CONCRETE HOMES

There's more than one way to build with concrete:

Concrete Masonry Units

Today, new types of concrete block, advances in rigid foam insulation, and advances in construction methods have combined to provide concrete block building systems that cost-effectively outperform traditional frame building methods in every way.

Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF)

ICFs give you all the benefits that have made concrete the material of choice for home building worldwide: Solid, construction that resists the ravages of fire, wind, and Father Time. But ICFs give you two built-in layers of foam insulation.

Removable Forms (Cast-in-Place)

This traditional concrete forming technique uses temporary forms, typically made of aluminum. Rigid foam insulation is placed inside the forms or between the forms and held in place with a system of non-conductive ties. Concrete is then poured on either side of or between the foam.

Panel Systems (Precast & Tilt-Up)

There are two main types of panel systems used for concrete walls: precast concrete and tilt-up concrete.

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC)

Technically, autoclaved aerated concrete systems consist of blocks held together by mortar. But that's where the similarity to conventional mortared block construction ends. AAC uses new, technologically advanced concrete and mortar to give builders and buyers a new range of advantages.

Shotcrete

Shotcrete is a process where concrete is projected or "shot" under pressure using a feeder or "gun" onto a surface to form structural shapes including walls, floors, and roofs.

Built to Last Beauty that Withstands the Tests of Nature

Security That's A Solid Investment

Buying a home can be the single largest investment of your life. If that home is constructed with concrete walls, your investment is naturally protected from the structural damage that can be caused by the effects of nature. As the owner of a concrete home, you'll benefit from lower annual maintenance and energy costs while living in a home that provides a secure haven for your family.

The solid investment value of a concrete home is just one of the reasons to ask what type of construction is behind a home's stucco, siding or brick veneer. If the answer isn't "concrete," your investment may be compromised by maintenance and repair costs that could have been avoided or minimized..

Worry-free Living

Fire can endanger the lives of everyone in the family and destroy those things that cannot be replaced. Insurance companies recognize concrete as being safer than any other form of construction when fire threatens a home. Living in a concrete home can bring peace of mind to homeowners concerned about fire.

Safe and Sound

When disaster threatens in the form of hurricanes, tornadoes or wild fires, your family will be safer in a home constructed with concrete walls. It's no accident that concrete is the material of choice for modern day fortresses and disaster shelters. This strong, durable material stands up to the fury of nature...including the more subtle threats of rot, rust and termites. Today's strongest residential wall systems are made of concrete.

The Quiet Comfort Of Home

Besides being stronger and more durable, the mass of a concrete wall provides an added benefit - a reduction in noise entering the home. So be sure to select a sound-proof concrete home when you're looking for a little peace and quiet.

That's The Beauty Of Today's Concrete

There's more than one way to build your concrete home. Insulating concrete forms. Concrete masonry. Aerated concrete. Tilt-up concrete. Precast concrete. With volatile wood prices, logging's high environmental price tag, and a growing shortage of high quality lumber, concrete offers a variety of products and construction techniques to provide cost effective, quality alternatives to wood-frame home construction.

All of these systems share the same basic virtues of concrete - beauty, strength, durability, low maintenance, energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, and peace and quiet. Which concrete building technique is right for you depends on the labor force and predominant building practices in your area. Whatever your choice, you can rest assured that your beautiful concrete home is built to last.

Energy Efficient Solid Construction and Better Insulation Mean Lower Utility Bills

Energy Efficiency = The Mass of Concrete Construction

It doesn't take an Einstein to understand why concrete homes are more energy efficient than wood-frame homes. The mass of concrete slows down the passage of heat moving through the wall. This means that, with the same insulation, a concrete home stays warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than a wood-frame home. Also, a concrete wall doesn't have as many air leaks as a wood-frame wall - and air leakage accounts for a large percentage of energy loss in the home.

Besides having the advantage of mass, today's concrete home building systems all utilize cost effective, highly efficient insulation to keep your home dry and comfortable year round while enjoying the benefits of lower utility bills.

Solid Construction

Concrete forms an integral wall - solid, continuous and airtight. By comparison, a wood-frame wall is a collection of components - studs, sheet rock, sheathing and insulation. Each joint and connection is a potential air leak. As the air passes through these leaks, it takes your heating and air conditioning with it.

Space Age Insulation

Today's concrete home benefits greatly from the progress that has been made in home insulation over the past 20 years. Many insulated concrete wall systems use polystyrene blocks or panels as the concrete formwork into which reinforcing steel and concrete are placed. These polystyrene forms are left in place to give your home an exceptional R-value. For concrete masonry homes, insulation choices range from foiled backed batts to polystyrene panels. Standard hollow masonry units can be filled with insulating materials.

Smart Design = Savings

When designing today's concrete home, smart builders are able to realize considerable savings by using concrete's energy efficiency to justify smaller heating and air conditioning systems. This results in a comfortable home with correspondingly smaller heating and air conditioning bills. The bottom line - savings are realized up front and throughout the life of a home.

That's The Beauty Of Today's Concrete

There's more than one way to build your concrete home. Insulating concrete forms. Concrete masonry. Aerated concrete. Tilt-up concrete. Precast concrete. With volatile wood prices, logging's high environmental price tag, and a growing shortage of high quality lumber, concrete offers a variety of products and construction techniques to provide cost effective, quality alternatives to wood-frame home construction.

All of these systems share the same basic virtues of concrete - beauty, strength, durability, low maintenance, energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, and peace and quiet. Which concrete building technique is right for you depends on the labor force and predominant building practices in your area. Whatever your choice, you can rest assured that your beautiful concrete home is built to last.

Environmentally Friendly Natural Materials Make Concrete The Healthy Choice For Environmentally Responsible Homebuilding

Concrete...The Natural Building Material

In this age of vanishing resources, we must choose our building materials more wisely, balancing the expenditure of natural resources with the benefits of a material over its useful life. Concrete draws upon some of the earth's most common and abundant minerals for its raw materials. The amount of land used to extract the materials needed to make concrete is only a fraction of that used to cut down our forests for lumber.

Concrete homes are more energy efficient than wood-frame homes and therefore require less energy to heat and cool. This reduces the amount of so-called green house gases produced by power generation plants.

Concrete Uses Recycled Materials

Portland cement, which makes up about 10 percent of concrete, is manufactured from limestone, clay and sand. Scrap tires and other combustible waste that would otherwise take valuable land in land fills are often used as a fuel source in the cement manufacturing process. Sources of aggregates are diverse and plentiful: sand, gravel, crushed stone, and an ever-increasing array of consumer and industrial waste products - fly ash from coal burning electric power plants and blast furnace slag from steel mills. Crushed concrete from demolition is often used as aggregate for concrete. Concrete's nearly inert matrix of materials makes it an ideal recycling medium, with absolutely no degradation of strength or performance.

Limitless Possibilities

Concrete can create any shape or size home you can imagine. Because concrete takes any shape or form, it can create an unlimited variety of curves and angles. Concrete's strength can be used to create large open spaces - offering total flexibility in designing your home's floor plan

Healthy Living

Concrete promotes a healthier indoor atmosphere, since it is practically inert, and requires no volatile organic-based preservatives like wood does. It's naturally waterproof and fire-resistant, so it doesn't need special coatings or sealers. Concrete can also be easily cleaned with organic, non-toxic substances.

Built To Last

Since wood rots and decays, and is extremely susceptible to natural disasters, it is central to a wasteful construction cycle of frequent disposal and replacement. Concrete, on the other hand, requires little or no maintenance, stands up to hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and fires. It can't be eaten by termites and won't rust or rot. Concrete's sheer durability over decades of use goes a long way towards waste reduction.

That's The Beauty Of Today's Concrete

There's more than one way to build your concrete home. Insulating concrete forms. Concrete masonry. Aerated concrete. Tilt-up concrete. Precast concrete. With volatile wood prices, logging's high environmental price tag, and a growing shortage of high quality lumber, concrete offers a variety of products and construction techniques to provide cost effective, quality alternatives to wood-frame home construction.

All of these systems share the same basic virtues of concrete - beauty, strength, durability, low maintenance, energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, and peace and quiet. Which concrete building technique is right for you depends on the labor force and predominant building practices in your area. Whatever your choice, you can rest assured that your beautiful concrete home is built to last.

Quiet and Comfortable Concrete's Sound Reducing Qualities and Air-Tightness Make Your Home a Quieter and More Comfortable Living Environment

The Peace And Quiet Of Concrete

Land for homebuilding is becoming more scarce and we're forced to build our homes closer together and near noise sources like highways, railways, and airports. Concrete homes provide the necessary sound reducing qualities to provide the kind of quiet comfort we all look for in a home.

The greater mass of concrete walls can reduce sound penetrating through a wall by over 80 percent when compared to wood-frame construction. Although some sound will penetrate the windows, a concrete home is often two-thirds quieter than a wood-frame home.

Comfortable Living

Because concrete homes are built with solid concrete walls they are more air-tight than wood-frame. The continuous layer of rigid insulation used in concrete construction provides a consistent thermal barrier unlike wood-frame and batt insulation which has gaps in the insulation. This reduces drafts and cold spots inside your home resulting in more comfortable living spaces throughout your home.

Thermal Mass = Even Temperature

The mass of the concrete also has the heat-absorbing property called thermal mass. This smoothes out swings in temperature over time. It keeps the house from overheating or getting suddenly cold when the furnace or air conditioner cycles on and off throughout the day. It also helps keep the house cool in the summer and warm in the winter resulting in year-round comfort.

Lower Energy Bills

The same qualities that bring you the quiet comfort of a concrete home - thermal mass and consistency of insulation - also brings the peace of mind of saving money. Concrete homes can often reduce energy bills by over 50 percent compared to wood-frame homes. It's not often an investment pays that kind of a return.

That's The Beauty Of Today's Concrete

There's more than one way to build your concrete home. Insulating concrete forms. Concrete masonry. Aerated concrete. Tilt-up concrete. Precast concrete. With volatile wood prices, logging's high environmental price tag, and a growing shortage of high quality lumber, concrete offers a variety of products and construction techniques to provide cost effective, quality alternatives to wood-frame home construction.

All of these systems share the same basic virtues of concrete - beauty, strength, durability, low maintenance, energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, and peace and quiet. Which concrete building technique is right for you depends on the labor force and predominant building practices in your area. Whatever your choice, you can rest assured that your beautiful concrete home is built to last.

A Dollar a Month for Safety, Quiet, and Comfort

A homebuyer pays 4% more for an energy efficient concrete home. He secures a mortgage with a 7.5% interest rate and makes a 20% down payment on the home. He would pay $44 more on principal and interest and $12 more on property taxes but saves $12 per month on homeowners insurance and $43 per month on energy bills. The total monthly cost for the concrete home is only $1 more than the standard home - a small price to pay for the added security, quiet, and comfort.

That's The Beauty Of Today's Concrete

There's more than one way to build your concrete home. Insulating concrete forms. Concrete masonry. Aerated concrete. Tilt-up concrete. Precast concrete. With volatile wood prices, logging's high environmental price tag, and a growing shortage of high quality lumber, concrete offers a variety of products and construction techniques to provide cost effective, quality alternatives to wood-frame home construction.

All of these systems share the same basic virtues of concrete - beauty, strength, durability, low maintenance, energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, and peace and quiet. Which concrete building technique is right for you depends on the labor force and predominant building practices in your area. Whatever your choice, you can rest assured that your beautiful concrete home is built to last.

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