Out of the ground

During the first week of November the Bulson green home began taking shape. That week, which was marked by cold, snowy weather in Utah, workers began installing the ICFs--insulated concrete forms. ICFs are quite interesting. We first learned about them at the Utah House, mentioned in an earlier entry. A friend said they look like "Legos" and, indeed, they do. They are basically insulation mounted on both sides of a plastic form that are stacked and held together by steel rebar. Concrete is then poured into the forms and, once cured, become the structural wall. In this case we are using them only for the lower level. Some ICFs can have an insulating value up to R-25. As you can see from the attached images, the walls are white. But in this case, white is green!!

In addition to the enery-saving aspect of using ICFs, there is one other green feature to mention here. The concrete that has gone into the forms consists of 25 percent flyash, which is a waste product from coal-fired power plants and a significant disposal problem for the utility industry. Thus, the lower level walls are not only highly energy efficient but have made a small dent in the waste products coming from traditional sources of energy. We are told that it may take a little longer to cure but backfilling around the lower level walls should take place this coming week. Stay tuned.