Concrete Homes Newsletter
Concrete Home > Concrete Homes Newsletter > 2009 > July/August

July/August 2009

• Little Greensburg Big on Green Concrete
• Dukane Precast Unveils Project with Earth Day Celebration
• Reality Show Builds First National Green Building Standard™-Certified Home
• Webinar Will Enhance Green Homes through the Sustainable Performance, Value and Quality of Concrete
• Decorative Concrete Expert Offers Comprehensive Workshop
• Ask The Expert
• Upcoming Events
• Tools of Our Trade
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Little Greensburg Big on Green Concrete

When an EF5 tornado hit Greensburg, Kansas, in May 2007, the town was leveled.  Town residents came together just days after the natural disaster and decided to rebuild Greensburg as a GreenTown, using all sustainable materials.  Now a nationally publicized landmark of green building, the town has made huge strides in just two years.  

Curtis Nickel of Form Systems, Inc (a Logix manufacturer) was at the first town hall meeting.  “Greensburg is a low-income farming community with an average age of about 43,” he reported. It may not be a wealthy, sophisticated town, but energy savings and disaster resistance were important enough to its citizens that they were willing to incur extra up-front costs to build what is arguably one of the most eco-friendly areas in the United States. 

Concrete quickly became the logical wall system choice for many of Greensburg’s new buildings.  Nickel has helped ensure that more than 15 new homes (including the mayor’s) have been rebuilt with Logix ICFs.  The new concrete homes are energy-efficient, quiet, and built to survive whatever nature decides to unleash on Kansas in the years to come.  Logix, along with Greensburg native Ryan McDonald (the builder), has also constructed several community buildings.  A Dillon store, two churches, city hall, and some office buildings also have been built with ICFs. 

Greensburg aims to have as many buildings as possible meet the LEED Platinum Standard, a lofty goal.  Using concrete gives residents a chance to achieve 19 to 28 LEED credits (see www.concretethinker.com for more information on how concrete can be used to achieve LEED credits).  Since the Logix manufacturing plant is only 20 miles away from Greensburg, using ICFs allowed projects to achieve both Regional Materials credits under the LEED certification. 

A grassroots non-profit organization called Greensburg GreenTown was formed to organize and promote the rebuilding process.  Greensburg has been featured on most major news networks, many national magazines, and a recent miniseries on the Discovery Channel (funded in part by environmentally-conscious movie star Leonardo DiCaprio). 

For more information on Greensburg GreenTown, please visit www.greensburggreentown.com.  For more information on Logix ICFs, please visit www.logixicf.com. 

Dukane Precast Unveils Project with Earth Day Celebration

Every year, students at North Central College hold a celebration of Earth Day.  This year, they had a little extra publicity, thanks to Dukane Precast and the construction of their new, environmentally friendly Residential Hall/Recreation Center. 

Morning activities included a fun run, electronics recycling, and an open exhibit hall.  Both Dukane Precast and PCA exhibited, and were able to help educate students on the sustainable benefits of concrete wall systems.  In the afternoon, Earth Day participants were given tours of the still-under-construction Res/Rec Center.  The building (previously covered in more detail in the last edition of the Concrete Homes newsletter) is currently being considered for LEED Gold status.  Brian Bock of Dukane Precast was excited to share new building technologies with the students.  “By using precast concrete panels, we can revolutionize the way we build.”  Dukane designed panels especially for the project, and by casting the panels offsite, they were able to build faster and with less debris.  “We’ve been building since the fall, and we’re only on our fourth dumpster.”

Local newspapers and radio stations were in attendance to catch a glimpse of the new building that will house student residences and an indoor track.  As the dorm nears completion, Dukane hopes it will demonstrate to more people how concrete can help them build sustainably. 

For more information on Dukane Precast, please visit www.dukaneprecast.com. 

Reality Show Builds First National Green Building Standard™-Certified Home

On March 22, ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” featured the Bell family of Tucson, Arizona.  Lizzie Bell, 14, suffers from a rare blood disease.  With mounting medical bills, the Bell family was unable to update the home to be a healthy, safe environment for their sick daughter. 

Once again, ABC turned to concrete as a solution to build a green home in just a few days.  The builder, long-time Arizona green advocate John Wesley Miller, was determined to have the project certified under the National Green Building Standard™, a newly approved, consensus-based ANSI standard. 

Even though the process included inspections both during and after construction of the home, the producers, the family, and the builder all were committed to building a green home with concrete.  Project architect Hank Krzysik was the accredited verifier for the NAHB Research Center. 

For more information on National Green Building Certification and the National Green Building Standard™, please visit the NAHB Green Website.  For an in-depth understanding of the standard, please consider PCA’s upcoming webinar: “Concrete Solutions for the National Green Building Standard ™.”

Webinar Will Enhance Green Homes through the Sustainable Performance, Value and Quality of Concrete

On May 14, PCA’s Low-Rise Sustainability and Technology Manager, Donn Thompson, will lead a webinar teaching registrants how to integrate high-performance concrete homebuilding technologies into NAHB National Green Building Standard-certified projects.

The webinar will teach participants how concrete products affect the sustainability of a home and its site. They will learn how to:

• Use concrete retaining walls to create more buildable area on steeply sloped sites.
• Reduce stormwater infrastructure expenses with pervious concrete pavement.
• Reduce the number of trades on-site by using prefinished systems for walls, floors, and paving.
• Offer more durable, richer looking, easier-to-maintain finishes.
• Reduce coordination issues, saving time and money compared to more complex exterior wall assemblies
• Enhance their reputations through the performance, value and quality of concrete homes.

Today’s forward-looking homebuilders grow their businesses by turning to green building as a way to offer their customers innovation and value. Differentiate your business by offering your customers certified, sustainable concrete homes. For more information and registration, please click here.

Decorative Concrete Expert Offers Comprehensive Workshop

On October 28-29, renowned Decorative Concrete expert Bob Harris will be conducting the workshop “Getting Started in the Field of Decorative Concrete”.  This class will offer useful information for beginners, as well as seasoned professionals. 

Bob Harris has long been a popular instructor in this field.  For contractors who are currently experiencing work shortages, the workshop offers a great way to learn a supplementary skill to help expand their businesses.  Besides covering the best decorative techniques, the workshop will also include seminars on "How to Succeed in Decorative Concrete Business,” “Increasing Profits,” and “Running your Concrete Business.” 

Covered in the class:

• Decorative epoxies
• Cast-in-place countertops
• Precast countertops
• Concrete countertops with fiber optics
• Micro toppings
• Stamped concrete
• Stains
• Dyes
• Polished concrete
• Concrete engraving
• Vertical stamping

For more information on the class and other learning opportunities, call the Decorative Concrete Institute at 877-DCI-8080.

Ask The Expert

Q: Do I need an architect or engineer to design a cast-in-place concrete home?

A: For years, homebuilders in many parts of the country have been able to design the homes they build without the help of design professionals. Many sources of information exist to assist the contractor with the structural design of one- and two-family frame dwellings.  As the use of various concrete homebuilding technologies has grown, the concrete industry has recognized the importance of providing structural design tools to enable a builder to more easily build cast-in-place concrete homes.

In 1995, the Portland Cement Association (PCA), teamed with the National Association of Homebuilders and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to create a prescriptive means of designing reinforced concrete exterior walls with insulating concrete forms (ICFs).  Industry representatives helped create simplified tables covering the design of footings, foundation walls, above-grade exterior walls, basic floor-to-wall connections, roof-to-wall connections, and rebar requirements for lintels over wall openings.   A homebuilder could now design concrete homes of up to two stories plus a basement, located in areas of low to moderate seismic activity.  Once finalized, these design provisions were successfully incorporated into residential building codes.

In 2004, PCA became an American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-approved standards writing organization and created a committee of industry experts to review and update these provisions.  The latest version,  PCA 100 – 2007 Prescriptive Design of Exterior Concrete Walls for One- and Two- Family Dwellings is PCA’s first consensus standard, updated to cover any type of formed reinforced exterior concrete wall systems.  Earthquake provisions have been broadened to cover seismic design categories A, B, C, D0, D1, and D2 (with limitations.)  Included are more detailed treatment of floor-to-wall and roof-to-wall connections for both wood and steel framing.   The latest version of the International Residential Code incorporates design tables from PCA 100 - 2007.

Homebuilders who want to design with concrete should check with their code authorities to understand any local limitations on their ability to finalize residential structural designs without consulting design professionals.  They should also become familiar with all local building code requirements that may supersede the standard.   Builders can go to www.cement.org/bookstore/ and type “PCA 100” in the search window to find more information on how to purchase their own copy of the prescriptive design standard.

 Share your own Concrete Homes technical questions by forwarding them in an email to: concretehomes@cement.org.  We will respond by email and may even publish your question in our next Concrete Homes Newsletter.

Upcoming Events

Tools of our Trade

NEW! Concrete Solutions for the National Green Building Standard ™ Webinar

Today’s forward looking homebuilders are turning to green building to offer innovation and value to their customers – and in so doing, are growing their businesses. Attend this webinar to learn how the many high performance concrete homebuilding technologies can contribute to certification of your next residential project under the new NAHB National Green Building Standard. Enhance your reputation through the performance, value and quality of concrete homes.

BESTSELLER! PCA 100-2007, Prescriptive Design of Exterior Concrete Walls for One- and Two-Family Dwellings

The new prescriptive design standard for exterior concrete walls for one- and two-family dwellings applies to the design and construction of concrete footings, foundation walls, and above-grade concrete walls built with insulating concrete forms or removable formwork. Ideal for residential architects, designers, and contractors interested in building homes combining cast-in-place wall systems with light-frame interior construction. Features diagrams and expanded design tables to simplify the engineering requirements for homes up to two stories plus a basement.

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