How to Use ICFs
ICFs can be used in many places in your ICF home project. You can build your frost walls, stem walls, full basement, or the exterior walls of your entire home.
How to use BuildBlock ICFs to Build Your Dream Home.
Good:
Build an ICF Safe Room & Foundation
Safe rooms that are built with insulating concrete forms are like any other room in your home: master bathroom, bedroom, closet, pantry, media room and more. Building a safe room doesn’t mean building an ugly bunker. Using ICFs, you can finish this room however you would like and use it as a part of your home each day.
A temperature-controlled room that isn’t musty or damp inside your home for your family’s safety. No worries about moving cars and climbing down into a hole in your garage, these safe rooms can be above ground or in your basement. A safe room will also prevent you from being trapped under debris in your garage waiting for rescue.
Better:
Build an ICF Basement & Foundation
Build your crawlspace or basement with ICFs and create a safe place for you and your family. Highly energy-efficient ICF basements typically are drier with lower humidity than standard basements. Insulated, waterproof and quiet. Safe rooms built with insulating concrete forms are an excellent value.
ICF basements let you maximize the square footage of your home regardless of your lot size.
Best:
Build All Exterior Walls with ICFs for Maximum Savings
Build all outside walls of your home using insulating concrete forms. The insulation below ground in your foundation or basement is even greater above ground and any cost difference is recouped within the first 3-5 years of owning your home. When compared to wood frame construction, the actual out of pocket cost difference is offset by energy savings alone
This means while your mortgage might be slightly higher, the monthly utility bills will be substantially lower and your total monthly out of pocket costs are the same.
Benefits such as safety from disaster, noise reduction, improved indoor air quality, and peace of mind begin immediately and never stop.
See ICFs in action & learn more about building with icfs!
Featured Residential Projects
The Drew Castle, Southeastern Michigan
In southeastern Michigan, homeowners Michael and Sue Drew have used BuildBlock ICFS to build an incredible 4 bedroom “starter castle”. Complete with a large courtyard, brick battlements, and beautiful church inspired windows, this castle is built to last and provide a safe and comfortable home for their family for generations to come. Click the picture for a full project profile including images and video.
The Darga Residence, Sutton Bay, Michigan
This unique residence was built on the shores of Lake Michigan using BuildBlock Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs). See how BuildBlock’s unique features made it possible to place this home close the water in challenging terrain with maximum energy efficiency and an airy open style. Click the picture for a full project profile including specifications, images, and video.
River Escape Net Zero 2011 GreenBuilder Home of the Year
We are proud to announce that our "River Escape" project was named GreenBuilder Magazine's 2011 Home of the Year. This is very prestigious national award from one of the industries most respected green building magazines. This compact 1,267-sq.-ft. home does everything right, from its frost-protected shallow foundation to its ICF…
Designing Spaces: Building One ‘Block’ at a Time…
Designing Spaces goes on site in Arizona with Correspondent David Crow to get a look at ICF construction. Athena Davis from BuildBlock Building Systems takes us on a tour of a home under construction and to visit a new home to show the advantages of using ICF; Insulating Concrete Forms.…
A Satisfied Customer – BuildBlock ICF Shelter
Check out what one of our customers said about his first BuildBlock experience. “I’d like to have my dream home built with ICF’s in a couple years. So, about a year ago I decided I wanted to get a little experience and build an ICF storm shelter myself. I know…
BuildBlock South Texas Spring Branch Project
Spring Branch Project, Spring Branch, Texas 5418 sq.ft. Under Roof, 2872 sq.ft. Conditioned January 9th-July 3rd 2012 Designed by Greg Setzer Contractor Custom Homes, Ltd. IFC Installer: BuildBlock of South Central Texas BuildBlock ICF Products The home posed several challenges. Many corners were close together and windows were close to…
Project Highlight: The Commons at Sea Shell Drive
The Commons at Sea Shell Drive Port Aransas, Texas ICF Builder: Todd Humphreys, CircleT Construction Builder: Nick Lorette Developer: Seashell Village Associates The Commons at Sea Shell Drive is the first all ICF development in the Texas Gulf Coast Region. The developers approached ICF technology for this project because of…
Sandown, New Hampshire Home
ICF Builder: McGregor Chadwick, Northstar Contractors New Hampton, New Hampshire, northstarnh.com The Home Located on a small lake in southern New Hampshire and offering peaceful views from its privately positioned outdoor living room, this gorgeous open concept home was designed with preservation of the native landscape in mind. Offering main level living, beautiful…
BuildBlock ICFs featured on PBS Hometime this season
BuildBlock is proud to partner with the long-running Hometime program on PBS. BuildBlock ICFs were chosen to build the frost wall below the basement and the basement walls as well. It was an exciting time in Minnesota braving the cold and heavy snow, but the project worked out well. Check…
How to Build Safe ICF Schools
As many Oklahoma students prepare to hear the bells ring this school year, construction is beginning on a landmark early childhood development center in Ada, Okla. The center, constructed of BuildBlock Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs), serves a dual purpose. Completed in 2011 it serves as an educational facility for the…
Building Safer Homes & Schools with BuildBlock ICFs
There are many ways to design homes, schools, and buildings to safely survive many different types of disasters. One of the most innovating technologies developed is Insulating Concrete Forms. Insulating Concrete Forms are EPS foam blocks that stack together in the shape of the walls of your structure, are reinforced…
New ICF Ethylene Control Building Calvert City, KY
Construction for a new Ethylene Control Building using 12" BuildLock ( BuildBlock’s knockdown block system) is underway at Westlake Chemical Corporation in Calvert Kentucky. The building measures 55’-6” x 177’-6” and is 16’-10” high from top of footing to top of wall. This structure was designed to be explosion proof…