8 Interesting Facts of Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF)
From browsing a few pages of our website, we’re sure you’ll pick up that we’re NUDURA ICF installers and so, we thought for those of you who aren’t familiar with Insulated Concrete Forms, we’d give you some interesting facts.
This blog post will take you through what Insulated Concrete Forms are, the benefits of having along with some excellent facts and figures that will make you reconsider building with traditional materials like bricks and timber.
What Are Insulated Concrete Forms?
Insulated Concrete Forms is a system of formwork for reinforced concrete usually made with a rigid thermal insulation that stays in place as a permanent interior and exterior substrate for walls, floors, and roofs.
They’re perfect in creating sustainable living and working environments, both residentially and commercially. We develop properties in the NUDURA ICF blocks, which were developed in the USA. Now, we’re increasing their use in the Staffordshire Midlands and surrounding areas.
Facts of ICF Blocks
1. Money Saving System
ICF blocks are extremely eco-friendly and hence are great long-term property investments for reducing energy and heating bills. Our new build homes made in ICF see a great benefit of up to 50-70% better energy performance compared to timber frame builds.
This gives homeowners more affordable living as well as reducing their environmental damage, making their property sustainable for future generations.
2. Durable Structure
At the root of an ICF system is a solid concrete core. This can reach up to 12″, 304 mm, in thickness. As a result, this provides you with the maximum strength and comfort to suit the location and climate of your property.
3. Low Labour & Equipment Required
When installing your ICF property, it’s important to note that the construction time is simplified massively. This ensures we can reduce your labour costs as fewer bodies are required to develop your new build home and we don’t require as many resources.
Not only is this a huge benefit for us as ICF installers, but for you as a homeowner or commercial officer looking to develop a new property. It means you reduce the material and resource expenses as well as labour costs which saves you money both during the investment as well as in the long run.
4. Fantastic Design Flexibility
With ICF you are not limited to how you can have your home and what shape and size you may want it to be. NUDURA ICF technology has design built in mind to the concrete forms so that your dream home can be built in its most energy efficient and sustainable form.
5. Ideal New Build Method for Coastal Areas
This clever technology helps to save time, materials and money for you in the long run. Coastal areas benefit from ICF in a number of ways. But why?
Due to the climate found in many coastal areas; noise, wind and changing temperatures, it is important the properties that are built here can withstand the weather. NUDURA ICF brings you good thermal, acoustic and wind resistance compared to timber frame and brick and mortar buildings.
6. Various External Finishes Available
We can apply a wide range of external finishes to the formwork of your building, catering to the style you want, not limiting you to a brick look home.
See below examples of these different finishes:
7. Bespoke Design
NUDURA ICF Forms are available in a variety of shapes and sizes to accommodate all types of building requirements and designs. Hence, when we work one-to-one with our clients, we can tailor a unique design to the individual, giving them the most suitable size and shape to fulfil their needs.
8. Energy Savings up to 70%
We provide your homes with Performance Values of up to R-50 resulting in energy savings of up to 70% when compared to traditional timber building methods.
Future Homes give you sustainable new build homes for the long term, benefitting future generations as well as you.
For more information, you can contact us or alternatively we encourage you to browse our site to learn what is ICF.