We are now very excited to be offering energy efficient, ecofriendly ICF walls. ICF's are concrete forms made from polystyrene foam. They can be used for your basement as well as the entire exterior envelope of your house. They offer tremendous advantages over traditonal building techniques.
ICF's offer incredible insulated qualities. They are available in R-values anywhere from R20 to R40. Although conventionally framed 2x6 walls can be insulated with R19 this does not represent the true R value of the wall. Everywhere there is a wooden stud or window header, there is no insulation. This creates a thermal break in the wall, when you deduct these areas from the wall, actual R-value is much lower. The absence of thermal breaks is very important, just think about how effective your coffee cup or cooler is. Even the tightest framed wall still will have gaps and spaces allowing even more air to escape. Also the concrete wall will have a high thermal mass. This means there is alot of material that needs to change temperature between the inside and outside of the wall further reducing the amount of energy needed to control the inside air temperature. With electric and gas prices going up every year, enerygy savings can only increase as well.
ICF homes are supported by many builders dedicated to green building practices. Not only do they require much less energy to maintain, they have other eco friendly advantages. The foam used is nontoxic and waste material can be recycled. Concrete is also a sustainable resource helping minimize environmental impact. Concrete itself is often made with recycled materials and waste products from other manufacturing industries.
Other advantages to ICF's include a quieter, more comfortable home. Due to tighter construction, less contamination from outdoor air is seen. Also, since ICF's contain no organic material, there is nothing for mold or insects to eat. ICF's also claim higher fire and storm resistance.
There are many finishing options for ICF's. Siding and drywall are attatched directly to the ties in the foam. Stucco and brick are other common finishing options. Wires and other objects are easily cut into the foam with a electric hot knife. Other items such as vents are accounted for during forming of walls. Floor systems are attatched using a ledger system and hardware poured into the concrete.
Since ICF's do cost more than regular poured walls, we can help offset this cost by offering a combination of ICF and poured wall. By using traditional poured walls for unheated areas such as garage, porch, and retaining walls and ICF's for the house walls we can acheive the same benefits at a lowered cost.
Please contact us here with any questions you may have about ICF's or anything else on our site. Thanks for visiting!
