Can You Make a House Out of Thermocol?

The famous saying goes “Creativity is intelligence having fun”. And this is quite true because there is no limit to creativity, and we can always utilize some extra time to fulfill all those ideas in our minds. It requires you to think out of the box and evaluate something in a unique way. 

Get creative and start with your thermocol house project today. There are many ideas to do that. You can make a small decoration piece or perhaps a doghouse as well. Let’s find out whether a real house can be made out of Thermocol or not. 

What is Thermocol?

Thermocol is a synthetic aromatic hydrocarbon polymer which is also known as styrene. There are mainly two types of thermocol which include the solid ones and the foamed ones. They are used for different types of school crafting projects as they are clear, hard, and can be easily cut out like one would want to. 

Multiple arts and craft activities can be performed. With millions of tons of thermocol being made every year, they are also used as protective packaging for small items as well as packaging for high-end appliances such as Freezers, TVs, and other such products, etc. 

For more information on Polystyrene, you can visit here – What is Polystyrene and How was it Invented?.

DIY Small Thermocol House

A great fun activity you can do is to make a house out of thermocol sheets that would be very small in size and could act as a perfect decoration piece. This requires you to buy multiple Thermocol Sheets as well as the different types of acrylic paints and colors to give it a bit of design. Make sure to purchase glue and cutter as these will help you in cutting out the pieces from the thermocol sheet and joining them to one another.

The first step is to make a base from the thermocol sheet. We recommend getting a small 2 by 3 sheet and cutting it into half. This would be the base of your house. On top of it, you can start cutting different rectangles that could be used as the walls of houses. Make sure to draw some windows, doors, and other sections and then cut them out. They will give a realistic look to your house. Try being creative by simply making a chimney with small rectangles of thermocol sheets joined together. 

You can also try making a roof of a thermocol sheet which can be triangular. Simply cut three equal-sized rectangles and join them in the shape of a triangle (diagonally joined). For those who are really involved in this project, they can make stairs as well. 

To make the staircase, you would need equally cut rectangles which could measure 3 inches by 1 inch. Glue the rectangles on top of one another but closer to the edges so that it gives a shape of the staircase. Moreover, you might need a 7 – 8 inches long bar of thermocol sheet so that you can give some support to the staircase. Depending upon how much you are willing to work, you can add other things such as the sofas, beds, chairs, doors, terrace, and others, etc. 

The house is now complete but wouldn’t look very appealing unless it has a good design or pattern on it. Therefore, the next step is to paint the house. We recommend using thermocol safe spray paints or acrylic colors. The spray paints are going to do your job quickly, but you might need to keep newspapers at certain parts so that the paint does not go anywhere other than your desired area. 

To add more details, such as coloring on the small doors for knobs, or perhaps making some grass outside the house, you can use a paintbrush along with the acrylic colors. 

There can be different types of thermocol each with its own usability.

Thermocol Doghouse

Anyone can get a doghouse pre-built from the market or one can make it out of wood as well. What seems like a fun thing to do is to make a doghouse out of thermocol. One reason for doing this is that the thermocol house will be a temporary one only and you can design newer ones after every few months. Some may find it as a hassle while others will believe that it is a great chance to be creative and have a new house made for the dog every few months. 

Since common dog houses are difficult to clean, this one is going to be way easier because all you would need to do is lift the doghouse and clean it up as you want. Easily replace the house with a new one whenever you want to. Normal wooden dog houses may appear dirty or break up and will be difficult to rebuild while a thermocol house will not require any extensive hard work by the owner. You will save a lot on costs too.

The procedure is the same as we mentioned above but make sure that the thermocol sheets you get now are bigger in size. How big? It all depends on the type of dog that you have. Some dogs like German shepherds are quite big and would require a bigger house. On the other hand, there are some dogs like Pomeranians which are small and can be accommodated in a small house as well. 

Thermocol Real House

Yes! You read that right. Real houses can also be made out of Thermocol and many people have already performed this experiment. In many areas, the experiment was a success and proved to be beneficial for the homeowners. Areas that have earthquakes very frequently should have thermocol houses instead of the normal ones. This is because these houses are cheap and even if they get destroyed, newer ones can be made at a very low cost. 

On the other hand, if there is a properly built concrete structure in an area with high earthquakes, it will break and cause more damage. It will be more expensive to form and once destroyed, rebuilding costs will also be extra for the homeowners. Thermocol houses are more than 70% cheaper than the normal houses you see. There is lower structural integrity, but many experiments have proved that one can get the thermocol sheets hardened as well which means that making a thermocol real house is not a bad idea after all. 

And this amazing project was undertaken by the government of India in the province of Tamil Nadu where reinforced sheets of thermocol were used to construct a solid house with two floors. This happened in the year 2017 when the Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation completed the house in only 40 days. This house is equipped with all the basic facilities such as electricity, water supply, gas supply, and others as well. 

Also Read – Who invented bubble wrap? And what is the story behind it?

Large quantities of thermocol packaging being transferred from one location to another

Conclusion

Making a house out of thermocol is possible at all levels whether you are planning on making a simple decoration piece or a full-scale house. If the Indian government can do it, surely many others can do it as well. In order to sustain the living and preserve the resources for the future generations, it has now become important that the governments consider ideas like these so that people belonging to all the different types of socio-economic classes can get their residence at an affordable price.