Elon Musk may be more famous for building electric cars (and solar roof panels) at Tesla or launching one of those electric cars into space with SpaceX, but his other company is about to come out with a product that could be used to easily and quickly build new housing.
Musk took to Twitter on Monday to announce that The Boring Company will soon sell “lifesize LEGO-like interlocking bricks” that can be used to build sculptures, buildings, or even houses.
“New Boring Company merch coming soon,” Musk tweeted. “Lifesize LEGO-like interlocking bricks made from tunneling rock that you can use to create sculptures & buildings. Rated for California seismic loads, so super strong, but bored in the middle, like an aircraft wing spar, so not heavy.”
New Boring Company merch coming soon. Lifesize LEGO-like interlocking bricks made from tunneling rock that you can use to create sculptures & buildings. Rated for California seismic loads, so super strong, but bored in the middle, like an aircraft wing spar, so not heavy.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2018
The Boring Company is Musk’s other big project. The company is digging tunnels underneath major cities that will be eventually be used for new transit systems.
The company’s first tunnel is currently under construction in Hawthorne, California.
As for what to do with all that dirt that’s displaced by the tunneling process, The Boring Company’s website states that the company is “investigating technologies that will recycle the earth into useful bricks to be used to build structures.”
And it appears that these new construction bricks are being formed with the rocks and dirt that are left over.
Interestingly, Musk later tweeted that the bricks could be used to quickly build the beginnings of a new house.
“Yeah, the boring bricks are interlocking with a precise surface finish, so two people could build the outer walls of a small house in a day or so,” Musk said in response to a question about whether the bricks could be used to build affordable housing.
Yeah, the boring bricks are interlocking with a precise surface finish, so two people could build the outer walls of a small house in a day or so
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2018
The Boring Company’s LEGO-like bricks are just the latest alternative to traditional housing construction that have come into vogue in the last few years, joining tiny houses and 3D-printed housing.
No word from Musk on when the new construction bricks will be available, but he did say that the first set will be “ancient Egypt.”
First kit set will be ancient Egypt — pyramids, Sphinx, temple of Horus, etc
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2018
He also said that the bricks are “guaranteed to be Flamethrower-proof!” So that’s nice.
Guaranteed to be Flamethrower-proof!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2018
