Concrete Homes?
Concrete homes have been around forever, right? Well, no. These days the term “concrete homes” refers to homes built using insulating concrete forms, also known as ICF’s. Concrete homes are taking over the premium home building market, but you may have never heard of them. You may have been in a concrete home and never even known it. These look just like a home built from wood, but offer a much higher level of structural integrity and fire resistance. Concrete homes are also much quieter than homes built from wood. The primary benefit, however, is the extremely low cost to heat or cool a concrete home.
Concrete Homes & Our Natural Resources
One benefit of concrete homes is in the “green building” nature of concrete homes. While typical wood home construction eats up wood by the truck-load, a typical concrete home saves 50 trees from the sawmill. And remember, cutting down trees not only affects the trees – it also disrupts the natural habitat of wildlife in the area. Many endangered or threatened species, including the bald eagle and the northern spotted owl, are directly affected in an adverse way each time the clear-cutting loggers harvest old growth for wood homes that will undoubtedly be obsolete, termite-infested and structurally unsound in less than half a century. Concrete homes preserve the environment.
Furthermore, because concrete homes are extremely energy-efficient, less pollution is generated in the heating and cooling of concrete homes. It is estimated that if just 12% of new homes built were concrete homes, the Greenhouse Gas emissions would be reduced by roughly 7 to 11 megatons. That is equivalent to the emissions generated in one year by 1.4 million cars.
Concrete homes make use of Recycled Plastic in ties and other components, thereby further reducing waste destined to fill up landfills.
Simply stated, concrete homes are the economically and ecologically smart choice.
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