MIES - Mystery Mansion in the Ozarks

The above is not just any mansion. Situated outside of Christian County, MO, Helix Steel Fibres are currently being used to design this chateau-style design for Steven Huff, chairman of TF Concrete Forming Systems. As owner of this estate, Huff plans to use the mansion as a second home and is hopeful to, in the near future, showcase it as an environmentally sustainable single family residence.

But this mega manor is probably best going to be known for Helix Steel Fibres. As a structural alternative to earthquake and tornado resistance, they are quite intriguing.

Helix Steel Fibres are a revolutionary concrete additive designed to make concrete up to 400% stronger without the need for steel reinforcing. By using less concrete and being 20% cheaper, the advantages of Helix Steel Fibres are obvious.

Helix, with its unique twist, is unlike any reinforcement and a substantial improvement over fibers, rebar or mesh. Contractors often want changes just to cut costs. With Helix, you get something better, stronger and crack resistant. And since Helix is merely added with the other ingredients of the concrete and easily and uniformly mixed in the truck, implementation is easy and jobs can be completed much faster.

When concrete is stressed or bent, fibers — even those with hooked ends or corrugation — fail after frictional pull out. Helixs polygonal cross sectional shape and twist increases the frictional resistance. It's like trying to remove a corkscrew from a cork without twisting it. But much more importantly, the twist changes the failure mechanism from friction to a torsional or untwisting mode. The additional force required is so large that it results in performance never before possible requiring much lower dosages.

Helix was originally designed at the University of Michigan for earthquake and blast resistance in applications where rebar was just not enough. Like rebar, Helix is made from steel. And just as increasing rebar size from #4 to #6 increases strength, so does adding more Helix. Helix has been proven to meet or exceed rebar performance in every application of concrete you could name.