Everything Prefab

Ahhh, just in time for global warming…

Article says more prefab towers are coming your way in not only NY but in Asia…

Well, this should help if anyone has concerns whether prefab can handle major weather conditions…

Hate to jump to any conclusions just yet, but certainly something to keep an eye on as to the real cause of explosion…

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-10/25/content_27166052.htm

Prefab is Fab.

Oh, I thought you meant that it was a fad, like hot now only and soon to be gone??? From what I can tell though, it seems to be picking up steam in Europe more so than here. Something that I didn’t know until @Elt1 mentioned it, prefab was actually around a long, long time ago (early/mid 1900s?). You could have ordered your prefab home from I guess a Sears or Montgomery Ward catalog. Crazy how somethings come back around.

Boo me. I was trying to be a clever. I meant prefab is fab, like fabulous!

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Prefab is huuge in the flyover states…they are called double wides, aka trailers…lol

Modular Building Believed to Be World’s Tallest Makes Debut in Brooklyn
Rental tower with 32 stories was constructed with prefabricated units

Here is another article about this high rise. (I couldn’t get past firewall).

They def had some issues building this but I suppose that should be expected.

http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/from-mobile-to-modular-how-factory-made-homes-became-chic/

The devil is in the details…or as I like to say prefab looks good from far but is far from good…Construction is all about consistency and following rules and systems that are tried and true…Anything new is bound to have issues…As a builder and designer, I would never try anything new…If it hadn’t been tested and litigated for at least twenty years, why take the risk…I didn’t want to get sued for using something untested…Unfortunately thanks to Ralph Nader and the consumer movement construction is now scrutinized like cars…Even though buildings are usally one off deals…No destructive testing no practice runs…You have one shot to get it right. .Much smarter to copy ideas that are decades old, than to try new technology and become cannon fodder for plaintiffs attorneys.

Come on, this is a major achievement in building. Of course there will be issues. There is a learning curve in all new processes/technologies. But this is the future. We ain’t going back…

Innovators in construction are rarely rewarded. …Look at your favorite the Millennium tower…innovative design, now under attack. …Innovation in construction is often done by naive suckers who think they a smarter than their competitors. .Let foreign builders work out the kinks…But because of our legal system the US is not a safe place for innovation, at least in construction. …a highly regulated, litigious industry …

Well, that is not exactly correct right?:slight_smile: For one, it was built using apparently an older design/method of using concrete which is more heavier than steel. And unfortunately, existing building code did not require that it had to go to bedrock (although I would have done the innovative thing and gone to bedrock)…

You as a landlord have to appreciate this statement, granted it is on a much smaller scale than the Millennium Tower: you would never cut corners on a repair/remodel/build job in one of your buildings if there was a HIGH chance that it would backfire on you (something breaks. or god forbid one of your tenants gets hurt as a result, etc). Risk vs Reward. The developer gambled and will lose BIG…

Concrete construction is not older than steel…The first high rises were steel…Plus the weight difference is not significant. .The big issue was height…Concrete only needs 8" per floor…Steel needs 3’…so if you add 2.33’ per floor times 60 floors the steel building would had to have been 140’ taller for the same area of square feet…Innovation was incorporated into the design for the seismic elements. .Unfortunately they hired the wrong soils engineer and did not explore the effect of a neighbor dewatering the site…

Obviously, I am not a builder/architect. I am just reiterating what was reported from the get go about the concrete instead of steel. To me, if the height was of some concern why then still not go to bedrock then? Everything (to me) said strongly to GO TO BEDROCK and I am not even a treehouse builder…

Height was the biggest concern…They built to the limit…Lopping off 140’ would make the project unfeasible

Well, if you are going to build to the limit isn’t that just one more reason to go to bedrock? It seems everything was pointing to bedrock but everyone didn’t want to see/hear that. The answer was there. They didn’t like the additional price tag. They decide to gamble. House (figuratively speaking) wins, developer loses…

Why does steel need 3’? Is that the width of the beams or because you have to add a flooring system on top of the beams?