If you are looking for a well insulated home – the ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) home is your primary choice though it costs higher than standard concrete homes, it does come with some unique benefits highly sought by those who know what an ICF home can do.
Bullet Proof. Because the ICF wall is at least 10 inches thick due to the concrete core being at least 5 inches thick and the two layers of 2 inch thick EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) makes a total of 9 inches then the double outer layers of drywall silica which gives a total of at least 0.5 inch then the final patching and painting works on both sides another 0.5 inch; which then overall totals 10 inches of a wall – this makes a bullet proof wall to protect your home from accidental stray bullets which is sadly still a reality during New Year Celebrations when those with guns are tempted to fire at the sky and some of those can reach innocent homes.
Sound Proofed Walls. One of the benefits of EPS is good sound proofing. Due to its structure – micro air bubbles in dense construction grade tough EPS effectively breaks sound waves. This gives the ICF home total privacy. EPS layers are the usual material used to sound proof a wall.
Thermal signature blocking. Another great benefit of EPS is the cancellation of the thermal signature of the people inside the ICF home for another added privacy. If you are wary of those criminal minded people who have access to a thermal signature scanner on concrete walls such as the FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) device which can view the profiles of the people behind concrete walls. These devices trace the thermal signatures of the people behind concrete walls as they project on the concrete surface. The EPS effectively cancels the thermal signatures of the people inside the home in an ICF wall as they get projected on the painted silica outer surface of an ICF wall and will not be able to get through the concrete core due to the thick EPS that separates the silica drywall and the concrete core – remember there are two layers of 2 inch EPS wrapping around the 5 inch concrete core wall.
Heat insulation. Because heat from outside cannot penetrate the wall in an ICF wall, then your rooms stay cool and if you need to cool it further with an air conditioner then your electric bill will be lower since your aircon will not be overworked due to lowered room temperature since only the heat of the people inside the room will be present and none of those heat coming from outside.
Stronger home. The ICF home is way way stronger compared to the standard concrete home since the ICF walls have solid concrete core walls then your home do not rely only on the concrete columns for strength but also on the walls since solid concrete walls are load bearing walls thus the weight of the second floor and the walls itself will now be evenly distributed along the surrounding walls and not just on the corner columns.
