White Paper- ICFs Offer Shelter From the Storm

On February 22, 2016   /   Asked & Answered, BuildBlock News, White Papers & Research  
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ICFs Offer Shelter From the Storm News of natural disasters appear almost daily in the media. While some events, such as floods and earthquakes, are restricted within certain geographic regions, wind storms respect no such bounds. Some areas of the country are more prone to tornadoes or hurricanes, but high wind gusts can hit anywhere. The potential for hurricane damage increases as more and more people willingly accept or ignore the associated risk of living in coastal areas. Yet, year after year, houses are demolished, and people lose their lives. The challenge is to rebuild in a way that will

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NBC Bank Utilizes BuildBlocks ICF Disaster Resistance Capabilities

On August 19, 2015   /   BuildBlock News  
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NBC Bank Utilizes BuildBlock ICF’s Disaster Resistance Capabilities for security of important documents and equipment.  As far as banks go, this is one of the most energy-efficient banks in Oklahoma. Banks are high traffic, and considerations for foot traffic must be accounted for in the design. ICFs coupled with the spray foam roof insulation lower the utility costs by more than 40%. This project was designed to blend into the surrounding residential area. The owners chose ICF because this branch was outfitted with a data center housing networking and computing infrastructure utilized by the bank.  This room had to be protected from the

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The Puddingstone Cottage

On July 23, 2015   /   BuildBlock News  
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The Puddingstone Cottage is a 1,200 square foot all ICF earth bermed home. Even the retaining walls utilize ICFs for their toughness. Puddingstone Cottage is an all ICF home that utilizes full height earth berms on three sides of the house to achieve its ultra-high energy performance and added protection from Mother Nature. This hybrid home is an all-electric house built among 50+ year-old cottages near a lake in southwest Michigan and blends in handsomely with its surroundings. Puddingstone Cottage was designed and built by National Award winning designer/builder Adam Bearup of Hybrid Homes, LLC. Using the research gathered from Bearup’s

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BuildBlock ICF Above Ground Safe Rooms

On June 8, 2015   /   BuildBlock News, White Papers & Research  
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Tornado season is upon us, and once again, we in the Midwest and Southeast will see thunderstorms forming and rolling across the plains, and we will look up and wonder if that is just a low hanging cloud, or something more ominous. Safety is of primary concern during a tornado.  It is an immensely powerful, destructive force, which can devastate anything in its path. Historically we in the plains states have been told to move to the middle of your home and either open or close windows depending on who you have listened to.  If you had the luxury of

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BuildBlock ICFs create stunning Old Florida Island Style home in Matlacha, FL

On May 5, 2015   /   BuildBlock Projects  
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Island Style Home

Drs. Shirley and Jim Salvatore wanted an ICF home with an Old Florida Island Style. This was achieved with ICF block construction by adding wide covered porches to the ICF block shell. A metal hip roof, horizontal cement board siding painted in bright island colors, multiple windows with pocketing sliding glass doors all contributed to the island look, letting beautiful views of the surrounding bay in, on both the front and back of the home.   The Salvatore’s  home  in Matlacha, Florida incredibly energy efficient and insurance costs are low using BuildBlock ICFs. The Florida Energy Efficiency calculations score for this

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Slagell’s Building ICF Home in Hydro, Oklahoma

On April 21, 2015   /   BuildBlock News, BuildBlock Projects  
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The Slagell’s are Building their ICF home with BuildBlock ICFs in Hydro, Oklahoma. The Slagell’s were drawn to the idea of ICFs because of the energy efficiency and long life construction ICFs provide. Doing all the work themselves, they had to choose very closely what materials to use. They chose to use BuildBlock ICFs for their home. Bethanie says, “Everything has been very user friendly. We like that you can reverse the blocks.” The BuildBlock construction phase is finished currently with the windows and doors installed.  The home is going to be roughly 1600 sq.f  with  a very open floor plan for the

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BuildBlock FieldNotes – 006 ICF Safe Rooms

On September 8, 2014   /   FieldNotes, Technical  
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FieldNotes 006 ICF Safe Rooms

We’ve all seen what happens on the news when disaster strikes: shattered homes and lives after the tornado or hurricane, smoking ash after the wildfire, and collapsed rubble after the earthquake. Disasters happen when we least expect them,but are something we need to be prepared for. We wear seat belts and have airbags because we have car accidents.  Our buildings have smoke alarms and sprinkler systems because we have fire.  We keep weather radios and have radar to keep us aware of severe weather. The majority of residential homes in the US are built out of wood.  There is a better way

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60 Years of Tornadoes & Disasters Visualized

On July 29, 2013   /   BuildBlock News  
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ICFs provide one of the best protections from all forms of disaster. That’s just one reason we’re so interested in seeing how those disasters affect all of us. Since we are based in Oklahoma we have always been fascinated with Tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, and more That’s why when we came across these really cool visualizations of tornadoes we couldn’t resist sharing it. View and enjoy! And remember, big bad Mother Nature can huff and puff, but she’s not going to blow your ICF house down. [youtube id=”eRDke7vreK8″] We are always looking at new ways to demonstrate the wrath of Mother

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Building Safer Homes & Schools with BuildBlock ICFs

On June 3, 2013   /   BuildBlock News, BuildBlock Projects  
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ICF Home Kitchen

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 with steel rebar, and filled with concrete. They include high density plastic support webs that hold the block together and provide a place to attach drywall, brick or other fixtures. The form forms stay in place and combine high resistance wind and impacts from hail and other storm debris and

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