An Innovation in Construction Technology

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I’m usually pretty skeptical when someone tells me they’ve found a breakthrough in homebuilding.

We’ve heard this story many times before. Modular construction was going to change everything. 3D printing was going to make housing dramatically cheaper. Mass timber was going to replace steel and concrete. In each case, there may be a place for the technology, but the promised revolution often fails to account for the entire building process.

Construction is not one problem. It is a collection of hundreds of small problems, each with code requirements, scheduling constraints, labor dependencies, financing implications, and supply chain risks.

But every once in a while, something comes along that deserves a closer look.

That’s the case with Plantd, a North Carolina company founded by former SpaceX engineers, including Nathan Silvernail and Huade Tan. Their target is not the whole house. They’re not trying to replace every trade on the job site. They’re going after one of the most common materials in homebuilding: OSB, or oriented strand board.

Traditionally, OSB is made from wood strands pressed together with resin under heat and pressure. Plantd is making a direct alternative from fast-growing perennial grass. According to the source material, the grass can grow about six inches a day, can be harvested twice a year, and has a much higher carbon sequestration rate than pine. The company’s internal testing claims the panels are two times more moisture resistant and one and a half times stronger than traditional softwood OSB. A pine forest takes 40 years to mature. These grasses can supply the same home building in 90% less acreage. And you can grow the grass next to the factory.

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