Housing is expensive and the price can skyrocket when you take efforts to make your home safer and more energy efficient. The newest entry into the affordable and green home building market is a product called Aircrete. It is essentially just concrete that has been mixed with a foaming agent. The resulting structures weigh much less than traditional concrete, are fire-proof, water-proof, resistant to termites and surprisingly well insulated. In fact, if there’s any drawback to the houses at the moment it is that people who don’t love The Hobbit might be disappointed with the design style of the buildings.
“It is waterproof, fireproof, and insect proof. It offers good thermal and acoustic insulation. It will not rot, warp, or corrode. Unlike concrete which is hard, heavy, cold and difficult to work with, AirCrete is easy to work with. It dries overnight and can be cut, carved, drilled and shaped with wood-working tools. It accepts nails and screws and is easily repaired. It had good compressive strength to make excellent foundations, subfloors, building blocks, poured walls, domes or whatever. It can be molded or formed into practically any shape.” – DomeGaia