Executive Summary

Precast concrete wall face units with embedded steel that overlap and fasten, in tandem with groove and spline (tongue and slot) for alignment, reinforcing, and sealing with a pvc strip,

The embedded steel is on 12” centers.horizontally and16” vertically, 6” in from the side in alignment.  The wide width the expanded steel gives spreads the strength of embedment over a much more broad surface area.

The steel overlap is tack welded.  The tack welding came along a little later as the bolt, nut, washer assembly would allow some slippage sliding apart of the panels due to the pressure of deposited concrete. Tack welding eliminated the problem.  However, if the panels are used in a temporary application, say blast protection in a war zone, the bolt nut method would be fine.  The cavity could be filled with sand and then later removed through access openings in the bottom of the wall.  The efficacy of sand for force absorption is evident on a runaway truck ramp outside Denver that is on a steep downhill grade.  Plastic barrels full of sand are deployed to somewhat gently bring a big rig to a halt that has burned up its brakes.

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Nut, Bolt, Washer for Temporary Installation

This is a wall system that has no frame attachment because it attaches to itself in a superior way. It’s a wall made from the outside in, a one step finished wall with an architectural aesthetic. This is the only system on Earth that can be a “bulk” fill wall, be it dirt, sand, crusher fines, road base, cast in place concrete, water jugs, insulation, conduits, or any combination.  It doesn’t get more green than that.  One can have mega mass “dirt cheap” for fireproof protection and bulk to withstand most anything.

Concrete Building System (CBS) is a user friendly precast concrete (pea gravel, a component of a proprietary mix design) system with standard sizes and huge versatility.  The majority of system components weigh only 14.5 pounds per square foot, a concrete reduction of 40%.  That’s achieved by strategic voids on the panel’s backside to displace that 40%.  By utilizing state of the art concrete technology, water reducers, water proofing, fibers, and diligent curing, concrete strength is maximized with minimal cement content.

Concrete floors, walls, ceiling, and roof add up to the coziest sensation one could imagine.  The reason is experiencing long wave deep warming of long wave infrared emission from full surround.  Additionally, radiant infrared feels 4 degrees warmer.  Air changes are important for fresh breathing and sensation but under convection (standard forced hot air heat) are a huge source of heat loss.  With furnace heating the ceiling is very much warmer than the floor.  So much energy is squandered due to the stratification of heat rising.

The revolutionary feature is that the wall panels, using an embedded custom piece of steel, overlap in a wall cavity and are tack welded

This is an invitation to take the reins of a truly superior building system.  It is the life work of Walt DeVore, a Georgia Tech Industrial Engineer, class of 73, and a persistent innovator. I can be sorta smart to sorta dumb but am long on persistence to develop a perceived good idea.  The system slowly came together over years of hiking twice daily with my dogs adjacent to the Continental Divide. Whispers on the wind tickled my fancy, and grabbed me to dedicate my life’s path to putting this together.  It came little by little.

For ten years after graduation I dabbled in various endeavors that the real world presented but nothing felt profound enough to pursue. Fate put me on a (remote at the time) mining claim high in the Rocky Mountains.  My task became how to house myself.  Rammed earth was my first idea.  This concrete system evolved from there.  

The below pictures illustrate the fundamentals.   The wall cavity can be used to facilitate unlimited applications to suit the brilliance of the designer. The embedded steel joinery aligns horizontally and vertically.  Dropping a board down has lateral restraint for forming a column and sitting a  board horizontally has vertical support for a beam.. The steels are embedded in the ribs between the block outs. You can see the welds on the expanded steels overlap. Added PVA  fiber gives state of the art tensile and impact reinforcement.

Notice the horizontal spline in the slot along the panel top. It sits half way down in the panel slot and the next panel above takes up the top half.  This seals, aligns, and reinforces the panel assembly.