About ICF Homes

ICF is a building material typically used for building houses, and stands for “Insulated Concrete Form”. Each block consists of two pieces of foam locked together with plastic or rebar. These “forms” come in all shapes and sizes, from panels to bricks to corners. They lock together like lego bricks, and when you’re done assembling them in the shape you want, including window sills and door frames, you pour the concrete. When it hardens, your frame and exterior walls are done, and you're ready to complete your home as you would with any other type of home build.

Why should you build a house out of concrete?

Why wouldn't you?

Last houses standing after the San Bernardino fire. All three are ICF homes.

ICF Homes Are Fire Resistant

Concrete and steel ICF walls have up to 4-hour fire rating as opposed to 15 minutes for a comparable wood-framed wall. That means they can block enough heat (up to 2000° Fahrenheit) from passing through the walls to start a fire on the interior for up to four hours. Wood-framed walls usually collapsed within 60 minutes, while the ICF wall did not experience any structural damage in tests.

But that's not all. There is more that Estudio Verde Homes is doing to make our ICF homes even more fire resistant. Read more about it here.

A last house standing after the hurricane that hit Mexico Beach in Florida. Read the story.

ICF Homes can be more Earthquake & Wind Resistant

Tornadoes and hurricanes destroy homes and upend lives in record numbers all over the world every year, and it's getting worse no thanks to climate change.

ICF homes are a single unit which means pieces won’t shake loose during an earthquake and bring the whole thing down like brick can.
Walls in ICF homes can withstand winds up to 200 MPH.
Those same walls resist wind-thrown projectiles coming at them at 100 MPH. Those same projectiles will penetrate wood-frame homes.
From the roof, to the walls, down to the foundation, Estudio Verde homes are built to withstand whatever mother nature throws at them.

Infrared photo of wood-frame conventional home. The bright orange indicates heat loss.

Infrared photo of an ICF home. Note the only hot spot (red orange) is the porch light.

ICF Homes Are Energy Efficient

Concrete is an excellent insulator even before you account for the foam molds that gave your house its shape! With no gaps for the wind to whistle through and three separate layers of insulation, your house will stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter – and save you money keeping it that way.

ICF homes can take up to 32% less energy to cool
ICF homes can take up to 44% less energy to warm up
Because of the thermal resistance of concrete, homes stay cooler in summer and warmer in winter.
Estudio Verde also uses radiant heating systems in the floor which are more cost efficient than central heating

ICF Homes Are Beautiful!

ICFs look nothing like what you might imagine a concrete home would look like. In fact, there’s only one way to tell if a house is made from ICF; it has deep window sills and door frames.

Aside from that, ICF homes are indistinguishable from those built out of wood since they’re stuccoed and painted like any home.

We're building ICF homes in Paradise, right now!

We believe ICF homes are your best choice if you're thinking about building or rebuilding, not just in fire and hurricane-prone areas, but anywhere. And it's for obvious reasons we chose to bring them to Paradise, California. Above all, we want the residents there to feel safe and secure when they finally get to return home.

Learn About Our Paradise Project

Keep Connected

Stay up to date by subscribing to our weekly newsletter.

Estudio Verde Homes, LLC

1637 Paradisewood Dr.
Paradise, CA

408-489-1077

maurice@estudioverde.com