Concrete Flooring:

Concrete stained floor over radiant heating

View homes build with ICF

Concrete Homes

www.rewardwalls.com

Indiana Concrete

Homes Council

indianaconcretehomes.comm

"partnering to build better energy efficient homes"

License # GC-052361-D

DUNS  # 797 873 734

"partnering to build better energy efficient homes"

Benefits:

Solid concrete construction is a long-term, quality alternative to typical wood- and steel-framed houses that can be built much quicker and a better product. The features and benefits of above-grade, removable form, solid reinforced and insulated concrete construction for residential and commercial owners is as follows:

Faster to Build

Helps shave numerous construction days off a typical home building timeframe.

Reduced Labor

Fewer subcontractors are needed in this type of construction lowering labor costs and increasing productivity with a smaller labor force.

Improved Utilization and Scheduling

Operations, scheduling and administration becomes more efficient in concrete construction with less labor and fewer subcontractors.

Quicker Turnaround

A home is "dried-in" when final concrete lift is complete and allows succeeding trade work to begin quicker so an average home can be completed substantially sooner.

Built to Last

Take pride in building a product that can last 200+ years. Concrete housing is estimated to outlast most typical wood structures.

Minimizes Waste

Use of cast-in-place poured concrete drastically reduces construction material waste including lumber, sheetrock, wiring, and mechanical scraps reducing landfill disposal.

Lower Insurance Rates

Building concrete homes significantly reduces potential property damage and loss during disasters like storms and fire. Insurance premiums during construction may also be lower.

Easy Maintenance

Concrete construction is low-maintenance and minimizes damages during construction. Easy clean-up and pre-move-in prep generates quicker closings and quicker collections. It also reduces builder warranty work after the sale.

Fire Prevention
Concrete homes are more resistant to fire than wood-frame homes. This gives your family a better chance of avoiding injury due to fire. Even if a concrete home does catch on fire, the damage does not seriously affect the structure of the walls, making repair a simpler task.

Concrete Homes Are Quiet!

Studies have shown that concrete homes are quiet.  ICF's (insulated concrete forms) homeowners almost always comment on how unbelievably quiet their new house is.  The usual noise is muffled in the thick, insulated concrete walls.  In sound transmission tests, ICF walls allowed less than one-third as much sound to pass through, as compared to wood-framed walls with fiberglass insulation.  With double-glazed windows and increased roof insulation, you will rarely hear street or airport traffic, all of which disappears behind your ICF curtain of tranquility.

Standing Up To The Elements
Part of maintaining a home over the course of its lifetime involves repair of damage from such elements of nature as rain, wind and termites. A concrete wall is more resistant to the wind and rain of hurricanes, tornadoes and other major windstorms. When Hurricane Andrew roared through South Florida, concrete homes protected families far better than their wood-frame counterparts. Homes built with concrete walls can also be designed to withstand the destructive forces of earthquakes.

Two of nature's threats to homes - termites and dry rot - are more subtle than hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. But they can be just as costly. While an infestation of termites can cause severe structural damage to a wood-frame house, the structural walls of a concrete home are safe from their destructive efforts. Dry rot is actually a disease, common to timber and caused by fungi. Dry rot does not affect concrete and is therefore not a worry for the owners of a concrete home.
 

Below are some basic tips for you to consider when working on the initial layout of your new home.

1. The living areas should be located on the northern sunny side of the house
2. Rooms that require early morning heating or afternoon cooling (such as the kitchen), should be located on the eastern side of the house.
3. Bathrooms, laundries and storage rooms should be located on the southern side of the house.
4. The ideal location for the garage is on the southern side.
5. Rooms that will be occupied in the late afternoon/early evening should be located towards the west.
6. Bedrooms can be located on the east or western sides of the house depending on how you live.

Precast concrete walls are the keystone of Tierra Concrete Homes' passive solar homes. Acting like a battery, the concrete walls store the sun's thermal energy during the day and release it during cool nights, helping to dampen the large daily temperature fluctuations common in the Colorado climate.

The home's decorative concrete floors are left uncovered for maximum solar energy storage. Radiant floor heating, fed by solar hot water panels, provides backup heat when necessary. And clerestory windows and tubular skylights permit the home owners to walk into any room in the daytime without the need for artificial lighting.

On the south side of the house, windows have a high Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) for maximum solar energy absorption. Twenty-two-inch overhangs block direct sunlight from late May through late July. Tierra Concrete Homes uses Energy-10, a well-respected passive solar design software program, to optimize window area, placement and shading.

SunTerra Homes of Bend, Ore. also specifies window SHGC based on orientation. South-facing windows permit 62% of incident solar radiation through while west-, east- and north-facing windows permit only 33% through, helping to reduce the likelihood of overheating from the rising and setting sun.

[ Home ] [ Carpentry ] [ Healthy Home ] [ Project Management ] [ Concretre Homes ] [ Energy Bill ] [ Portable-Radiant Heating ] [ Radiant Cooling ] [ Current Project ] [ Algae-Oil Free? ] [ Tax Credit ]

E-mail:juan@rudekinc.com
Copyright © 2008 Rudek Construction Services Inc.

Web Design-Juan Rudek