The house looks surprisingly normal, but its structure is far different than any other building in the neighbourhood. Much of the interior of the house is made from lumber and drywall, just like most other houses on the market, but there is a strong reinforced structure that surrounds the house, making it far more durable.
The reinforced structure consists of 5.9-inch thick panels, which were made from roughly 612,000 plastic bottles. To create the structure, the recycled bottles were shredded, melted and then injected with a gas to create a plastic foam that is much more resilient than traditional building materials.
The plastic foam works much better as an insulator, and it is also resistant to mildew, moisture, and mould. The material is also extremely easy to put together and could significantly reduce construction time. JD Composites says that one of these houses can be built in just days, instead of the several months that a traditional project would take.
The company sent away samples of the building materials to a lab where they tested for durability in extreme winds. Incredibly, the plastic panels were able to withstand the force of a category 5 hurricane, with winds of up to 326 miles per hour. This is an incredible accomplishment, considering that hurricanes with winds of just 200 miles per hour are known to cause massive damage to structures.
JD Composites estimates that the house costs nearly $400,000 to build, which sounds expensive, but is actually comparable to other new homes of the same size.
There are no immediate plans to build more of these houses, but the original model is up for sale. If the property is not sold, the company says that they will list the location on Airbnb to generate some publicity.