Building Green is as Good as Gold

Amvic-Pacific
By Don Lipper and Elizabeth Sagehorn

If you're still recovering from the shock of your summer energy bills and are dreading what the winter will bring, there is good news on the horizon. More and more buildings are being built with insulating concrete forms, or ICFs, which in our climate can save you up to 50% on your heating and cooling costs. Only a handful of distributors are qualified to do business in this method, and fortunately for Californians the leader of the ICF pack is Amvic-Pacific in Nevada City, CA.

Amvic-Pacific's President, Bill Juhl, moved from Alaska to the Sacramento area in 1986. He was living in a smaller house in a warmer climate and was therefore stunned to see his heating bill double. "I didn't understand that," Juhl recalls. "I found it rather strange. I'm a scientist, applied physics is my background, and I'm passionate about energy effiCiency. I got into as a consumer wanting to build something better."

This manner of building is relatively new to the West Coast, but it has a long and successful history in other parts of the world where wilder seasonal climate shifts have made its advantages more obvious. Thomas Edison was one of the first proponents of residential concrete construction, building several homes of formed concrete in the early 20th century that are still in use today. It caught on in Europe during the post-World War II rebuilding blitz of the'50s, and came into popular use in Canada and the East Coast of the U.S. during the energy crisis of the '70s.

The trend is gaining momentum here. In 2006, 18% of all houses built in the U.S. used an exterior concrete shell. The general growth nationwide of ICF is occurring at about 30% per year. Over the last two years, Amvic ICF sales have more than doubled in California and Nevada.

According to Amvic, "ICFs are rigid plastic foam forms that are filled with reinforced concrete to create structural walls. They hold concrete in place during curing and remain in place afterwards to provide thermal insulation. ICFs are used to make structural concrete walls, and can be used to make cither foundation or above-grade walls. The forms are typically made from pure foam-plastic insulation, but may also be made from a composite of cement and foam insulation or a composite of cement and processed wood."

The forms themselves are made of EPS, or expanded polystyrene. It is constructed from millions of tiny air cells fused in manufacturing to form a rigid material. EPS contains no CFCs or HCFCs, and has a zero-ozone-depletion rating. In fact, it is totally inert and considered one of the best insulating materials available. Upon completion of construction, the forms stay up and provide insulation, nailing surfaces and a vapor barrier.

It is also considered a more environmentally friendly construction method. "I am a green builder, which means we try to protect thc environment," says Rob Smith of Avalon Bay Construction in San Ramon, CA. "I never liked the waste involved in traditional woodframe building. The Amvic product is a one-step process -you put it together like a big Lincoln Log or Tinker Toy. There are a lot of ICFs out there, but Amvic is better. If you price what it costs to buy the materials to form the same 9-foot retaining wall, then figure the labor for that, using ICF is actually the same or cheaper. Plus, you're helping the environment."

According to Amvic-Pacific, "Obviously, construction costs vary in the real world. In the best-case scenario, ICF will be the same or slightly cheaper than conventional framing. In the worst case, it can realize an up-charge in the area of 4%. The walls themselves cost more than equivalent wood-framed walls, but with an experienced crew, the walls go up faster than stick framing. There are construction savings on insulation, tax credits/rebates, prepping for an exterior hard coat, reduced waste, and on sizing heating and air conditioning equipment, which can be reduced due to the thermal efficiency of the Amvic building. Probably the best working assumption is to assume close to the same or a slight up-charge from conventional stick framing. Sam Gallego, Market Manager of CEMEX USA says, "Their product is very user-friendly; that is important. Things we're always looking at in projects are cost and the speed of construction. The Amvic system is a reversible block that can be used either way, which is a definite advantage. It increases the productivity of the project and that lends itself to less spent for labor, time and materials."

"The Amvic wall will give you an effective insulation value of R50+ —much greater than a wood-frame wall—allowing you to save 40-70% on your heating and cooling costs. With many of the homes we are helping to build, we are talking of savings in the hundreds of dollars in peak months. You could save enough to purchase round-trip tickets to Tahiti every Single year," says Juhl.

In a way, ICFs are a step back in time. The earliest California settlers used thick, insulating adobe walls when building their homes and missions to keep out the extreme temperatures. Juhl points out,"The core of sustainable and green building is much less about what you use this week to build it, than how the house will impact the environment over the entire lifecycle of the structure, which in the case of ICF buildings approaches 500 years. By comparison, over that amount of time a frame house will have to be replaced or radically refurbished many times. With an lCF structure, if you maintain the roof, they are there until one of our children's children decides to use the land for something different. Additionally, each ICF house creates on average a ton less of carbon dioxide emissions annually. That's 500 fewer tons of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere over the lifetime of the building."

ICFs are being used in more than just homes. Brian Feagans, an architect with Ratcliff Architects in Emeryville, CA, designed a private school classroom addition in II Cerrito, CA. The project is a two-story, 14,000-square-foot building addition. He ultimately chose Amvic for several reasons. "The construction schedule put the building in the middle of the rainy season. We were concerned about potential mold impacts with wood. The addition is on an existing campus. The main building built in 1932 is CIP concrete and is in excellent shape. Several other buildings on campus were built in the 1950s and 1960s using wood and stucco and are failing. Concrete was a good fit for the campus. Amvic was a good choice for us because it included both wall and roof!floor deck systems."

Generally speaking, ICFs are an excellent choice for commercial builders for projects of up to six or eight stories. Beyond that, Juhl explains, you really need a framework of structural steel. Speed is one of the primary considerations for potential users. One of Amvic's clients is a hotel chain that is currently bUilding 20 new hotels. It chose Amvic because it takes four to six weeks off the production of their buildings, adding a million extra dollars in revenue per hotel.

ICFs are highly wind-resistant, making them popular in areas frequently hit by hurricanes,
autumn Santa Anas or the wicked north wind that blows through the San Joaquin Valley every fall. When stick-house owners are feeling the bone-chilling cold seep through their walls, ICF homeowners are blissfully unaware of the temperature drop outside.

Nor will they take much of a beating from a moderate earthquake. "Concrete has to be designed to move as a unit, so it is engineered to a much higher standard in residential than a frame building would be," explains Juhl. "While both are of equal safety as I understand it, the difference is the damage to a concrete building will be minimal whereas the frame building will sustain more damage. When you are building residential using concrete walls, the engineering and code requirements are the same as if you are building a hospital."

Mike Evans of Evans Construction in El Dorado Hills has built 140-plus ICF structures including both residential and commercial. As a general contractor, he got his start in ICF construction looking into the best way to deal with a sloped lot and daylight basement for his own home back in 2000. According to Mike, "ICF construction is a reliable process that proceeds as quickly as frame construction, and delivers a much higher quality building envelope for the customer. The 1OO-plus clients we've built for over the years, to a person, are very, very happy with their ICF homes."

These buildings are also very fire-resistant. With a wall having a solid concrete core, the only potentially flammable element is the foam. To guard against a conflagration, Amvic is manufactured with a flame-retardant additive; these foams, unlike lumber, will not support combustion. Tests have shown that in the event of fire, EPS does not emit any gases any more harmful than those emitted by burning wood. An ICF building with a metal truss roof and fireproof soffits is essentially a non-combustible building, and so in high-wildfire areas it will get a lower insurance premium. Likewise in hurricane country, concrete buildings are rated substantially less to insure than wood frame.

ICFs are also absolutely impervious to decay and rot. The Amvic block will not allow condensation and resultant mold or mildew growth on either side of a wall as there are no thermal breaks in the wall. The inside wall remains at room temperature and the outside wall remains at the outside ambient temperature. The Amvic ICF forms the perfect air and thermal barrier. When used below ground, the inside of exterior walls should have a coating applied that allows moisture to pass through it should any moisture make its way behind the surface. Water-based latex paints "breathe" and allow any trapped moisture to ventilate.

Needless to say, ICFs also are unfriendly to termites. If an area is prone to this plague, Amvic will gladly work with a builder to design a guard that will prevent the little buggers from burrowing through walls, getting inside and munching on your great-grandmother's priceless wood antiques.
Amvic-Pacific works actively to support a business partnership with architects, deSigners, engineers and contractors. An exhaustive installation and technical training class is offered bi-monthly year-round, and design and construction planning are a routine part of the services offered. As a consequence, builders new to ICF enjoy success on their first project every time.

Residents who live near airports, train tracks, freeways and other noisy areas are particularly enamored of ICFs, as they eliminate up to 75% of ambient noise outside. Imagine, no more screaming baby every time a 1OO-car freight train rolls past your nursery.

Amvic admits that ICFs cost a little more, but with the precipitous drop in energy bills and homeowners' insurance premiums and the Federal Income Tax Credit under the energy effiCiency standards speCified in the 2005 Energy Bill, it more than pays for itself. Nor will you have to live in your home until you exit it feet-first in order to realize the financial benefits. Because of the ongoing energy savings, ICF homes are expected to earn a 5-10% premium above their woodbuilt
competition upon resale.

And while you won't want to leave your comfortable new home, just think of all of the fun vacations you can take with the money you saved on your energy bills.