BENEFITS OF REDDI-WALL
INSULATED CONCRETE FORMS
Simplified Construction Reduces Labor, Time and Waste.
Energy Efficient – R 26 on Block. R 50 when filled with concrete.
Savings on Heating and Cooling Costs of 50-70%.
Energy Savings Over 30 Years On A 2000 sq. ft. Basement = $80,000
Savings on HVAC.
Luxury of a Warm and Dry Basement.
Cracks and Leak Resistant
Above Health Quality and Safe Air Standards.
Sound Resistant – DB 52.
Flame Retardant.
2 Hour Fire Rating – Flame Spread 15 – Smoke Developed 125.
No Off Gassing.
Stronger and More Durable.
Tornado Resistant.
Bullet Resistant.
Termite, Insect and Rodent Resistant.
Savings on Basement Finishing Costs.
Higher End Mortgage Rates – Energy Efficient Mortgage.
Energy Savings.
Lower Interest Rates.
Lower Insurance Cost.
May Qualify for a State 5 Star Energy Efficient Rebate of $1000.00.
Reddi-Wall is endorsed: The Michigan Concrete Association, Portland Cement Association and Concrete Homes.
Concrete strength can be used to create large open spaces offering umlimited possibilities in designing your home’s floor plan.
SECURITY
Concrete is safer than any other form of construction when fire threatens a home.
In fire tests, ICF stood exposure to intense flame without structural failure longer than did common frame walls. The polystyrene foam used in most ICF forms is treated so it will not support combustion. Also, tests show that its tendency to transmit an outside flame source is less than that of most wood products. Many insurance carriers are now offering a discount on a homeowner’s policy for an ICF home.
Concrete homes naturally protect your home from the structural damage that can be caused by the effects of nature.
In recent laboratory tests at Texas Tech University, concrete wall systems dramatically demonstrated the strength and the mass necessary to resist the wind-driven debris carried by hurricanes and tornadoes. Today’s strongest residential wall systems are made of concrete.
Concrete also stands up to such subtle threats as rot, rust and termites.
REDUCED INSURANCE PREMIUMS
Concrete homes resist fire. They are stronger than wood frame homes and safer during tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes.
Insurance for concrete homes is often 15% to 25% lower than for wood frame construction.
LOWERS MAINTENANCE COSTS
With ICF homes, the equation is simple. No rot equals less repair and maintenance. Neither polystyrene nor concrete will ever rot or rust. Concrete can even be exposed to the elements for centuries with few ill effects. Reinforcing steel, buried deep inside and protected by concrete’s alkalinity, does not corrode.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Concrete homes stay warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
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.
Energy savings and comfort are built into every ICF system. ICFs start with a high R-Value. Four inches of ASTM C 578 polystyrene foam insulation, combine with a five inch concrete wall a typical ICF system – are rated above R-17 at 75o mean test temperature. Other ICF in configurations and materials also exhibit high R-values.
But that’s not all! Air infiltration in an ICF Home is minimal due to the continuous air barriers provided by the foam insulation and the concrete. Likewise, there are no convection currents within wall cavities.
The concrete walls of an ICF home have high thermal mass, which buffers the interior of a home from the extremes of outdoor temperature during every 24-hour cycle. This reduces both peak and total heating and cooling loads.
This combination of high R-values, low air infiltration, and high thermal mass is believed to account for the amazing 25% to 50% energy savings of ICF versus wood or steel-framed homes.
Building with Insulated Concrete Forms is healthier for the environment in a number of ways: by minimizing the number of different building products involved in construction, by reducing the amount of waste generated on the construction site, and by lowering energy requirements for heating and cooling.
ICF homes provide a healthy indoor environment, too. Nothing held within or ordinarily emitted by an ICF wall is toxic. The measurement of the air contents of actual ICF houses shows an almost complete absence of any emissions.
New ICF homeowners almost always remark on how unbelievably quiet their new house is, compared with their old stick-build home. They expect the new-found comfort and energy efficiency, but the peace and quiet – the protection from outside noise – never fails to surprise and delight them.
In sound transmission tests, ICF walls allowed less than one-third as much sound to pass through as do ordinary frame walls filled with fiberglass. With double-glazed windows in ICF walls and beefed-up roof insulation, you will rarely hear street noises or airport traffic.
