Talk:Ferrocement

Could this be used with air-formed domes? --Conor 13:37, 11 March 2011 (PST)

There are plenty of ferrocement domes, but not necessarily built with use of an air form. Air-formed domes (like Monolithic) are typically somewhat thicker than most FC structures, and only have steel rebar and not a fine mesh. --Rasmus 14:11, 11 March 2011 (PST)

It seems like ferrocement binishells would work, don't you think? Binishells are already damn cheap to build, but with a cheaper building material than concrete, they could be even cheaper --Conor 16:00, 11 March 2011 (PST)

These are all similar modes of construction, namely a concrete dome reinforced with steel. The composition of the mix varies somewhat, for example the mix used for FC is often 40-50% cement, the rest sand. But FC is thinner and therefore lighter, using less cement and steel. If one wants to build a very large dome, FC may not be practical because too much work. In developing countries, not a problem because labor is cheap. Monolithic with shotcrete is very fast and probably the better option when labor is scarce/expensive. I don't know much about binishells, the reinforcement seems to have coils that lengthen when the airform is inflated (?), sounds very proprietary. --Rasmus 16:51, 11 March 2011 (PST)

Looking at images from these different types of dome construction, it is fairly obvious that binishells tend to have irregularities on the surface that must be smoothed out after curing. Sprayed monolithic domes do not have this drawback. --Rasmus 06:04, 12 March 2011 (PST)