Castle built of cinder blocks.

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JLGatsby

Banned
Sep 6, 2005
4,525
0
0
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
building a house that tall is impractical.

if i were to build a huge multistory house, underground i go. makes it less assuming and the cops cant yell at me for noise at 3 am when i have like 80 ppl over.

ROFL Underground house? No windows?
 

S Freud

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2005
4,755
1
81
If its all built by hand, how did they get the blocks to the top of the wall? Did they just pack them up staris or something? Winch and pully? It looks like quite a work load to all be done by hand.

Dunno JMO
 

LordMorpheus

Diamond Member
Aug 14, 2002
6,871
1
0
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: Brackis
I used to live, work, party, and eat in "one of the other 300 castles in the US".

Nickerson Castle in MA.

Yeah but, you didn't build it yourself.

id much rather a poured concrete wall for a house than a cinderblock house... cinderblocks provide VERY little insulation and any small shift can cause major cracks. im also wondering what they are using for joists as cinderblocks are inherently VERY unstable when stacked high without perpendicular support as you can tell when people backfill basements before the main floor has been set, or if the ground is wet and slides into the side of a basement before the main floor has been set.
How does one compensate for thermal expansion in a poured wall?

im not sure, but poured walls are becoming very very common, my uncle knows a good amount about them since he does concrete finishing etc, and my GF's moms old house had them.

poured walls themselves carry an R rating of about 16 iirc, im sure you could find a LOT more info online than i know.

There is kind of a new wave in building construction where they pour the wall on site and then tip it up into position, called, aptly enough, tilt-up construction. Cheap and fast, you see buildings going up all over the place using it.
 

JLGatsby

Banned
Sep 6, 2005
4,525
0
0
Originally posted by: S Freud
If its all built by hand, how did they get the blocks to the top of the wall? Did they just pack them up staris or something? Winch and pully? It looks like quite a work load to all be done by hand.

Dunno JMO

Looks like they build the inside floors with each outside floor and just carried each block up steps and built from the inside.

http://www.dupontcastle.com/2001.htm
 

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
building a house that tall is impractical.

if i were to build a huge multistory house, underground i go. makes it less assuming and the cops cant yell at me for noise at 3 am when i have like 80 ppl over.

ROFL Underground house? No windows?

"fake" windows, i would have a main level for the master suite and kitchen, but then underground i would have everything else.

theres a HUGE underground house that was on HGTV a while ago, he bought an abandonded missle silo and is slowly turning it into a full underground house, it still looked very nice inside.
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
51,981
44,870
136
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: Brackis
I used to live, work, party, and eat in "one of the other 300 castles in the US".

Nickerson Castle in MA.

Yeah but, you didn't build it yourself.

id much rather a poured concrete wall for a house than a cinderblock house... cinderblocks provide VERY little insulation and any small shift can cause major cracks. im also wondering what they are using for joists as cinderblocks are inherently VERY unstable when stacked high without perpendicular support as you can tell when people backfill basements before the main floor has been set, or if the ground is wet and slides into the side of a basement before the main floor has been set.
How does one compensate for thermal expansion in a poured wall?

im not sure, but poured walls are becoming very very common, my uncle knows a good amount about them since he does concrete finishing etc, and my GF's moms old house had them.

poured walls themselves carry an R rating of about 16 iirc, im sure you could find a LOT more info online than i know.

Insulated Concrete Forms are being used more and more in home construction. They provide an R rating of 30-40 or something crazy like that.

yea i knew they provided good insulation, but not that good.

i KNOW whenever i build my house i will use poured concrete walls.

This particular house looks pretty tall, pouring a wall that tall is impractical.

Tell that to the guys pouring a 40 story skyscraper next door to me.
 

Squisher

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
21,204
66
91
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: Brackis
I used to live, work, party, and eat in "one of the other 300 castles in the US".

Nickerson Castle in MA.

Yeah but, you didn't build it yourself.

id much rather a poured concrete wall for a house than a cinderblock house... cinderblocks provide VERY little insulation and any small shift can cause major cracks. im also wondering what they are using for joists as cinderblocks are inherently VERY unstable when stacked high without perpendicular support as you can tell when people backfill basements before the main floor has been set, or if the ground is wet and slides into the side of a basement before the main floor has been set.
How does one compensate for thermal expansion in a poured wall?

im not sure, but poured walls are becoming very very common, my uncle knows a good amount about them since he does concrete finishing etc, and my GF's moms old house had them.

poured walls themselves carry an R rating of about 16 iirc, im sure you could find a LOT more info online than i know.

Insulated Concrete Forms are being used more and more in home construction. They provide an R rating of 30-40 or something crazy like that.

yea i knew they provided good insulation, but not that good.

i KNOW whenever i build my house i will use poured concrete walls.

This particular house looks pretty tall, pouring a wall that tall is impractical.

Tell that to the guys pouring a 40 story skyscraper next door to me.

The impracticality would come from cost concerns for a residential project.
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
51,981
44,870
136
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: Brackis
I used to live, work, party, and eat in "one of the other 300 castles in the US".

Nickerson Castle in MA.

Yeah but, you didn't build it yourself.

id much rather a poured concrete wall for a house than a cinderblock house... cinderblocks provide VERY little insulation and any small shift can cause major cracks. im also wondering what they are using for joists as cinderblocks are inherently VERY unstable when stacked high without perpendicular support as you can tell when people backfill basements before the main floor has been set, or if the ground is wet and slides into the side of a basement before the main floor has been set.
How does one compensate for thermal expansion in a poured wall?

im not sure, but poured walls are becoming very very common, my uncle knows a good amount about them since he does concrete finishing etc, and my GF's moms old house had them.

poured walls themselves carry an R rating of about 16 iirc, im sure you could find a LOT more info online than i know.

Insulated Concrete Forms are being used more and more in home construction. They provide an R rating of 30-40 or something crazy like that.

yea i knew they provided good insulation, but not that good.

i KNOW whenever i build my house i will use poured concrete walls.

This particular house looks pretty tall, pouring a wall that tall is impractical.

Tell that to the guys pouring a 40 story skyscraper next door to me.

The impracticality would come from cost concerns for a residential project.

Well it would reduce the building timetable from 5 years to about 3 days.
 

SarcasticDwarf

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
9,574
2
76
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: RCN
Why is so amazing about it being built out of cinder blocks?

First of all, it's a castle.

Have you ever seen a house built of cinderblocks? As in, the cinderblocks being the exterior. I haven't.

Yes, I know cinderblocks are used to build houses, usually basements, but they don't serve as the entire exterior walls.

AND THEY'RE BUILDING IT THEMSELVES! ZOMG, WITH THEIR OWN TWO HANDS!


Yes. Quite a few houses in Phoenix are built on the principle that you fill the center space (they use thinner ones) with an insulation that does a great job with lowering cooling costs.
 

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: Brackis
I used to live, work, party, and eat in "one of the other 300 castles in the US".

Nickerson Castle in MA.

Yeah but, you didn't build it yourself.

id much rather a poured concrete wall for a house than a cinderblock house... cinderblocks provide VERY little insulation and any small shift can cause major cracks. im also wondering what they are using for joists as cinderblocks are inherently VERY unstable when stacked high without perpendicular support as you can tell when people backfill basements before the main floor has been set, or if the ground is wet and slides into the side of a basement before the main floor has been set.
How does one compensate for thermal expansion in a poured wall?

im not sure, but poured walls are becoming very very common, my uncle knows a good amount about them since he does concrete finishing etc, and my GF's moms old house had them.

poured walls themselves carry an R rating of about 16 iirc, im sure you could find a LOT more info online than i know.

Insulated Concrete Forms are being used more and more in home construction. They provide an R rating of 30-40 or something crazy like that.

yea i knew they provided good insulation, but not that good.

i KNOW whenever i build my house i will use poured concrete walls.

This particular house looks pretty tall, pouring a wall that tall is impractical.

Tell that to the guys pouring a 40 story skyscraper next door to me.

The impracticality would come from cost concerns for a residential project.

Well it would reduce the building timetable from 5 years to about 3 days.

not true as the walls are the only thing poured... that doesnt eliminate THAT much time, maybe 2 weeks at most.
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
51,981
44,870
136
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: Brackis
I used to live, work, party, and eat in "one of the other 300 castles in the US".

Nickerson Castle in MA.

Yeah but, you didn't build it yourself.

id much rather a poured concrete wall for a house than a cinderblock house... cinderblocks provide VERY little insulation and any small shift can cause major cracks. im also wondering what they are using for joists as cinderblocks are inherently VERY unstable when stacked high without perpendicular support as you can tell when people backfill basements before the main floor has been set, or if the ground is wet and slides into the side of a basement before the main floor has been set.
How does one compensate for thermal expansion in a poured wall?

im not sure, but poured walls are becoming very very common, my uncle knows a good amount about them since he does concrete finishing etc, and my GF's moms old house had them.

poured walls themselves carry an R rating of about 16 iirc, im sure you could find a LOT more info online than i know.

Insulated Concrete Forms are being used more and more in home construction. They provide an R rating of 30-40 or something crazy like that.

yea i knew they provided good insulation, but not that good.

i KNOW whenever i build my house i will use poured concrete walls.

This particular house looks pretty tall, pouring a wall that tall is impractical.

Tell that to the guys pouring a 40 story skyscraper next door to me.

The impracticality would come from cost concerns for a residential project.

Well it would reduce the building timetable from 5 years to about 3 days.

not true as the walls are the only thing poured... that doesnt eliminate THAT much time, maybe 2 weeks at most.

Walls, floors, and roof can all be poured. Then you just have the interior to do, yes I know it will take longer than 3 days.
 

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: Brackis
I used to live, work, party, and eat in "one of the other 300 castles in the US".

Nickerson Castle in MA.

Yeah but, you didn't build it yourself.

id much rather a poured concrete wall for a house than a cinderblock house... cinderblocks provide VERY little insulation and any small shift can cause major cracks. im also wondering what they are using for joists as cinderblocks are inherently VERY unstable when stacked high without perpendicular support as you can tell when people backfill basements before the main floor has been set, or if the ground is wet and slides into the side of a basement before the main floor has been set.
How does one compensate for thermal expansion in a poured wall?

im not sure, but poured walls are becoming very very common, my uncle knows a good amount about them since he does concrete finishing etc, and my GF's moms old house had them.

poured walls themselves carry an R rating of about 16 iirc, im sure you could find a LOT more info online than i know.

Insulated Concrete Forms are being used more and more in home construction. They provide an R rating of 30-40 or something crazy like that.

yea i knew they provided good insulation, but not that good.

i KNOW whenever i build my house i will use poured concrete walls.

This particular house looks pretty tall, pouring a wall that tall is impractical.

Tell that to the guys pouring a 40 story skyscraper next door to me.

The impracticality would come from cost concerns for a residential project.

Well it would reduce the building timetable from 5 years to about 3 days.

not true as the walls are the only thing poured... that doesnt eliminate THAT much time, maybe 2 weeks at most.

Walls, floors, and roof can all be poured. Then you just have the interior to do, yes I know it will take longer than 3 days.

concrete is not self supporting when layed horizontally... how the hell can you pour a second story, or first story (with basement) and a roof...
 

five40

Golden Member
Oct 4, 2004
1,875
0
0
I thought it was going to look like the artist rendering when it's all done. It looks like 1/10th of the artist drawing. I'm sad.
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
51,981
44,870
136
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: Squisher
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: Brackis
I used to live, work, party, and eat in "one of the other 300 castles in the US".

Nickerson Castle in MA.

Yeah but, you didn't build it yourself.

id much rather a poured concrete wall for a house than a cinderblock house... cinderblocks provide VERY little insulation and any small shift can cause major cracks. im also wondering what they are using for joists as cinderblocks are inherently VERY unstable when stacked high without perpendicular support as you can tell when people backfill basements before the main floor has been set, or if the ground is wet and slides into the side of a basement before the main floor has been set.
How does one compensate for thermal expansion in a poured wall?

im not sure, but poured walls are becoming very very common, my uncle knows a good amount about them since he does concrete finishing etc, and my GF's moms old house had them.

poured walls themselves carry an R rating of about 16 iirc, im sure you could find a LOT more info online than i know.

Insulated Concrete Forms are being used more and more in home construction. They provide an R rating of 30-40 or something crazy like that.

yea i knew they provided good insulation, but not that good.

i KNOW whenever i build my house i will use poured concrete walls.

This particular house looks pretty tall, pouring a wall that tall is impractical.

Tell that to the guys pouring a 40 story skyscraper next door to me.

The impracticality would come from cost concerns for a residential project.

Well it would reduce the building timetable from 5 years to about 3 days.

not true as the walls are the only thing poured... that doesnt eliminate THAT much time, maybe 2 weeks at most.

Walls, floors, and roof can all be poured. Then you just have the interior to do, yes I know it will take longer than 3 days.

concrete is not self supporting when layed horizontally... how the hell can you pour a second story, or first story (with basement) and a roof...

Either a couple interior walls or colums.
 

BlueWeasel

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
15,944
475
126
I loved this question from the FAQ:

Question: How did you select the location for the castle?

Answer:
We looked for about four years for the right place to build. Since we are
doing the construction ourselves, we needed to find a place where
there were few building codes. If we built in a place with lots of codes,
inspections, etc. we would spend much of our time getting government
approval for the many changes we are making as we go along. We
probably would not be able to afford to build in a county with many
building codes.

I've properly designed plenty of CMU block structures and those building codes are there for a reason. Typically, on an average 2 story commercial building, you need vertical rebar (usually #4 or #5 bars) spaced at about 48" on center and the cells at the rebar grouted full height. As the height to width ratio of the castle is huge, they can't really depend on lateral loads (ie, wind) to span out into perpendicular walls. Hopefully, they've got plenty of rebar and grout, but I've plenty of commercial buildings where no rebar or grout were placed.
 

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
Originally posted by: K1052

Either a couple interior walls or colums.

thats a hell of a lot of interior walls due to concretes density and weight... the second you pic a 4" thick 4'x4' piece of concrete up it basically shatters doe to its own weight...
 

JLGatsby

Banned
Sep 6, 2005
4,525
0
0
Originally posted by: five40
I thought it was going to look like the artist rendering when it's all done. It looks like 1/10th of the artist drawing. I'm sad.

It will be, this is just the first stage. THey are going to finish this part (the main tower), and then decide whether or not they want to continue and build the entire thing.
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
51,981
44,870
136
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: K1052

Either a couple interior walls or colums.

thats a hell of a lot of interior walls due to concretes density and weight... the second you pic a 4" thick 4'x4' piece of concrete up it basically shatters doe to its own weight...

Rebar is used in basically all poured concrete construction now.
 

MasterAndCommander

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2004
3,656
0
71
I lived in a cinder block house with rebar - it was in a tropical place so no worry for heating bills.
That sucka was typhoon-proof!