Some production builders now create entire large developments using insulating concrete forms. As word of ICFs grew and innovations reduced manufacturing and installation costs, builders began using the forms for mid-price-range homes. Custom home clients were willing and able to pay extra for the premium quality. Because insulating concrete forms systems offered performance benefits like strength and energy efficiency and were initially more expensive to construct, the first target market was high end home construction. Over time, some ICF manufacturers consolidated, leading to a smaller number of larger companies. The new companies developed variations and innovations to distinguish one system from another. As a result, competition increased and costs moderated.
#Insulating concrete blocks code#
Although there were some obstacles-costs could be greater than frame construction because people didn’t understand the system, builders had to work closely to get code approval, and materials were proprietary-the number of insulating concrete forms producers grew. They also worked with the Portland Cement Association to build awareness of this type of construction. By the mid-1990s, the Insulating Concrete Form Association (ICFA) was founded to do research and promotion of the products, working toward building code acceptance. In the 1980s and 1990s, some American companies got involved in the technology, manufacturing blocks and panels or planks. Europeans were developing similar products around the same time. In the 1940s and 1950s, chemical companies developed plastic foams, which by the 1960s allowed a Canadian inventor to develop a foam block that resembles today’s typical ICFs.
Their history dates back to after World War II, when blocks of treated wood fibers held together by cement were used in Switzerland. Insulating concrete forms, or ICFs, are forms used to hold fresh concrete that remain in place permanently to provide insulation for the structure they enclose.
Traditional finishes are applied to interior and exterior faces, so the buildings look similar to typical construction, although the walls are usually thicker. Common applications for this method of construction are low-rise buildings, with property uses ranging from residential to commercial to industrial. These systems are strong and energy efficient. Insulating concrete forms (ICFs) result in cast-in-place concrete walls that are sandwiched between two layers of insulation material. End view of typical preassembled flat wall ICF block
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