Our search tool above has proven to be very useful for our readers in finding topics, projects and regional issues specific to the reader. If you ever want a topic/project covered or think there is something that everyone should know about insulating concrete forms, green building, premium envelopes etc feel free to contact me (Troy) directly by calling 800-468-6344. On to the list!

Flooring Options with ICFs Series

We reviewed different types of flooring, builders use in conjunction with ICFs, and listed the pros and cons of each one.

The Truth on Energy Efficiency and R-Value

This post has pulled its weight through the years, as it was one of the first posts I wrote when the blog started in 2009. Leads me to believe R-value is still misunderstood and companies that post misleading numbers are not helping the matter.

Getting Educated on ICF Building Science

Reward has made an effort throughout the years on consciously educating industry professionals on the SCIENCE behind why ICFs work. This post outlines the key courses we now offer, that are beyond the basic “using ICFs for commercial/residential/schools blah blah blah”. These educational presentations have exclusive information, some of it one of a kind in the industry. By this post being on this list (and the shear number of training presentations we do), its apparent AEC professionals are yearning for this type of information.

Insulated Concrete Form Wall Estimator

This post rolled out our new all-inclusive estimating program. We brag about it because WE wrote it with OUR 30+ years of insulating concrete form expertise and the info you get is thorough enough to confidently bid all components of an ICF job.

Concrete Placement Heights

One of the most common questions on ICFs and pouring concrete I the placement heights. Some people play it ultra-conservative, some go more “aggressively, however we go on record with our recommendations and go over what the ACI says as well about free falling concrete in regards to quality and compressive strength.

There you have it, and to cap it off the most recent popular post not on this list is the post on why

ICFs are Zombie proof

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Happy New Year

2012 with bring some exciting changes/additions to Reward and we are looking forward to continuing to grow the industry and creating better building envelopes, WORLDWIDE.
Reward Wall Systems wishes you a happy new year!

I am by no means up to speed on lingo of politics and the processes in order to take a  proposed sponsored bill and turn it into a law(or Act, or Measure), so forgive me if i use the wrong words. The goal of this post is to share these news stories to you,so you can do you own research and maybe contact your local government official to make these initiatives pass.

Tax Credits for Insulated Concrete Forms

There are some generally basic tax credits for builders when using ICFs. You can read more about that per sq. ft. tax credit on our website, but those tax credits do nothing for the homeowner. While you get a tax credit for an Energy Star refrigerator or putting in low-e windows, there is nothing to give the homeowner a credit for building their home incredibly tight, energy efficient, and indestructible to forces of nature like ICF construction does.

Wisconsin Insulating Concrete Forms

Wisconsin is leading the way with a proposed bill that will give tax incentives for using insulated concrete forms in construction- home or commercial. My hope is this passes soon so other states, most notably Minnesota, would follow suit and give and extra incentive for folks to build. The link below links you to the .pdf of the official bill that was introduced. It has since been amended to only building with ICF, not manufacturing ( After all the amendments pass let’s see if this bill gets watered down anymore)

Wisconsin ICF Tax Credit

Energy Costs Affecting Appraisals

This article was recently reported by the Washington Post. In summary, there is a bipartisan bill, called SAVE Act (Sensible Accounting to Value Energy) on the table that would put energy costs and savings into underwriting equations. This bill would force lenders to take those factors into consideration for insurance and guarantees and would require appraisers to adjust property valuations accordingly.

While this is an indirect effect on the insulating concrete form industry, it is good for us as our product directly effect the energy consumption of a home. We see apprasiers across the country failing to give any credit to the homes value even if energy saving are topping over 60%!

Wouldn’t it be nice to say with certainty because its a law, your home is worth more because it saves energy. Makes sense to me…isn’t a Prius “worth” more because you save gas? I guarantee you couldn’t sell one of those cars if they had 20 mpg. So why wouldn’t that logic pertain to homes and buildings? Link below is to the Washington Post article

Mortgage lenders could soon take homes’ energy costs into account

Big things happening

These are two of the many things out there that are really pushing the envelope on getting true incentives for homeowners and building owners to use ICF as part of their next project. If you know of more things like this on a statewide basis or locally for your town, let us know in the comments below and we will add to this list. The more people that are aware of whats going on can motivate and inspire your local government…or heaven forbid the federal government to copy these types of incentives.

More passive house plans across the country are in the works and they all seem to be including ICFs as their wall structure. The benefits are apparent, especially when you are trying to achieve such stringent standards to meet the requirements for a passive house. Recently we showed a few photos and info on the Passive House in the Woods project. So i wanted to elaborate more on their project and share more photos. You can read official blog for them at www.passivehouseinthewoods.com

Overall Complexity and Innovative Solutions

Though the overall design of the home is simple, there were a number of challenges to overcome. There are stacked corner windows in the southwest corner that takes advantage of the view of the St. Croix River Valley. These lintels are supported by a simple steel post on the main level as well as the upper level.

Another unique area is the foundation between the house and the garage. Here two independent but parallel wall are separated by 11″ of solid EPS foam. They share a common footing but are otherwise the foundations for two completely independent structures. – No interior door from garage to home to avoid air contamination

The addition of the 11″ of EPS to the exterior of the ICF structure created challenging details for window and door openings as well as fastening of lighting, electrical boxes, and other accessories to the house. This was accomplished through the use of various EIFS related products.

Passive House Certified Windows and Doors

Windows and doors are Passive House certified, come with high solar heat gain (64%), triple pane low-E coated glazings, as well as insulated frames for installed R-values of 8. The slab sits on 12” of extruded polystyrene insulation with an R-value of 60. The flat roof utilizes an average of 14” of polyisocyanurate insulation with an R-value of 95.

Special Systems

The heat-recovery ventilation system in the Passive House in the Woods consists of a high efficiency heat-recovery ventilator, combined with a 600 foot PEX-tubing loop field—buried on the property—to pre-heat and pre-cool the incoming air stream. This also dehumidifies moist summer air.

Electric in-floor heating mats with local room-air thermostats are used to provide about 3kW or 10.5kBtu*. That compares to the energy draw of two hair-dryers! No boiler or furnace are needed to provide these small heating loads.

A 4.7 kW photovoltaic system generates a surplus over the energy consumed on site, avoiding 2.78 tons of CO2 annually, and therefore providing carbon neutral operation for a household of two people*.

The domestic hot water system utilizes a 40 square foot hot water solar collector on the roof to pre-warm water in a 50 gallon storage tank. It is capable of providing over 85% of the hot water used in the home*. Backup heating is provided by a small electric on-demand water heater.

Glamour Photos – All Courtesy of Chad Holder Photography

If your looking to design or build your city or school district a new performance driven education facility, you face a unique set of challenges to incorporate the features needed by the occupants of the building.

Studies have shown energy consumption is the second largest expense item for schools, next to personnel. It remains as one of the few items you can truly control and reduce costs without reducing the quality of education.  One of the most important ways to reduce the energy needs of a building is to address the building envelope.

Insulating Concrete Forms

ICFs create the optimal building envelope for a high-performance school, and can directly reduce the energy demands by up to 40% alone. Couple ICF technology with a properly designed roof and tightly sealed openings and schools have seen savings reaching over 80% compared to a similarly built school.

ICFs Go Beyond Energy Efficiency

Schools and dorms serve a need more than just to educate and to function with reduce costs. They serve communities as a safe haven for children and students. ICFs are the best choice to address any structural needs for high wind zones, seismic zones, and natural disaster areas with the strength to give owners and occupants peace of mind. Also, they provide the proper environment for student  and teachers to succeed.

Indoor Air Quality

These elements have a profound impact on the ability for teachers to each and for students to learn. Insulating concrete forms improve each one of these elements with the high insulation values and the thermal mass benefits of using concrete.

• Acoustics– Learning is directly affected by acoustical quality, as concentration levels and the ability to hear can be negatively effected by modest background noises. ICFs add to the enhanced acoustical qualities of the learning environment, with high STC ratings.
• Temperature & Humidity– Changes in the temperature negatively effects a student’s ability to perform basic mental tasks, especially memory, as well as effects the overall comfort level of the building occupants. ICFs create a tight, building envelope that can allow complete control of the interior environment.
• School Funding linked to attendance– If a school is susceptible to inadequate IAQ, high absenteeism can occur which not only costs the school millions with absent teachers, it also increases student absences, adversely reflecting future funding for the school.

The research is there on how the indoor environmental effects attendance, test scores, concentration levels, and public funding for  schools. This is why schools built with insulated concrete forms have SURGED to record levels in the recent years, even during a national recession. The benefits are blatantly apparent when it comes to children and students from k-12 through higher education– there have recently been numerous large-scale K-12 & higher education schools using Reward ICFs completed in the last few months, and there are currently a dozen more in construction or slated to start in the next year to prove it.

Finally school districts across the country are holding their public and private schools to a high level of accountability when it comes to cost reductions, maintenance control, safer buildings, and environmental stewardship. The question isn’t ARE you building or designing a school with ICFs now…its more of a when.

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A net zero building is a building that offsets all energy use by creating energy as well so by the end of it all there is an energy use of net zero. Now frequently at trade shows or talking with people in general about the future of green building and the new way to build homes, I always cringe at the people who jump right into wanting to create energy without taking the necessarily steps to use less in the first place.

Net Zero homes usually have a setup, through solar or wind, to create energy to offset any they use. However, the concept makes use of the most important part of creating energy.

YOU HAVE TO USE LESS ENERGY.
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I can’t imagine the size of a wind turbine, and cost of a solar panel (about 285 sq feet at $16-$30 thousand dollars) to generate the amount of electricity that is needed to power an average (14,400 watt-hours per day) home. That’s why ICFs are an ideal building system for net zero, they will reduce energy needs.

ICFs and Net Zero

That’s why insulated concrete forms have always been a great option when our customers want to built a net zero home. They reduce your energy so the owner can create a  surplus of it and actually sell it back to the energy company!

Here is our Hyde Park example below, one of the first net-zero homes in the country to use ICFs and a first in New York. General contractor Bill Reilly of Hyde Park, New York, became interested in ICFs in the early 1990′s, but he never went any further with it at that time. However, when he started planning to build an energy efficient home for himself, ICF construction came to mind again. As a contractor with 40 years of experience, Reilly wanted to build the house himself and make it extremely energy efficient.

New York Energy Efficiency

The result was the most energy efficient house in the state of New York. With a geothermal HVAC system and photovoltaic cells on the roof to generate electricity, Reilly pays nothing for electricity. Part of the reason is that he is able to re-sell the excess electricity he generates back to the utility company. But would never be able to do that had he not built with insulating concrete forms.

Quick Facts about the Hyde Park Net Zero home in New York

• One-story house with walkout basement
• 6,300 conditioned square feet
• 3,160 finished square feet
• HERS rating of 93.4 by Energy Star
• Highest Energy Star Rating to date in New York State
• Stone and vinyl exterior finish
• Asphalt shingle roof materials
• Climate Master Tranquility 27 geothermal heating and cooling system
• 70% smaller than it would have been with traditional construction
• Projected utility costs: Zero dollars
• 11″ iForm insulating concrete form

Tim Miller, who GC’d the Portage Community Chapel in Portage, OH was kind enough to share information on this proejct. The Portage Community Chapel was an addition to an existing facility but the addition dwarfed the original structure. Included in the new portion of the building is a gymnasium, 2 stories of classrooms and all-purpose rooms, all of which utilized Reward for the exterior walls.

Miller is a member of the Portage Community Chapel, and one unique aspect of the church’s decision was the ability to use volunteers to help in the construction. Similar to Habitat for Humanity, Portage uses volunteers, usually church members, to help construct not only their own buildings, but to assist in the construction of other religious and/or non-profit facilities as well. Miller was able to train the volunteers to help in building this project with relative ease, mostly due to the simplicity of Reward’s system. In addition, Miller had a heat-loss audit performed for the building long before construction ever started, and the energy savings inherent with Reward’s products versus traditional methods made it an easy decision for the building committee.

It makes sense that churches would look at Insulating Concrete Form construction. Churches have been and continue to be anchors in communities across the US, and as such, when they look to build they want their structures to last for generations of the congregation. ICF technology helps them do that.

Most churches and church building committees work on very tight budgets so they want the most bang for their buck. Again, Reward ICF’s help them achieve that with competitive first costs and ongoing contributions through reduced energy requirements throughout the life of the building (which is longer when built with Reward versus traditional construction methods.) When you add it all up, it’s easy to see why Reward is often the choice for new church construction.

The New Standard of Sustainability. Tell the World.

We are about 2 weeks away from the GreenBuild Expo in Phoenix, AZ. This is one of the largest, most influential green shows out there, and we definitely wanted to be a part of it, as this industry is about to explode. Pete H, from Colorado, and I will be working our show booth and hopefully meeting some customers, builders, and industry professionals who are ready to commit to building sustainable structures. We are looking forward to meeting folks who understand the solution to of our country’s energy issues starts with REDUCING ENERGY CONSUMPTION.

If you are planning on going please stop by our booth (4422) and say “hi”. If you still haven’t registered, contact us directly and I can get you some free conference passes! All I need is your name, your title, and an email address.

I personally don’t get out to too many shows other than World of Concrete so I’m pretty excited for this particular one.

My goal is to try to bring a little of the show back to you, with DAILY blog posts “From the Show Floor.” I want to focus on any interesting people, products, or brief recaps of what the overall vibe is of people coming by our booth.

So Quick recap:

-GreenBuild Expo November 11-13th Phoenix, AZ

-Reward Wall Systems Booth 4422

-Call Us at 1-800-468-6344 if you want free passes to Show

-Daily Blog Updates “From the Show Floor”

Green building

With insulating concrete forms

Tom spoke with Ed Denlinger who sits on the building committee for the Manheim BIC. Manheim had built its Youth Center last year using Reward and currently has its new Sanctuary under construction, also with Reward. Denlinger said that the main reasons they decided to go with Reward are competitive first costs, energy savings, sound attenuation and building strength.

“We are going to be here for a while,” Denlinger says. “When we evaluated the costs of Reward versus traditional CMU cavity wall with added insulation, cost in essence became a non-factor. With continuing increases in energy costs, the performance of the building became key and it was a no-brainer.”

The building sits close to the street in a commercial area, so keeping the sounds of the church activities inside and the noise of the nearby street out were also added benefits.

Finally, Denlinger noted that finishing the building has been a simple process because they weren’t limited in terms of what they could use. Drywall application on the interior is easy and whether it’s a brick or an acrylic finish, it didn’t matter because both work well with Reward ICFs.

The sustainability of ICFs shows immense potential for the religious building markets. Churches from hundreds of years ago are still standing tall, as they should be intended to- granted they took intense manual labor and YEARS to build (between 8-22 years in some instances). But now with uses of concrete in ICFs these structures will still be standing, and they have the flexibility to be designed with any old world architectural inspirations or new age trends as well. Either way it will house a congregational community for a lifetime.

We’ll update this project as it finishes up!

The New Standard for Sustainability. Tell the World.

While there are a few different software packages that can design to BIM, Revit is by far the leading software available for designing parametric BIM objects.  All the building components, from the steel supports to the windows units to the grain of the wood trim, are drawn using Revit software.  Also you can place cranes and pumps in the drawing when coordinating work schedules etc. Once the BIM objects are created, building plans and drawings are quickly and efficiently drawn. And of COURSE our wall sections and insulating concrete forms are now part of the BIM world! (Product Manual Login required)

For walls designed with BIM, a wall segment is an object whose length, height, thickness, location, orientation, and material composition are included in the model, and have repeating details, so you can take and drag the wall the length you need, and will collate all the information automatically.  It is also easy to conduct take-offs with BIM.

The companies that have embraced BIM have benefited in the design, construction and operation of the project.  BIM is an integrated design solution.  BIM integrates the building components in 3D along with associated data.

Each BIM object can have data attributed to it.  By having the data for each building component at the finger tips of the designer, it saves them valuable research time.  Examples of this may include R-value, CSI specifications, LEED information, costing data, and design notes.

The ideal situation is to have both the design (architect and structural engineer) and construction entities using BIM.  If the companies are able to accurately control costs, quality and schedule, they can use their resources more effectively.

Some use the term designing to 4D with BIM.  The 4D element is time –the length of time of construction process – including the sequence and timeliness of each element of the building.  For example, if a building design had duct work designed in a certain location that would interfere with another building component, BIM would avoid the time and expense by having to re-construct something to make the duct-work work.  Instead this issue could be found prior to construction.

Some jurisdictions are starting to require BIM design for their building projects.  A couple examples include the state of Wisconsin and GSA.

BIM is new to us and our industry, which is why we were first in offering our products as. BIM models. We are continuing to learn about the technology and especially how it applies to making buildings energy efficient and more sustainable.

Take advantage of and access Reward’s free parametric ICF BIM objects

Reward Wall Systems has prepared and provided BIM objects in Revit.  By providing the objects to the architect or designer, it saves them valuable design time as the wall sections and product details are already drawn.  The designer can then just choose which wall section or product detail and begin creating plan, elevation and detail section drawings of the building.

Along with the objects, data associated with the Reward ICF wall is made available with each object…obviously or it wouldn’t be Building INFORMATION Modeling, it would be just Building Modeling.

The Reward BIM Revit objects can be found at the following locations.

• Reward BIM Object Library > Will have to register or sign in to view
• SmartBIM Library
• SmartBuilding Index
• Autodesk Seek

The New Standard of Sustainability. Tell the World.

I will be posting information from our corporate offices from our President, CEO, VP, Technical Specialists, Regional Sales Managers, and Marketing to showcase a little bit of everything we are doing, talk about some trends in the Insulating Concrete Form (ICF) industry and pass along some information and things we learn everyday while visiting our customers and greening North America  5.33 sq feet at a time.

My goal for this blog is to try to connect with people on another platform and maybe start a discussion, teach something new, or even be taught something new in the process. Our tone is casual, and my jokes are horrible, however we have to keep the flavor light or this endeavor won’t be as FUN as anticipated. This is not a discussion forum, with freedom to post abusive language or spam, as all comments will be moderated. And for the legal jargon: Reward Wall Systems Inc reserves the right to control and edit all postings. Furthermore all content written by Reward is all rights reserved 2009. By posting pictures, words, or content, you are verifying that you have permission to do so.

Also if you need in depth questions immediately answered, the best way to reach us is through our customer service department, not through aBlog. 1-800-468-6344

On to the topics.

There will be 6 major topics we will try to schedule routinely in order to cover as wide of a range as possible. Don’t see something that you think we should focus on more? Tell me please, just add a smiley face at the end of your sentence.  :-)

From the Field

Common Trouble Shooting

Let’s get Technical!

Project Showcase

Unique Trends and Applications

Other

So we hope you find aBlog by Reward useful and informative and just a smidge bit entertaining. Feel free to comment, post follow-ups or even additional resources on a topic. There may be aBlog related contests and EXCLUSIVE information given out first to the community via aBlog throughout the year so be sure to come back often. We’ll talk to you soon.

Thanks and tell the world