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British Columbia
Concrete Home >
Local Resources > British Columbia
For information about residential concrete construction in British Columbia, contact:
British Columbia Ready-Mixed Concrete Association (BCRMCA)
2011 93A Ave. Unit #2
Langley, BC V1M 4A9
(604) 881-2522 / Fax: (604) 881-2592
E-mail: executivedirector@bcrmca.bc.ca
Find out more about concrete homebuilding in your area:
Squamish
This 36-unit, three-story townhome development has been chosen by BC Ready-Mixed
Concrete Association (BCRMCA) to be the 2005 'Home with a Difference'
for Greater Vancouver because it appealed to the educated buyer looking
for environmental
improvements, reduced operating costs and sound, solid construction.
Built in three phases, Phase 1 began in September 2004, followed by
Phase 2 in
November 2004 and Phase 3 in May 2005.
The Edgewater complex comprises three duplexes, three fourplexes and
three sixplexes. With only 36 townhomes on this 3.5 acre property,
there is a lot of green space to maintain the spacious, outdoor,
serene feeling that is the Community of Squamish. Edgewater truly is
the opportunity of a lifestyle not only with home design and construction,
but also its unique location. The development is only steps away from
a bevy of outdoor activities
including fishing, walking, hiking, mountain biking, kayaking,
canoeing and much more.
The ground floor, which will be used as a two car garage and storage, is
completely insulated with Quad-Lock ICFs. The
main and top floors
comprise a total of 1600 sq. ft. of living space including three bedrooms,
two and a half bathrooms, kitchen, family room, dining room and living
room.
ICFs were chosen for Edgewater because it is:
- Flexible: ICFs offer designers unlimited design possibilities making
the modern elements of design easy to incorporate.
- Energy and Cost Efficient: Energy savings (heating and cooling) are
documented to range from 40-70%.
- Green: Less energy and water are used during the manufacture of ICFs,
dramatically reducing the impact made to the environment.
- Unique: The benefits of concrete and foam appealed to the development
characteristics desired by Squamish.
These homes were part of BCRMCA's Home with a Difference promotion
and open houses.
For more information, please click
here.
North Vancouver
Gregg Yanke of Yanke Developments has been preaching the gospel of
Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF) Construction for 5 years – ever
since he worked on his first “to-the-roof” concrete home.
Yanke Developments is now so efficient at working with this building
technology that they can build a higher quality home for less money than
using traditional
construction methodologies. Gregg is now putting his money where
his mouth is, so to speak, by building his own ICF home, complete
with an ICF pool. Gregg states his position this way “How can I possibly
sell anyone on the lifestyle benefits of this type of construction
if I’m
not living it myself? What better way to sell a project than
to have someone come over to my residence and see first-hand how comfortable a concrete home can be.”
Gregg actually owned and lived in the home that was previously on the
lot situated on Capilano Road in North Vancouver. “Because my
family actually lived here in a wood-framed house previously to
building our concrete home, it will be very interesting to see what amount of energy efficiencies we realize.
Right now, I’m estimating that we will pay a quarter of what we
were paying before.” The original structure was leveled in October,
2004 to make room for the new 2-level 3000 sqft home that Gregg designed
himself.
When viewing the home, it’s obvious that Gregg has spent many
years working with concrete and has added some elegant and interesting
features to his home. For example, there are no floor transitions,
all door frames are imbedded; interior concrete stairs and flooring
with in-floor radiant heat and an ICF party wall was poured between
what will be the children’s room and the rest of the house.
The front wall of the home is 20 feet high, Gregg actually did
an impressive 45 degree pour at the truss line. In addition,
coloured concrete is used around the pool and for the
driveway. Gregg has also used a tremendous amount of native Fir decoratively
throughout the home. “Building with concrete doesn’t mean
you forgo wood – but
I’m able to use it esthetically and appreciate its
beauty rather than have it in between the walls where
it can’t
be seen.”
Carolyn Campbell, Executive Director of the
BC Ready-Mixed Concrete Association comments, “Gregg has
really done an excellent job in design as well as sustainability
on his home. Wood that was required between the walls was recycled
from the previous structure and because of the ICF construction,
there was almost no jobsite waste. This is really a great
example of everything right about concrete construction.”
Gregg
readily admits that ICF construction hasn’t caught on as
much as he’d like to see it. “ICF is not like lego, you
can not underestimate how much planning has to be done upfront in order
for things to go smoothly. If you do the planning, it’s easy – I had a two-man crew who had never worked
with ICF before, build my forms faster than any wood-framed house could be done.
For more information, please contact Gregg Yanke at (604) 724-6922.
Victoria
This 2925 sq. ft. ranch-style home, including a walkout basement, has been
chosen by BC Ready-Mixed Concrete Association (BCRMCA) to be the 2005
"Home with a Difference" for Greater Victoria. The Woods at Royal Bay
is a three-phase
development that will comprise single family homes, duplex lots, town
homes,
a school and a park site. When complete, the home will be used as a
model home, sales centre and construction office for Bayridge Builders.
Construction began in June 2004, and was completed in the first part of
2005. Built to R2000 standards, the exterior walls were built with
Quad-Lock ICFs. The concrete home will be
taken one
step further to include coloured and etched concrete floors complete
with radiant in-floor heating.
For more information, please click
here.
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