A first-of-its-kind neighborhood is taking shape in Yuba County. California’s first 3D-printed community is being built in Linda.
The first home is already for sale and the second and third homes are being printed right now.
“Five 3D-printed homes are going to be here,” said Nan Lin, founder of 4Dify.
The new neighborhood in Linda is being built one layer at a time with the latest in 3D printing technology from the company 4Dify.
The 1000-square-foot home for sale was printed from the dirt up within 24 days. It’s made up of mostly concrete.
“We’ve done ballistic testing on these, shot at it with 9mm, 45, 556, machine guns. These are bulletproof walls,” said Lin.
As the crew is getting the hang of things, they anticipate the next homes to be printed within just 10 days. Lin said printed homes are stronger and more efficient than regular homes.
“Because of how thick the walls are and the energy transfers between a concrete wall to a wood wall, the energy efficiency is extremely high. So you’re looking at half the energy bill and half the insurance costs,” said Lin.
Lin comes from Sacramento but has hit too much red tape to start construction there yet, but it’s on the horizon.
“I have a lot of good things to say about Yuba County. I didn’t know they were going to be so welcoming and also they’re also very innovation driven,” he said, “we’re looking to keep one machine here in Yuba County. We want to build more of these houses and more of these communities. However, we are expanding to Sacramento, Bay Area, SoCal.”
He says 3D printing increases productivity. The same five-person crew is able to print 10 to 12 homes per year, saving two months of construction time on each home compared to the traditional way.
“The issue I saw with construction is that the cost of employment and materials were all uncontrollable, always going up and there’s so many different variables that constantly change,” said Lin. “So 3D printing made a lot of sense because we get to control variables.”
It also helps to keep the cost down, with the first home priced at $375,000.
“We started construction on the second and third houses last week. The second house is about halfway up and the third, we’re just starting the foundation process,” said Lin.
Lin anticipates the entire community to be finished in June.Â