To better understand your home, you have to understand the importance of its building envelope. The thermal aspect of the building envelope plays a big role in energy efficiency. For high energy efficiency, the house has to be sealed properly and have a high resistance to the outside temperatures. Insulation and sealing is a key component.

A traditional house is built using rolled fiberglass insulation between the wood studs, but because the studs themselves provide very little insulation, you still get what is called a "cold joint." This means cold or hot air can transfer from the outside through the wood stud to the inside of the house. Most likely, there are gaps, as well, between the insulation and the stud itself allowing more outside air to pass through the wall. Not only does this air leakage lead to uncomfortable drafts, but it can also reduce the energy efficiency of your home. If cold air leaks into your home in the winter, you'll need to turn up the thermostat to stay comfortable, which makes your heating system run more often and for longer periods of time, resulting in high energy bills.

An ICF home, on the other hand, provides solid exterior walls with very few cold joints, which minimizes outside air infiltration, leaks and drafts. There are no wood studs or insulation gaps to worry about. With built-in insulation and heat-absorbing concrete, ICF's create an airtight and energy-efficient home. Concrete absorbs and stores heat, then releases it when the surrounding air is cool, thus reducing temperature swings in the home, eliminating drafts and cold spots. Because of this, smaller HVAC equipment can be installed to heat and cool the home.

Your home is most likely a traditional home, constructed using organic materials, such as wood. Mold requires an organic material on which to grow. Wood is easily infiltrated by moisture, which can result in the growth of mold and mildew. Hollow cavities in your home's structure can trap moisture, making it vulnerable to mold.

An ICF home can eliminate this problem since it uses a combination of non-organic materials, expanded polystyrene (EPS) and concrete. The walls, made of solid concrete, will not trap moisture, and properly ventilated ICF homes guarantee low humidity, which also decreases the opportunity for mold growth.

A traditional home is essentially pieces of wood nailed together, leaving thousands of tiny air gaps. Every hour, approximately half of the air in a typical wood-built home is replaced by air leaking in from the outside. This means cold drafts in the winter and hot drafts in the summer. Since it is impossible to have a continuous insulation blanket with wood-built homes, about 25% of the home remains un-insulated.

Part of the solution to a drafty home is proper insulation. Homes stay warm in winter much like people do-both need heavy clothes covering all of their exposed parts. Insulation, a home's clothes, should be placed in all areas that face the elements, including the foundation, exterior walls and the roof (known as the “building envelope”). Not having insulation in one of these areas is similar to wearing a coat but no gloves.

Another solution to a drafty home is air sealing. Check any openings in your house, like windows, doors, outlets and pipes, for small gaps. Air can leak in and out of even the smallest of gaps. Not only does this air leakage lead to uncomfortable drafts, but it can also reduce the energy efficiency of your home.

Over 80% of ICF homeowners mentioned comfort as one of the benefits of their new home, compared to only 22% of the wood frame homeowners. Comfort in an ICF home is derived from stable temperatures, fewer drafts, and lack of cold/hot spots.

Able to withstand 250-mile-an-hour winds and wind-borne debris, the storm resistance of ICF homes is the #1 draw for people in hurricane and tornado zones. ICF walls are reinforced concrete, which has an excellent record of surviving natural disasters. Surveys of damage from hurricanes and tornadoes confirmed that reinforced concrete survives high winds better than traditional wood-built homes. In many instances, standing ICF homes were surrounded by collapsed wood homes.

The three most common causes of exterior wall maintenance are termites, rotting and painting. Building with ICF's instead of wood eliminates rot, which means less repair and maintenance. Choosing an exterior cover of brick, stucco or stone will further reduce maintenance. Termites and other pests thrive on wood and its organic properties. Replacing the wood in the structure of your home with ICF's and concrete stops the possibility of termite damage.

In terms of insulation, noise reduction refers to suppressing unwanted sound in various areas of the home. It is an added bonus that a well-insulated house will have, and this is a fact that most homeowners don't consider during construction. What makes noise reduction such an important part of your insulating system? Not only can it provide a quieter home for sleeping and working, but it can also give family members added privacy.

Materials like concrete stop noise. In sound transmission tests, ICF walls allowed less than one-third as much sound to pass through compared to traditional wood-frame walls filled with fiberglass. With double-glazed windows in ICF walls and beefed-up roof insulation, noise from traffic, airplanes, or the neighbor's barking dog is practically eliminated.

Worldwide deforestation adds 1-2 billion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere annually. In order to protect our atmosphere and ourselves, it is essential to reduce the number of trees we cut down. ICF construction directly reduces the use of lumber for building, thereby helping to save the world's forests. Construction waste is greatly reduced and is 100% recyclable.

The super energy efficiency of ICF homes minimizes the amount of fuel burned for heat, saving our oil and gas reserves and reducing air pollution and the “greenhouse effect,” the cause of global warming.

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) products do not use chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's). When CFCs are used in manufacturing, they are released into the atmosphere. This pollution has been linked to the destruction of the earth's protective ozone layer and increasing incidences of skin cancer. ICF's also do not contain hydro-chlorofluorocarbons (HCFC), formaldehyde, asbestos or fiberglass.

If you live in a traditional wood-built home, the risk of unseen mold and mildew, along with the penetration of outside pollutants and pollen, are affecting the air in which you live and breathe. This compromised quality of air in your house will adversely affect allergies and respiratory ailments.

If a home with cleaner air is desired, an ICF home is worth considering. Since the exterior walls are solid, the effects of hay fever, asthma and other airborne allergies can be greatly alleviated as a direct result of the reduced leakage of outside air, kage into an ICF home is one-fourth (1/4) that of a wood-framed home. The reduced air leakage of an ICF home, used in conjunction with fresh air exchangers and electrostatic air filters, can result in the best possible living environments available for respiratory allergy sufferers.

Another feature worth adding to your home to help alleviate allergies is a central vacuum. The most noticeable benefit of a central vacuum system is the significant reduction in airborne allergens. When a traditional vacuum runs, it releases a lot of dust and other allergens back into the air. With a central vacuum, everything that is sucked up travels through a hose system into a collection unit located in your basement or garage. A central vacuum has about five times the suction of traditional vacuums, picking up more debris and allergens.

A home built with Steel ICF's will pass the rigors of a 4-hour fire test. This ICF's unique steel ties hold the EPS foam together, further insulating the walls and providing added protection on the side unexposed to the flame. With extremely low toxicity, smoke development and flame spread, ICF walls are safer from the hazards of fire. The air tightness of an ICF home also inhibits the oxygen needed to allow a fire to spread rapidly.

In addition, if you are planning on building a new home and want to reduce your insurance rates, an ICF home is the best option. In most parts of the U.S., an ICF home can be insured for 10-25% less than a wood-constructed home because of its resistance to fire, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes. Because ICF's are included in the masonry class, they qualify for a lower premium than a home in the traditional wood framed class.

Building an energy-efficient new home with ICF's will cost a little more up front, but the money that you save in energy costs will pay back the difference in less than a few years. Plus, you can't compare the end result. An ICF home is so much more energy efficient and structurally superior than a wood home.

First, examine what your goals are for your new home: bottom-line cost or BEST VALUE for your dollars spent. Investigate your options before construction starts, then find a builder who will work with you to maximize energy conservation.

In the overall picture, an ICF Better House will actually cost less than a wood home.