BuildBlock is proud to expand awareness of the benefits of cost-effective concrete construction through building energy-efficient, disaster-resilient, and sustainable housing with the NRMCA, Build With Strength and Habitat for Humanity. Build with Strength, a program of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association is partnering with Habitat for Humanity International to construct decent, energy-efficient, disaster-resilient, affordable, and sustainable housing across the U.S. This initiative will help to provide incredibly strong and sustainable homes for dozens of Habitat Partner Families over the course of the next several years. Santa Fe Habitat received a grant allowing them to build two homes with cutting-edge
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“The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.” – Montgomery Scott What is a Wall For? As architects, home designers, builders, and contractors look to meet increasing energy efficiency standards and more stringent resiliency requirements; the race is on to design more and more complicated solutions to maintain relevance for existing products and applications. Many new wall systems designed to increase energy-efficiency do so at a high labor expense, increased materials, and some serious creativity. Sometimes a wall section detail crosses my desk and I wonder if creating the technology and materials to
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For many, the concrete pour day is the most exciting day on an ICF jobsite. You’ve stacked your walls, everything is straight and plumb, and now it’s time for that sweet concrete. And that’s exactly how pump day should feel; fun and exciting, from beginning to end. Your wall is about to reach its full potential! But with great power comes great responsibility. Mistakes on pump day could cost you and your crew a lot of time and money. We at BuildBlock want your concrete pour to go as smooth as mud (pun!) so we’ve compiled a list of five
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We are going to step inside the Lloyd House: An ICF project showcasing the resiliency and versatility of BuildBlock ICFs. This project was a flagship project for Lloyd Concrete Services and BuildBlock of Central Virginia. The natural beauty of this lot inspired the homeowner to make as little impact on the environment as possible.The efficiency of the ICF wall system in addition to the geothermal heat pump are expected to drastically reduce the carbon emissions over the life of the home. Utilizing online CAD details and the Prescriptive Method, the home owners easily designed this home to the highest standards of efficiency and
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Minor differences and considerations from standard home designs. How do ICFs work? ICFs are basically a stay in place form for concrete. The structural portion of the wall isn’t the foam, it is the reinforced concrete core inside. ICFs are simply a structural concrete wall, already insulated with furring attachment points in place every 6-inches horizontally. The prescriptive method of design is based on ACI-318 for slender wall concrete. Wall Thickness ICF walls are thicker than wood or metal stud framed walls. If redesigning a plan for ICFs, wall thickness will affect interior and/or exterior dimensions. The preferred strategy
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BuildBlock is continually looking for new ICF accessories and products to create better quality ICF structures. US-TEK Supreme Coatings recently introduced BuildBlock to RubberCoat a VOC free waterproof coating suitable for use on ICF structures. It is an innovative, safe, effective, environmentally friendly, and high-performance protective coatings for use in an extensive range of markets and applications. ICF Accessory Highlight: RubberCoat® a VOC Free Waterproof Coating RubberCoat® is a cold applied, liquid waterproofing product developed by CanTech Industrial Research Inc. and is formulated to be applied by brush, roller or spray. RubberCoat® is CCMC approved as a below grade water proofing product at an applied thickness
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More to see inside the construction of an ICF castle using BuildBlock ICFs As we’ve seen from the first video, building a comfortable home large or small with BuildBlock ICFs is possible with any design. Our look inside the castle continues upstairs as we look at the guest wing and master suite. The castle has a total of four bedrooms, three guest bedrooms and the master.The interior design was inspired by trips to a historic hotel, the homeowners wanted to create a space for their guests where they could be comfortable. Each of the guest bedrooms will have a built-in kitchenette similar to many hotels. One
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How to build a modern energy efficient castle using BuildBlock ICFs In southeastern Michigan, homeowners Michael and Sue Drew started on a journey more than three years ago. “Initially, we wanted to build a small 1,000 square foot Frank Lloyd Wright inspired cottage on the property. We went all they way through the design process, but just couldn’t make it work on the site.” Once they decided a different sort of home was needed, the search began. That search took them to a unique home designer based in Oklahoma, Dan Tyree. Dan specializes in designing imaginative modern castles, beach, and craftsman homes throughout the
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BuildBlock trains “Construction Workers of Tomorrow” Energy Efficient Building Envelope Class 1 using BuildBlock Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs) technology during five day hands-on workshop. See photos from the event below. BuildBlock Building Systems joins with YouthBuild Boston (YBB), Madison Park Vocational Technical High School (MPVTHS) Carpentry Program, Roxbury Community College (RCC), and the New England Carpenters Training Fund (NECTF) in supporting their five day workshop on building Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs). The goal of the course is to prepare students to construct the foundation walls of ICFs properly and safely under the supervision of a qualified ICF contractor. Marty Baron, BuildBlock Regional Manager
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BuildBlock is proud to announce Alfonso Nieves, our Latin American Sales Executive, has been named to the Oklahoma Governor’s International Team. The Governor’s International Team, or GIT, is a select group of citizens with representation from private industry, government, education and non-profit organizations. Their mission is to create a stronger Oklahoma in the global economy through business development supported by a climate of international focus by the general public. Their activities are done in partnership with the Oklahoma Secretary of State and Oklahoma Department of Commerce. “I am very excited and fortunate to be working with such an important group of experienced
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