WHY USE ICF ECO FRIENDLY PROPERTY SYSTEMS, icf house building

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Why use ICF?

Why??? There are so many reasons its quicker to ask why not use ICF?

Comfort – Nothing blows through reinforced concrete. There will be absolutely no drafts or cold spots. ICF homeowners have commented on how constant temperatures stay within their homes. Because of the tremendous thermal mass of the exterior wall envelope, temperature peaks are smoothed, and therefore homes are noticeably warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Safe & Healthy – There are no CFCs, HCFCs, or formaldehydes, and also no wood to rot and mold. ICFs are the answer for allergy and asthma sufferers. They have a two-hour fire rating and are termite and pest resistant. But most importantly, these structures can withstand a severe storm hit. Have you considered climate change into your future structure’s design?

Flexibility in Design – Reinforced concrete has tremendous proven design capabilities. For example, how many bridges do you travel over every day? ICF wall systems can support concrete floor and roof systems and give you the ultimate in innovative design.

Quiet – Your outside noises are eliminated. Is your future building site near train tracks, airports, highways or recreational vehicle trails? Maybe you simply do not wish to hear the neighbor mowing his lawn.

Energy Efficiency – Homes built with ICF exterior walls require an estimated 44% less energy to heat and 32% less energy to cool than comparable frame houses. Consequently, your HVAC systems can be downsized. Since floor systems are hung on the inside of the wall, real energy savings come when you design above-grade, thereby eliminating a huge heat loss area in conventional housing.

Benefits of ICF
For the Designer	Design flexibility Variety of finishes Compatible with other building systems	Higher building performance standards A modern method of construction (MMC)

For the Builder	Fast track construction Reduced labour Less downtime Immediate follow-on trades Simple service installation	Less plant and equipment Good house keeping Improved site safety Cost savings

For the Occupier	Low running costs Good acoustic performance Healthy indoor environment	Fire resistance Minimal flood damage Mortgage, insurance and planning acceptance

For the Environment	Superior energy performance High mass for thermal stability	Reduced waste on site Fewer deliveries - less traffic Low environmental impact Recyclable materials

Concrete Homes Save Energy- Report from an American survey and sudy.

Building a concrete home with insulating concrete forms (ICFs) saves energy and money. The greater insulation, tighter construction, and temperature-smoothing mass of the walls conserve heating and cooling energy much better than conventional wood-frame walls. This reduces monthly fuel bills. It also allows use of smaller heating and cooling equipment, saving money in construction.

How much will I save?

Houses built with ICF exterior walls require an estimated 44% less energy to heat and 32% less energy to cool than comparable frame houses. A typical 2000 square foot home in the center of the U.S. will save approximately $200 in heating costs each year and $65 in air conditioning each year.
The bigger the house the bigger the savings. In colder areas of the U.S. and Canada, heating savings will be more and cooling savings less. In hotter areas, heating savings will be less and cooling savings more.

Estimated Annual Heating Savings

Estimated Annual Cooling Savings

The smaller heating and cooling equipment needed for such an energy-efficient house can cut construction costs by an estimated $500 to $2000. The biggest equipment savings come with the houses that have the most energy savings.

How do we know all this?

The energy savings estimates come from a study of single-family houses spread across the U.S. and Canada. Researchers gathered data on 58 houses in all. Half had exterior walls constructed with concrete using ICFs made of expanded polystyrene (EPS) or extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam. The other half were neighboring houses with walls constructed of wood frame. All houses were relatively new (less than 6 years old) and built with modern methods.
The researchers compared the energy bill of each concrete house to its frame counterpart, carefully correcting for important differences to get an “apples-to-apples” comparison.
Estimates of equipment savings are actual numbers reported by contractors that build ICF houses.

Where do the savings come from?

Insulating values for ICF walls using polystyrene foam are R-17 to R-26, compared to wood frame’s R-9 to R-15. So ICF walls are expected to cut the conduction losses through foundation and above-grade walls by about half. And ICF walls are tighter. In tests, ICF houses averaged about 1/2 as much infiltration (air leakage) as frame.

Sources of Energy loss

Energy Loss Reduction

ICF walls do more than cut down on the biggest types of energy loss. The concrete gives them the heat-absorbing property, “thermal mass”. This is the ability to smooth out large swings in temperature. It keeps the walls of the house a little warmer when the outdoor temperature hits its coldest extreme, and keeps the house a little cooler when the outdoor temperature is hottest. The walls themselves “add back” heat or cooling to the house when it needs them most. This contributes about 6% of the needed energy to the house for free.
Reduced equipment costs result from the energy savings. Since the energy needed is less, the furnaces and compressors that heat and cool can be smaller. And the more the energy savings, the greater the possible reduction in equipment size—and the equipment cost.

What's the bottom line?

In planning a new house you can estimate that building the walls of concrete using ICFs will save you hundreds of dollars per year in energy costs. As shown in the graphs, the savings are greater the bigger the house. Heating savings are highest in cold climates, and cooling savings highest in warm climates.
You may also save hundreds or thousands of dollars in construction costs for heating and cooling equipment. Talk with an ICF homebuilder for estimates.

Cost savings of construction include:-

• Lightweight materials reduce the need for heavy lifting equipment
• Reduction in skilled labour requirements
• Speed of construction means less time lost to weather conditions
• Cost effective basement construction
• Roof is in place at a much earlier phase
• Reduced requirement for scaffolding
• No special lintels, cavity closers, or wallties are required
• Special shapes are easily formed from standard parts
• Smaller heating systems can be specified
• Service chases are easily formed using a small router
• Rails allow easy fastening of exterior finishes
• Rails allow quick fixing of plasterboard linings
• Most internal fixtures can attach to the horizontal rails
• Lower occurrence of shrinkage cracks to remedy

Build Green with ICFs - Protect our Children's Future!
Our world’s number one challenge is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that is being discharged into our atmosphere. The earth’s relatively sudden warming and consequent dramatic effects of climate change are directly related to these carbon dioxide emissions.
·         Landfilling construction waste is reduced to less than 1% when you build with AMVIC. For every one tone of methane produced by landfilling practices, 20 tones of CO2 are produced.
·         Every ICF home saves approximately 8.5 trees and effectively preserve nature’s air filters. Ask yourself the question, “How much oxygen does sand and gravel produce?”
·         If we can reduce our energy bills by as high as 40%, we can reduce CO2 emissions by the same amount. The world’s international Kyoto agreement insists on a reduction of emissions by 50% just to slow down the effects of global warming. ICFs are a part of the answer to CO2 reductions.