Why do we build houses out of materials that get damaged by water, like wood and drywall? Could we build out of aluminum instead and dramatically reduce the cost of water damage?
I’m guessing the primary issue is cost of the aluminum, which is largely the cost of electricity. Could the coming wave of Cheap Energy through solar let us build rugged, waterproof aluminum homes?
The aerospace industry has developed aluminum panels with internal structure like corrugations and honeycombs.
Ikea has used these sorts of panels built from cardboard/wood to build incredibly cheap and sturdy products like desks and doors.
It seems doable to produce wall and floor panels out of corrugated or honeycomb panels as a stand-in for drywall.
One issue with an all-aluminum house is that cell and wi-fi signals would struggle to penetrate the walls.