Walls & Ceilings Architect/October 2007

ICFs Create a Tight ENVELOPE uilding a home with concrete — t he Roma ns d id it , why shouldn’t we? Though the Romans might have been less concerned with energy efﬁciency than we are today, they certainly understood the ﬂ exibility and durability that building with concrete allows. When it came to building his own home, Doug Lowe, owner and president of Artisan Construction, Inc. in Charlottesville, Va., decided to try insulated concrete forms (ICFs) to get some ﬁ rsthand experience. As a central Virginia green builder, Lowe has built with SI Ps, Thermasteel panels, advanced framing techniques and modular construction. ICFs seemed like the next technology to experiment with. Achieving EN ERGY S TA R (w w w. e n e r g y s t a r. gov), Earthcraft (www.earthcrafthouse.com), and LEED for Homes (LEED-H/www. usgbc.org) certiﬁ cations, his home bolstered the energy B Tight envelope decreases utility bills by 50-70 percent By Marilyn W. Moedinger-Clay, LEED AP efﬁciency claims made by ICF manufacturers. The home had the tightest envelope (.08 ACH) seen by testers in the area, and was rated by Home Energy Rating Services (HERS) at 94. The HERS rating process evaluates expected annual energy costs in a home. In fact, Lowe’s energy bills since moving into the house eight months ago have been 50-70 percent less than other homes of similar size. He is even showing a 20-30 percent reduction compared to his previous home — and that home had geothermal heating and cooling. ICFs are a big part of the home’s energy efﬁ ciency because they provide such a tight envelope and good insulation, but efﬁcient HVAC systems are the other crucial element. In his home, Lowe decided to condition both the basement and the attic. This dramatic increase in square footage reduced the project’s LEED score by 18 points, but actually increased the efﬁciency of the HVAC system, decreased its size from 6-8 tons to three tons, and allowed all ductEasy-to-install ICFs helped to reduce the number of wood scraps generated on the jobsite. Photo by M. Doug Lowe. October 2007 | Walls & Ceilings Architect | 33 http://www.energystar.gov http://www.energystar.gov http://www.earthcrafthouse.com http://www.earthcrafthouse.com http://www.usgbc.org http://www.usgbc.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Walls & Ceilings Architect/October 2007

Contents Trade News Silver Certiﬁed Airtight The Men of Steel Thinking Thermal Firestop 101 ICFs Create a Tight Envelope The Finish Line The Green Thumb Cracking the Code

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