Summary
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. Many of the most popular -- Rastra, ECO-Block, and Reward Wall, for example -- are made of cement and polystyrene (including a percentage of recycled polystyrene). They 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.
Some healthy-buildings advocates prefer to avoid the polystyrene- based blocks, opting for a wood-cement ICF such as that produced by the decades-old companies Durisol in Canada and Faswall in South Carolina. Now Colleen Cayes is gearing up to manufacture and distribute wood-cement building forms locally.See the full content of this document
Extract
Cleaner Building Blocks Key to New Firm
The ICF blocks she plans to make in her Healthy Buildings factory in Las Vegas will be 12 inches tall, 24 inches long, and 10 or 12 inches wide, with special pieces designed for wall corners.
"The blocks are 85 percent wood chips held together with Portland cement," Cayes sa...See the full content of this document
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