# Could one construct a house (full sized, habitable) from LEGO? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227 "2009-06-09T18:13:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/21 "2009-06-10T21:35:13Z")
> [@True Blue Jack](#): > > I’m wondering why no one has tried this. Probably because it’s relatively very expensive, and very tedious. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/22 "2009-06-10T21:42:42Z")
You ever step on a Lego? Do you want a whole floor made out of 'em? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/23 "2009-06-10T21:54:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They used to make oversized Lego bricks (no, not Duplo) that were nearly the size of regular building bricks. They’re very hard to find, though, and the only people who know they exist seem to be those who had them as kids. Did they have the standard connectors, or were the attachment points oversized on these oversized Lego bricks? ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/24 "2009-06-10T22:06:32Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > You ever step on a Lego? Do you want a whole floor made out of 'em? Heh, you got there first. I was going to suggest paving the floors with the smooth topped bricks as a safety measure 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/25 "2009-06-11T00:40:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Did they have the standard connectors, or were the attachment points oversized on these oversized Lego bricks? Everything was scaled up. It was a big brick about 2 inches by 4 inches, with eight big studs (each with the Lego logo embossed on it, just like a regular Lego piece) on the top. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/26 "2009-06-11T17:43:22Z")
I remember red, blue, yellow, and green. I also had some square ones with four studs. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/27 "2009-06-11T20:31:48Z")
Got pics Chronos/E-Sabbath? This is reminding me of the I saw the Biggs on Tatooine scene in Star Wars when I was a kid! thread. 🙂 I have no memory of “Giant LEGOS” in any of the LEGO catalogs I drooled over in the 70s and 80s. Earlier or later? Test market maybe? Stupid parents never bought me the Galaxy Explorer. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/28 "2009-06-11T22:04:47Z")
I can ask my mom the next time I talk to her, but I’m not certain we even still have them, and she’s sufficiently technophobic that it might be hard to get pictures from her. I got the impression that they were pretty old, though: I was playing with them in the early 80s, but most of our toys growing up were used multiple times over, so they might have been out of the catalogs by then. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/29 "2009-06-11T22:58:48Z")
Mine are from the late 70s. Children’s blocks, I remember one was a duck. Like the really old ‘duck on wheels’ toy, except you could make it out of lego. … Maybe I made the duck myself. [http://guide.lugnet.com/set/?q=2411\_1&v=z](http://guide.lugnet.com/set/?q=2411_1&v=z) Turns out it _is_ Duplo. From '74. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/30 "2009-06-11T23:28:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Everything was scaled up. It was a big brick about 2 inches by 4 inches, with eight big studs (each with the Lego logo embossed on it, just like a regular Lego piece) on the top. They have house brick sized Lego at the Melbourne Museum (see pic about 80% of the way down [this](http://coolinsights.blogspot.com/2007/09/marvellous-melbourne-museum.html)blog). They’re made of rubber, not standard Lego plastic. You can build a preschooler-sized playhouse quite quickly and easily, but I wouldn’t want to try a real house - they come apart far more easily than ordinary Lego or Duplo. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/31 "2009-06-11T23:40:59Z")
[Giant Lego blocks made of (hard) rubber.](http://www.daylife.com/photo/010H8E98uUei9) [And a view of the underside of the same bricks.](http://www.daylife.com/photo/07kAgfM7xoe8u) [A desk made of standard sized Lego.](http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/01/a_desk_made_fro.html) (With what appears to be a Lego grandfather clock in the background, but I can’t be certain.) [Luna Blocks](http://www.techchee.com/2008/06/06/lunablocks-giant-lego-blocks-for-making-your-own-lego-furniture/) > [@](#): > > Some giant Lego bricks called LunaBlocks are the great building blocks for making your own Lego furniture in your home. This is a great DIY idea, for the Lego fans, which you can make use of your own creativity to build some Lego pieces in your living space. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/32 "2009-07-27T13:42:55Z")
> **[Lego house attempt for James May's Toy Stories](https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/lego-house-attempt-james-mays-4823543)** > > TOP Gear presenter James May is looking for volunteers to help him build a new house in Surrey - but one made entirely out of Lego bricks. > [@](#): > > TOP Gear presenter James May is looking for volunteers to help him build a new house in Surrey - but one made entirely out of Lego bricks. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/33 "2009-07-27T15:49:13Z")
The ones I’m remembering definitely weren’t made out of rubber, and I think they were a bit smaller than the ones in that picture (though it’s hard to tell exactly what scale the girl playing with them is at). They stayed together pretty well-- I routinely built “rocket ships” with the bricks on end, that stood up to 3 or 4 feet tall. > [@](#): > > (With what appears to be a Lego grandfather clock in the background, but I can’t be certain.) Yup, that’s a [LEGO clock](http://www.ericharshbarger.com/lego/clock.html), all right. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/34 "2009-07-27T15:54:12Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > The title says it all really. If you had the money to fork out for all the bricks could you build a habitable abode from lego? Are you allowed to use some sort of glue? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/35 "2009-07-27T16:17:28Z")
Lay the flooring Legos on their sides, smooth faces up, pegs laterally. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/36 "2009-07-27T17:11:46Z")
James May stole our idea! 😉 Bastard! ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/37 "2009-09-08T14:54:45Z")
Here’s some [pictures of James May’s LEGO house](http://www.geeksugar.com/4389253), currently under construction. Note the wood framing used to support the walls; it doesn’t quite meet the OP’s criteria in that regard. Also, while I appreciate the old-school mentality that led him to construct it in the five classic colours, I do have to say that it’s ugly as sin. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/38 "2009-09-08T16:31:38Z")
(Re the link above) Since when were they called “Legos”? That’s just silly. Lego is and always has been a mass noun. You don’t have Legos any more than you have a bowl of rices or popcorns. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/39 "2009-09-08T17:32:55Z")
“Legos” is the typical usage in the US, at least. I’ve tried to get out of the habit of saying it since learning better, but old habits die hard. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227/40 "2010-04-15T01:27:26Z")
Just wanted to reopen this to share this video of the finished house. Wikipedia says it was demolished a few weeks later. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIwr-dyIsn8) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-construct-a-house-full-sized-habitable-from-lego/499227.md?page=3)