash from coal
fired power generation stations, of all grades not just the marketable fly ash
currently used as a ten percent (10%) filler in concrete. Waste paper, cardboard
and plastics, styrofoam packaging, agricultural waste fibers left from food
sources like rice, corn, wheat and other grains. Sludge from paper mills,
considered a landfill nightmare this filler makes a great new building material.
All of the above materials become totally fireproof and can be made very
lightweight yet retain strengths close to and even exceeding traditional
concrete. The new composites do not shrink or crack like concrete and can be
de-molded after eight (8) hours and ready for delivery to a construction site.
None of the panels are considered toxic and are expected to be insurable when
used as building materials.
The manufacturing process and product DOES NOT come under the strict guidelines
created by THE MANUFACTURED HOUSING DIVISION of the US building codes and
therefore DOES NOT need certification from that industry. NO HIDDEN STRUCTURAL
OR ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS are within the panel, all are visible for onsite
inspection.
The materials that form the new composites are available worldwide and are
often free or at very little cost. GigaCrete has licensed a high speed mixing
and casting process believed to be unique to the industry that allows a small
factory staff, to mix, pour and mold enormous quantities of panels per shift.
The mixing process is computer controlled and mixes over seven (7) cubic yards
of composite in a few minutes. A totally new method of casting in specially
designed molds was developed. Mold boxes that are segmented and
compartmentalized are filled by computerized systems wheeled under the pouring
gantry then moved to a curing location. After eight (8) hours the mold boxes are
disassembled and the finished panels are removed and ready to ship. Traditional
concrete takes many days to harden with shrinkage causing fine cracks throughout
the entire mix. GigaCrete composite has no shrinkage and no cracks and is ready
at the end of each eight (8) hour period.
The COMPOSITE is only part of the process. The MIXING and CASTING methods are
critical to the viability of a factory and the ultimate assembly designed into
the product culminates in a BUILDING SYSTEM that can be erected by hand very
quickly at LOW COST.
Virtually all components used in the system can be manufactured at the same
factory minimizing reliance on outsourcing. The panels can be used as floors,
walls and roofs and are all structural by nature.
Every panel is a “shear wall” and when assembled correctly the finished shell or
structure is able to withstand Category 5 hurricane forces of 140mph wind speeds
with gusts exceeding 240 mph and are designed to withstand earthquakes due to
their inherent lateral and vertical strengths. The materials are totally
fireproof and will not be eaten by vermin or insects. The panels cannot rot or
mildew and are significantly stronger than wood framed construction at
substantially less cost.
Panels can be used to create columns that allow the system to be stacked up to
four (4) stories tall. The panels when used as floors can also eliminate
concrete slab foundations making it even faster to erect structures on a job
site. Panels can be formulated for high thermal qualities in hot or cold
environments and can also be made bulletproof.
Cement block, brick and concrete construction, wood framed or wood panelized
walls cannot compete in price or speed to construct. The time involved in
constructing a project is always a financial consideration and the GigaCrete Inc
system is has llittle competition.
The result has been a process and a building system that is faster, cheaper and
stronger and also environmentally conscious. GigaCrete could enter low cost
housing markets and would be highly competitive. We believe that our design
flexibility and range of material combinations to be unparalleled in the
industry and that no other building system can compete or has all the benefits
utilized in the GigaCrete system.
Panels are cast in vertical molds in multiples of 42 per mold box. Panels have
vertical conduit holes running the full length at equal intervals across the
full width of the panel.
The cement matrix consists of 80% lightweight fillers such as waste ash and
expanded polystyrene beads. The fillers are mixed with our proprietary binder
which exceeds the binding abilities of Portland cement and dries hard within
eight (8) hours.
The concrete matrix has compressive strengths of between 1200psi and 2500psi.
Floor panels require higher strength for durability, roof panels which are
lighter require a higher thermal value. The addition of either polystyrene beads
for higher thermal or more ash for strength is engineered into the pour when the
panels are cast.
STEEL (Structural Connectors)
Floors and roof panels are placed side by side and structural steel connectors
are slid into grooves cast into the edges of each panel. Most wall panels are
connected by tongue and groove joints. Panels can be butted, turn right angles
to each other forming a corner, intersect forming a tee, or can be made to
specific angles. As the connectors are slid down the edges of the panels, they
fit tightly into a bottom track that is secured with bolts to the foundation or
floor. The foundation bolts slip inside the vertical holes cast into the panels.
Screws on each side of the track are then set which connects the bottom track to
the vertical connectors. An identical track is placed over the top edge of the
panels and screws set again.
The panels are locked together with connectors that are slid down from above and
fit firmly within cast grooves molded into the panel edges. These connectors
formed from 18 gauge, galvanized steel are produced at the factory from bulk
rolls of steel and are welded into the shapes required for each connection
designed into the building layout. Each connector is independently a structural
member and exceeds the requirement by US building codes by more than 200%. The
final installation onsite will assemble extremely quickly and as fast as two
panels can be placed next to each other and the connectors slid down from above,
the wall is virtually completed.
Threaded rods are slipped into dedicated holes within the panels and are
connected via a coupling nut to the foundation bolts. The end of the threaded
rod protrudes out of the top of the panel and can either be bolted down to the
roof angle or extended with another coupling nut to continue upwards through
additional floor and wall panels.
A cement board facing of 9mm covers over the connectors and the only seams
visible are fine cracks, which will be covered over by the exterior finishes
applied to the structures.
BUILDING SHELLS
The GigaCrete factories produce panels to construct building shells only.
Openings for the doors and windows are designed into the panels.
Our plan is for any factories developed in the USA to utilize waste
ash as its primary filler, along with an aerator such as expanded polystyrene
beads or simple air bubbles. The purpose of the air bubble is to create thermal
efficiency to keep out extreme temperatures and also to assist in making the
panel lightweight. The proprietary binders would be supplied on an exclusive
basis to the GigaCrete factory under a sub-license agreement. Local stocking of
these materials is necessary and the parent company GigaCrete would open a
distribution center at its own expense. The completed panels produced at the
GigaCrete factory could then be immediately shipped to the construction site and
will non-toxic and contain no harmful chemicals whatsoever. Panel sizes come in
various widths up to 80cm and are up to 3 meters in length and
ELECTRICAL
Each cast panel has a series of vertical holes at regular spaces of 90 mm, which
allows openings to be cut vertically anywhere in the panels to pull through
electrical wiring. The cement composite is non-conductive so each hole is
considered a conduit. Holes can be cut using masonry tools such as diamond
blades or carborundum cut off wheels in a hand-held circular saw.
PRODUCTION TIME
GigaCrete product and designs address this issue with the benefit that unskilled
labor may be used for the construction. Consequently, the training time is
reduced and efficiency reached quickly. GigaCrete expects that the panels to be
produced by factories can be done so within a relatively small factory space, as
many as nineteen (19) houses per shift, and do so inexpensively. One week of
production from the factory should enable assembly of up to 95 houses at the
site with labor requirements of as few as five or six people for each house on
the jobsite.
RELEVANT ASPECTS OF THE PRODUCT
• Simplicity – Manifested in ease of production and final assembly, in addition
to lower cost of manufacturing.
• Performance Capacity – Exceeds all known building codes and components are
resistant to hurricane forces, earthquakes, fire, rain, insects, rodents, salt
spray, mildew, warping, heat and extreme cold.
• Precision – Limitless repeatability from production molds producing quality
controlled components with very tight tolerances.
• Flexibility – Can be utilized to form any style building and stacked up to
four stories. Housing, apartments, schools, commercial, military, retail,
churches, hospitals can be easily and inexpensively assembled from GigaCrete
components.
• Price and Performance – Significant savings to end-users through state of the
art production methods at highly competitive price/performance ratios
Stuccomax is also fireproof, testing at
5,300 degrees Fahrenheit, while normal concrete explodes at 2,000 degrees
Fahrenheit. And it only requires a single coat application, drying within four
hours, versus the multilayered approach of traditional stucco.
"We were able to use Stuccomax on a
standard lath and paper while eliminating two applications, which is a huge time
and labor cost savings," says Eric J. Engheben, general manager of West Branch
Builders Inc., Lawndale, California, who is using the product on a new
three-story, 1,200-square-foot home in Beverly Hills. "It sets-up like stucco
and looks like stucco but there's no shrinkage or cracking, which is unheard
of."
Portland-type cement uses sand, gravel
and crushed rock with water as a binder, resulting in shrinkage, cracks and
fissures. Giga-Crete and Stuccomax have no Portland cement and use 50 percent
less water. Unlike normal cement that absorbs water then dries, the new products
require only a small amount of liquid as a chemical catalyst for the binding
process. It is similar to an epoxy.
Giga-Crete and Stuccomax additionally
use up to 80 percent "fly ash" or waste material as a filler making them
environmentally sound, Dennis says. By comparison, conventional concrete can
only use up to 10 percent fly ash before its strength is compromised. All of the
strength comes from the binder, he says, which is currently undergoing patent
approval.
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