Category: Building Material

Builders Cite Building Material Prices as Top Challenge | NAHB Now

by Wei Fullmer on February 27, 2021 in Building Material

Nearly nine out of 10 builders expect building material prices will be their top challenge in 2021. To show the magnitude of this problem, the 89% builder response is down from the 96% of builders who reported this issue as their top concern in 2020.

Along the same lines, the No. 2 problem builders faced in 2020 was the availability/time it takes to obtain building materials. This issue was cited by 78% of the respondents last year, while 80% of builders report this will be a key concern in 2021. The high incidence of builders reporting building material problems is

Oregon Business Report

by Wei Fullmer on February 25, 2021 in Building Material

By U.S. Chamber of Commerce,

More contractors are facing a shortage of building materials as the pandemic continues, according to new fourth quarter data from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Commercial Construction Index (Index). This quarter, 41% of contractors say less availability of building products and materials is a severe consequence of the pandemic, up from just 15% saying the same in Q3.

Most (71%) contractors say they face at least one material shortage, up 17 points from 54% in Q3. The most reported material shortage is wood/lumber, which has seen higher demand from a boom in residential construction

NY plans to turn college dorms into medical sites to fight COVID-19

by Wei Fullmer on February 22, 2021 in Building Material

COVID-19 testing starts at Glen Island Park in New Rochelle on March 13, 2020.

Rockland/Westchester Journal News

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College dormitories, former nursing homes and other buildings could be converted into medical facilities to help treat the wave of novel coronavirus infections expected to hit New York’s hospital system in coming weeks and months.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday called on local governments to identify existing buildings that could most easily be

Student sees beauty in fungus: Columbus woman using mold as building material | Nebraska News

by Wei Fullmer on February 20, 2021 in Building Material

Katie Ayers, a Central Community College-Columbus student, paddles in the canoe she made using fungi.

Pictured is a chair made out of fungi material by Central Community College-Columbus student and Columbus resident Katie Ayers.

Katie Ayers, Columbus resident and Central Community College-Columbus student, has a passion for fungi. Pictured are the many items she created using fungi as building material.

HANNAH SCHRODT
Columbus Telegram

COLUMBUS — Katie Ayers has a thing for fungus.

This is how we should build on Mars, scientists say

by Wei Fullmer on February 18, 2021 in Building Material

In order to build shelters and manufacture tools, astronauts may only need to bring one key ingredient — with minerals in the lifeless Martian soil able to do the rest, a new study published Wednesday said.

The key ingredient is chitin — a fibrous substance that is a component of cell walls in fungi, the exoskeletons of crustaceans and insects, and the scales of fish and amphibians.

The material can be molded into different shapes.

Chitin could be combined with surface soil by early Martian settlers to manufacture a new material without special equipment and using little energy, researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design said.