Afghanistan: Affordable, Safe Housing Based on Expanded Polystyrene Foam and Cementitious Coating

This paper describes an ongoing project to demonstrate an affordable, safe, and energy-efficient housing technology based on Expanded Poly Styrene (EPS) wall and roof panels covered with a cementitious coating. The three concepts being pursued and described in this paper are 1) EPS panels embedded with galvanized steel trusses, steel mesh welded or clipped to the protruding points of the trusses, and once the walls and roof are erected and connected, finished with a coating of cement plaster; ) panels consisting of an inner and outer skin of fiber-reinforced cement board and a core of EPS, glued together with high-strength adhesive, dried under high pressure, and connected with splices of the same cellulose fiber cement board; and ) EPS panels coated with a fiber-reinforced composite. The current scope of this project is to model energy flows, analyze construction costs, simulate seismic forces, test against environmental conditions and hazards, and build pilot houses initially in California for Native Americans and in Kabul, Afghanistan. Preliminary results from the energy flow analysis cost modeling, and structural calculations are reported in this paper. The main performance goals seek to address seismic safety considering wood shortages; energy efficiency in extreme temperatures to reduce both fuel required for heating and indoor air quality hazards; affordability and simplicity of construction in a post emergency situation or low-income community, as well as ease of expansion for future development; local employment opportunities and small-scale, realistic capital investments; and finally, cultural acceptance through education and adaptation to traditional architecture.