| 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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