Maine is now home to one of the country’s newest 3D-printed homes.

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But unlike other printed units, this 600-square-foot tiny home is fully recyclable.

University of Maine

Homes both big and small built using concrete and 3D printers have been popping up around the world at an increasing rate.

3DCP Group

Source: Insider

The tech is scaling rapidly as more companies enter the construction-tech space.

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But only a handful of startups and people are taking an even more novel approach to this new construction method by printing with non-concrete materials.

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And surprisingly, a university is one of them.

University of Maine

Say goodbye to concrete mixes and hello to wood residuals and bio-resins.

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The University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center has taken a new approach to the tech by using a proprietary bio-based material to print the floors, walls, and roof of a 600-square-foot home.University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center’s bio-based 3D printed tiny home.

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And if it wanted to, ASCC says it could fully recycle the home’s printed components.

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“We’re looking at the ability to 100% recycle the home materials five times and we’re doing testing right now to see what happens every time you recycle it,” Habib Dagher told Insider.

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Dagher — ASCC’s founding executive director and principal investigator of this project — hopes this home is proof that the tech could help sustainably alleviate our country’s ongoing affordable housing crisis.

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Instead of a traditional concrete mix, ASCC uses bio-resins to encapsulate wood residuals from local sawmills …Lumber prices plummeted in June.

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… creating a durable printing material that could be immune to supply chain fluctuations while a giving second life to what would otherwise be wood waste.

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And the supply is nearly as endless as the current demand: Dagher believes the state produces enough wood waste to make 100,000 homes annually.

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ASCC has spent the last 20 years developing and testing this unique bio material.University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center’s bio-based 3D printed tiny home.

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So when the housing crisis hit, construction costs started skyrocketing, and materials and labor became harder to access, the team wanted to see if they could use it to print homes.

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“We’ve been looking for ways to reduce the cost [of building], increase [housing] availability, and build houses that are more sustainable over the long run,” Dagher told Insider.

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Many advocates of 3D printers believe the tech has major benefits over traditional construction.

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Because the printer is programmed to be precise, there was almost no construction waste and less physical labor required to build this tiny home.

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And printers work faster than humans, increasing construction speeds with the potential of slashing costs as this tech continues to become more common.

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These are certainly big benefits at a time when Maine is facing an “unsustainable” affordable housing crisis, Dagher said.

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So unsurprisingly, this home could serve as an innovative way to alleviate said problems.

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But the home doesn’t look as futuristic as you might expect.

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The printed walls and ceiling look layered as seen below, a signature of the 3D printer.

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By using this tech, the team was able to curve the home’s walls into the ceiling.

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And instead of the drab grey-toned walls common in concrete printed homes, these walls look more wood-toned.

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Besides its unique appearance, the 600-square-foot unit has the same functions as any traditional home.

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There’s a bathroom, kitchen, living room, and bedroom …

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… all lined with modern appliances.

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And all of these rooms look as luxurious as any contemporary traditionally built home.

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Many big 3D printing construction projects happen on-site.

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But this home was instead prefabricated and printed off-site using ASCC’s proprietary printer, which Dagher says is the world’s largest polymer 3D printer.

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And it wasn’t printed in one piece.

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Instead, the home is made up of four approximately 200-square-foot modules.

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These four insulated and pre-wired pieces were then moved to an on-site concrete foundation using a flatbed truck.

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It only took half a day, a crane, bolts, and connectors to assemble the four modules into a home.

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And the electrician spent an additional two hours powering the unit.

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Now, it’s a fully functioning house with a unique construction backstory.

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The team is now collecting data on its performance to determine what could be improved in the next printed home.

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The goal is to produce one of these units in about 48 hours.

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But this home took about 10 times longer, Dagher said.

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The team is now designing a factory to grow the production of these recyclable homes.

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And it has already raised over $80 million to build this manufacturing space.

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So if the team’s future plans come to fruition, you could see a full neighborhood of recycled homes sooner than you’d think.

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But that’s not to say concrete homes don’t have their place in the future. After all, the unifying goal is to grow housing production.

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“We’re in a crisis mode right now,” Dagher said. “Anything we can do to increase the output of homes, whether it’s concrete or bio-based 3D printing or other technologies, is a good thing.”

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