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Wisconsin
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For more information about concrete homebuilding in Wisconsin, call:
Wisconsin Ready Mixed Concrete Association: (608) 250-6304
Wisconsin Concrete Masonry Association: (920) 773-2888
Great Lakes Cement Promotion Association: (517) 887-6016
Milwaukee
Aug. 25, 2002 - Germantown, WI. - The Tree Tops house wasn't meant to be a sideshow. That's just how it's turning out.
Thousands of 2002 Parade of Homes browsers visiting the 16 dressed-for-success showcase homes in the Tree Tops subdivision here can't help but notice the non-Parade home being built by Victory Homes.
For one thing, part of the construction crew is nattily attired -- black-suited, straw-hatted Amish men and boys in a work arena dominated by jeans and T-shirts.
Another distinction is that they're framing the home with what looks like huge toy building blocks rather than lumber. The building blocks are insulating concrete forms, called ICFs, a hybrid of rigid plastic and foam or concrete and wood chips. When sandwiched around concrete and reinforced with steel rebar, ICFs form the kind of walls used for decades in Europe and Canada.
New Berlin concrete homebuilder Shawn J. Mitchell became an unofficial part of Wisconsin's oldest, biggest new-home show -- though he is neither a show participant nor a member of the sponsoring trade group, the Metropolitan Builders Association of Greater Milwaukee. However, Mitchell did gain the acquaintanceship of several MBA members. "I want to join the MBA. I'd like to be in next year's show."
Mitchell is getting priceless public exposure for what he believes is a revolutionary but locally misunderstood building option - ICFs. Mitchell started Victory Homes in 1999. His favored brand is ECO-Block, a trademarked product made by a Pompano Beach, Fla.-based company for which his buddy, Tom Rither, is regional manager.
"I'm a stick (lumber-based) builder. That's my past. But this year, I started building ICF homes. After doing lots of research, educating myself, I decided ICF is superior in every way," he said. "My goal is to be all-ICF someday; it's just a matter of time."
Why? There's energy savings -- "30 percent to 50 percent on heating and air-conditioning costs," Mitchell said. There's the environmental savings -- "an average-size ranch using ICFs saves 47 trees," he asserted. There's safety -- "they can withstand tornado-type winds. ICF homes are superior for soundproofing and pest control, too," Mitchell said.
But most importantly in today's mold-fearing world, where insurance claims and lawsuits are proliferating over moisture's insidious damage in tightly sealed places, "they have no bat insulation, like stick-built homes do, to get wet and grow mold."
Concrete homes cost more, typically 2 percent to 5 percent more than those built with traditional lumber frames, said Rither. "But payback, in terms of energy savings, is very rapid," he said. "That home in Germantown will cost $10,000 more, with probably a five- to seven-year payback. "In the meantime, you get a quiet, comfortable home with no drafts, no moisture, no mold, no insects. And it's very strong." ICF homes have been built in Canada for many years, "but ICFs are just beginning to catch on here," Rither said.
Hurricane and earthquake-prone states have embraced this option, but in the Midwest, only 4 percent of new homes were concrete in 2000, and an estimated 7 percent to 8 percent last year, Rither said. "It's a trend driven by consumers. Builders themselves are slow to accept it. What I've been told by builders goes like this: 'I'm building all I can now. Why would I want to stop and try something different?' "
The Metropolitan Builders Association takes no position on ICF products and their claims, Moroney said. "I don't think builders here are knocking it," he said. "It's just something new, and this market is dominated by small builders who are risk-averse and generally take a wait-and-see approach to things. ICF is definitely another option out there for consumers, and it seems like it's growing in popularity."
The MBA recently got its first concrete homebuilder member -- Schvetz Enterprises in Burlington, Moroney said. Co-owner Alvin Schvetz said his company specializes in concrete homes. "We're the mighty ant, going uphill, pushing that stone -- but filling it with concrete first," he joked. In the last 10 years, Schvetz has evolved from stick-built to concrete.
South Wales native Asit Sahai, who owns Statewide Mortgage & Lending Corp. in Mequon, doesn't know the scientific validity of the ICF industry's claims. He does have a couple of decades' experience living in a concrete house back home, however. "The three main advantages are sturdiness, quietness and low heating bills," he said. "Fuel is very expensive in the United Kingdom, so houses are usually stone, brick and concrete. Most homes in South Wales are built close to each other, but when they're concrete, you don't hear road noise, or noise from your neighbors," Sahai said.
After four years of living in a stick-built home in Cedarburg, Sahai said he and his wife, Tamara, decided they preferred concrete. They're moving with their children Ishan, 8, Jatin, 5, and Anisha, nearly 4, into a Fox Point concrete home to be built in coming months by Victory Homes.
"How long will it last? I don't know," Sahai said. "But rarely do you see people in England maintaining their walls on the outside. Our homes last for hundreds of years."
To see more of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jsonline.com.
(c) 2002, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Publication date: 2002-08-25
Wind Lake
Comfort and security are at the heart of a Safe Haven home. This
removable form home is part of a 4 unit project.
For more information, please contact Safe Haven Homes at (262) 895-3545.
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