ICF for Green and Sustainable Buildings
Visuals Of a Wisconsin(Usa) Building Which Withstood a F3 Tornado With Hardly a Scratch While Its Neighbour Made Of CMU Blocks Was a Total Loss
Proof
ULTRA LOW ENERGY BUILDINGS
The Video Below Explains/
The Unique Features And Benefits Of Reliable ICF
Fully Insulated Building With Zero Thermal Bridges & Minimum Air Leaks
You can move around in your shirt sleeves inside a Reliable ICF building, without heaters or fire. This is possible because these buildings are 100% insulated against heat loss through conduction (through walls & roof), convection (through air leakages from air gaps in door/ window frames or walls) or radiation (except through windows). Such an airtight and thermal bridge free construction is possible in Reliable ICF buildings because of its monolithic concrete casting technology. Through its interlocking hollow, ultra light weight, polystyrene foam blocks assembled together, the entire structure (floor wise) is visible before the concrete pour. The thermal bridging areas like concrete beams, lintels and slabs, are created using special foam blocks which contain the concrete. The monolithic concrete pour, protected on both sides with air tight insulation and reinforced plaster coat, ensures zero air leakage. Same energy efficiency is effective in air conditioned buildings as well.
Fully Insulated Building With Zero Thermal Bridges & Minimum Air Leaks
Earthquake & Hurricane Proof ICF Buildings
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina made history as the most devastating storm in U.S history. Pushed by 250-Kmph winds, a tidal surge estimated at 7 meter high swept through Alabama and Mississippi, wiping entire towns off the map. All that is left of one neighborhood outside Pass Christian, Missisipi, is row after row of concrete slabs—and one ICF home. It stands as a prime example of the durability of ICF construction as against conventional construction. Hurricane Resistance
The same year. an F-3 Tornado, tore through, Stoughton, Wisconsin, USA. A total of 45 homes were severely damaged. One building made with ICF had minor damages of exterior siding panels being pulled away by the tornado. However adjoining buildings (Yellow color) were total loss. A Safe Room The Size of Your Home
This strength of ICF is derived from its typical monolithic, jointless, concrete construction. In Indian context, we mostly use concrete roofs and as the roof is joined with the concrete walls through steel rebars coming from the foundation into the walls and continuing into the roof, the ICF structure becomes like a 3D concrete box which is practically indestructible by natural lateral forces of Tornadoes or Earthquakes. The whole span of roof acts with the walls in tandem against such lateral forces. The strong steel bonding with the foundation means, the structure simply can’t be blown away.
Earthquake & Hurricane Proof ICF Buildings
In 2014, a massive natural gas explosion ripped through a quiet neighborhood in East Harlem, New York City. The blast leveled two apartment buildings, killed eight people and injured at least 70 others. The force of the explosion shattered windows blocks away.
Through it all, the four-story ICF building adjacent to the explosion stood strong. There was no structural damage at all. The engineer’s report states the blast was located “inches, not feet†from the ICF walls, yet the building was in remarkably good shape.
This strength of ICF building once again derives from the 3D structural strength as explained in previous paragraph. Beside that the shock absorbing properties of the EPS layer along with its “Self Extinguishing†property combined with the fiber glass reinforced polymerized plaster on top, delays its burning.
Super Quiet & Clean ICF Buildings
You have to enter an ICF building to experience the super quietness of these buildings. As soon as the main door shuts, the quietness impacts your years. The external sound is conveyed to your ears inside, either as “airborne†sound or “impact†sound. The ICF buildings being 24 times airtight than conventional building, very little sound comes in through this way. The heavy weight seamless concrete wall in combination with the sound dampening polystyrene foam layers, limit the “Impact†borne sound to a great extent. So much so that ICF buildings have been tested to reduce external sound infiltration by up to 60 dB.
Another major advantage of ICF buildings in Indian context is the dust proof and pollen free interiors. The airtightness of the building facilitates this bonus benefit.
Successfully completed projects
