It's a Four-Bedroom, Two-Bath Fortress
Affordable hurricane-ready homes are being built using heavy gauge steel shipping containers better known for cradling ocean-going cargo.
St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times
Tips for Building an Exterior Wall
Building a wall is but one of many tasks involved with the construction of a room addition or an extensive remodel. Knowing a few "whys" and "hows" about the assembly can simplify the process and eliminate a lot of heartache.
The York Dispatch (Penn.)
House of Straw
Myrna Fletcher raises llamas, shears them, spins the wool and crochets afghans for her grandchildren. So when she and her husband, Bill, needed a home to replace the creaking 1905 farmhouse they shared, they decided to build one themselves. That’s when Fletcher learned of homes built of the same cheap, local materials as the woodburning oven she made to bake homemade pies — straw, mud and sand.
The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
ICFs in the LEED
Among the fastest-growing "green" building systems in the U.S., insulating concrete form (ICF) construction offers greater strength, energy efficiency, durability and comfort compared to traditional methods, representatives from Omaha, Neb.-based Reward Wall Systems affirm. Although predominantly used in the residential market during the past decade, they add, its use as a forming system for steel-reinforced, poured concrete walls in commercial applications is rapidly expanding.
Concrete Products
Concrete-Foam Houses Strong, Energy-Efficient
It is true that concrete is not a good insulator and feels cold, but with this method the concrete is encapsulated in rigid insulating foam. The foam provides the energy efficiency and the concrete provide the strength. The concrete inside the foam also adds thermal mass to the house. In addition to efficiency, very little outdoor noise penetrates the walls.
St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times
Straw Poll
Is a straw bale house energy efficient?
The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Pushing the Zero-Energy Boundaries
The Solar Harvest house in Boulder, Colorado, combines energy efficient design with renewable technologies.
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)
Cleaner Building Blocks Key to New Firm
Europeans invented the ICF (insulating concrete form) technology after World War II, when the need for rebuilding was high and the supply of lumber low. Many companies produce ICF blocks today that are designed to stack and fit together, like Lego toy pieces, around steel reinforcing rod. Concrete is then poured through manufactured voids in the stacked blocks, the end result a strong wall thick with insulation.
The Santa Fe New Mexican (N.M.)
Concrete House a Safe Energy Saver
A house is going to work as good as its weakest link. ICFs are superior products, but when you put them in a house with all of the other products, how does that house perform?
The Capital Times (Madison, Wis.)
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