US outfit develops 3D house printer

Shrinking print volumes combined with the housing affordability crisis may send some printers to new areas, with one US company developing a 3D house printer.

Start-up business Icon has developed a ten-metre wide 3D printer that is now producing houses in half the time and at half the cost of conventional builds.

The first residents have just moved into the world's first 3D printed community, located in Mexico, and next month, formerly homeless people will move into 3D printed houses in Texas.

Icon's 3D printer pumps out a custom concrete mixture rather than inks, and builds the walls layer by layer. It takes 24 hours to print the walls. Icon engineers are already experimenting with adding plumbing and electrical wiring into the 3D print.

In Mexico the homes are being donated to families who are currently living in shacks that provide little protection against rain. The single-room shacks will be replaced by houses with two bedrooms, living room, and kitchen.