The 'home of the future' with a dismal past

[EC]

Neat enough to over-ride my dislike of Mailonline

The 'home of the future' with a dismal past: House made from FOAM is rotting away in the Florida woods after becoming abandoned years ago

    An urban explorer discovered an abandoned building which was touted as the 'home of the future'
    The dome-shaped house in Kissimmee, Florida provided the inspiration behind the Xanadu homes
    Designers used polyurethane foam - normally used as insulation - to build the walls and ceilings
    Builders inflated a balloon which was sprayed with the foam to create the walls and ceilings of the building

By Darren Boyle for MailOnline

Published: 12:37, 20 February 2017 | Updated: 15:47, 20 February 2017

This is one of the last remaining 'homes of the future' from a doomed experiment to convince people to live in a house made from polyurethane foam.

The unusual property near Kissimmee, Florida was an inspiration for the well-known Xanadu Homes for the Future experiment, which used three locations to showcase the new construction technique.

Bob Masters used the revolutionary construction method which used liquid foam instead of concrete, blocks or wood to build the house in the 1970s.

The Florida house is not one of the Xanadu locations, although it shared the construction technique.

The first Xanadu home was opened in Wisconsin in 1979, and a second was opened in Kissimmee, Florida near Walt Disney's Epcot Center in 1983. The final Xanadu home was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. However, by 2005 all of the three projects had been demolished having fallen into disrepair.

Urban explorer Bullet said he discovered the Masters house while in Florida during a recent road trip.

The 28-year-old adventurer said: 'This house was built with the future in mind. It’s ironic that its future entails rotting away in the woods.

'I know this home was lived in at some point in the 80s but you would need a certain mindset to live in it.'

The house was made by inflating a balloon to the size of each room and then spraying it with polyurethane insulation foam to create a rigid wall.
When the foam set solid, the builder cut holes in the walls to fashion the windows and doors allowing access and light

More plus loads of pictures: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4241994/Inside-abandoned-Florida-home-future.html

Both neat and rather sad.

[mountaineer]

Even when new, it looked rather hideous. I'd go nuts living in such a place.

[dfwgator]

It must have been really something when Fred and Wilma were living there.

[EC]

I think it's a neat concept. Pity the guy who did this one had never heard of finishing though.

[Cripplecreek]

Even when new, it looked rather hideous. I'd go nuts living in such a place.

I think I'd rather go with the re-purposed shipping container thing.

[mountaineer]

I think I'd rather go with the re-purposed shipping container thing.

Me, too. Not as confining.

[uglybiker]

'I know this home was lived in at some point in the 80s but you would need a certain mindset to live in it.'

Later than that. Check the light fixture. It's got a CFL in it. That would put it mid 90's or later.

[thackney]

Later than that. Check the light fixture. It's got a CFL in it. That would put it mid 90's or later.

CFL were designed in 1976.  Initially shelved due to cost, they were available across much of the nation in mid-1980s.

They were not commonly purchased by "normal" people, but someone building a foam house to save energy wasn't exactly mainstream.

[Cripplecreek]

CFL were designed in 1976.  Initially shelved due to cost, they were available across much of the nation in mid-1980s.

They were not commonly purchased by "normal" people, but someone building a foam house to save energy wasn't exactly mainstream.

My grandfather was an electrician and had some very early CFLs in the 80s.

[geronl]

You can do this with concrete too.

[uglybiker]

True, but the helical cfl's weren't common until the 90's
Take that and the general condition of the house (it being in fla.), I'd say it's impossible for it to have been abandoned for thirty years.

[Oceander]

Later than that. Check the light fixture. It's got a CFL in it. That would put it mid 90's or later.

Couldn't that have been put in sometime after the house was first built?

[Suppressed]

Couldn't that have been put in sometime after the house was first built?

Yes.  It's an indication of recent occupancy.

[geronl]

Yes.  It's an indication of recent occupancy.

"recent" being a relative term

[Suppressed]

"recent" being a relative term

Well, I'm a geologist...

[Frank Cannon]

CFL were designed in 1976.  Initially shelved due to cost, they were available across much of the nation in mid-1980s.

They were not commonly purchased by "normal" people, but someone building a foam house to save energy wasn't exactly mainstream.

That's a hell of a stretch, especially since in the video it shows a Pur water filter on the kitchen faucet and plastic replacement traps on chrome tail pieces in the bathroom plumbing. Someone was living there over the past 15 years. 

[Frank Cannon]

You can do this with concrete too.

You can also do this with elephant shit, but it doesn't mean it's a good idea.

[thackney]

That's a hell of a stretch, especially since in the video it shows a Pur water filter on the kitchen faucet and plastic replacement traps on chrome tail pieces in the bathroom plumbing. Someone was living there over the past 15 years. 

Pur Water Filters came on the market in 1986.  In 1989, William Butler survived 66 days at sea with the PUR Survivor 35.

https://www.pur.com/why-pur

[Cripplecreek]

True, but the helical cfl's weren't common until the 90's
Take that and the general condition of the house (it being in fla.), I'd say it's impossible for it to have been abandoned for thirty years.

I don't know how durable the foam is but a conventional house here in Michigan would be falling down inside of 20 years with no care.

The house next door to me has been empty for 15 years after it sold for $200,000. The guy who bought it didn't live there and gave it minimal care. It just sold for $40,000 last spring. The new owner owns a construction company and knows what he's doing and has the place looking pretty good again.