Professor tests sustainable housing material

Peter Dusicka, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, is testing the newest idea in green building right here at Portland State. In the basement of Science Building 2, Dusicka is evaluating the durability and seismic safety of the “do-it-yourself” Faswall brick system.

The Faswall technology was first developed for the European rebuilding effort after World War II. Laborers formed blocks made from the remnants of fallen buildings. The modern technology, trademarked as Faswall, applies the same use of recycled materials in brick production today.

In a warehouse in Philomath, a small town located in eastern Oregon, old wood pallets are shredded and then put through a mineralization process that allows the wood to be bonded with cement. The mineralized wood is then added to cement and formed into bricks. Before leaving the warehouse, each brick is fitted with a three-inch-thick piece of mineral wool insulation. The result is a set of interlocking, user-friendly stackable blocks.

Faswall bricks have been compared to Lincoln Logs and Legos and, as it turns out, these comparisons aren’t far off, Dusicka said. The simple interlocking grooves on the bricks, which are lightweight and mortar-free, makes assembling structures a do-it-yourself process. The blocks, weighing about 30 pounds each, stack neatly upon each other to form a wall. Cement is then poured into the bricks to create a solid 12-inch-thick concrete partition.

Through a connection formed by Oregon BEST, Dusicka has been testing Faswall bricks in the iStar Laboratory, located at PSU.

Oregon BEST is an organization that couples renewable energy businesses with university researchers to create actual products. In the case of the Faswall brick system, Dusicka believes that the technology’s seismic strength, a main topic of his research, is still unknown. Evaluating and improving the design and strength of the brick to withstand earthquakes is essential for building structures in an area as seismically active as Oregon.

In the hopes of becoming more environmentally sound, ShelterWorks Ltd, which owns Faswall, wants to make bricks using recycled cement. Therefore, Dusicka is also comparing the strength between bricks made with pure cement and those made with cement containing recycled materials. However, his central research goal is determining whether or not Faswall bricks can be used for large-scale designs.

Environmentally sound do-it-yourself housing does exist. Whether or not the concept will take root in America remains to be seen.

“Each building material and construction type has its own capabilities,” Dusicka said.

Though Faswall is a smart alternative for some projects, it is not the material for every green building of the next generation, according to Dusicka.

Commenting on the future of Faswall, Dusicka said, “Is it going to take over the world? No, … [but] it can be a viable and popular way of building medium-sized structures.”

It’s not magical or overly complicated, Dusicka said. If you can build a shed, that’s plenty of experience.

Home additions, garden sheds and single-family dwellings have been built with limited professional help using Faswall technology, according to ShelterWorks’ website.

The use of recycled materials isn’t the only green aspect of this product. Because the mineral wool insulation is built into each brick, the necessity for fiberglass insulation is eliminated. This leads to an energy-efficient dwelling that saves the homeowner money in heating and cooling costs.

Additionally, the pre-made bricks and lack of sheet insulation greatly reduce the amount of wasted material during construction. The solid walls built with Faswall are guaranteed to be both rot- and termite-resistant for life. Therefore, maintenance and upkeep costs for a Faswall structure are significantly lower than a traditional wood-framed home.

Using Faswall bricks does add between 5 and 10 percent to the final cost of building a structure, but ShelterWorks argues that the added costs are easily recouped through the energy efficiency of the building, according to its website.

Though Faswall technology is relatively unknown in the U.S., these structures are the preferred style of building in Europe, according to the website.

“[Faswall] is simply too new,” Dusicka said.

After all, ShelterWorks only purchased the Faswall technology from a Swiss architect in 2007. In the world of construction, an industry that is slow to change, three years is but a blip on the radar. In addition, Europe’s low seismic activity may explain why Faswall is more widely used there, Dusicka said. ?