Concrete
Homes:
"Discover
a Home That Offers Lower Energy Bills, A Healthier Living
Environment and Complete Peace of Mind –
Guaranteed!"
- A home that stands up to fire, noise, sun, wind,
rain, snow, bugs, mould and inevitable Acts of God like,
earthquakes and hurricanes;
- A proven home that provides years of hassle-free
living while saving you 35% to 60% on energy bills along the
way;
- A home that is safer, stronger and healthier than
any other home you have ever seen;
- An incredible concrete home that blends character
and timeless beauty with the kind of quality materials and
workmanship that give you a great sense of pride and
satisfaction. A satisfaction that lets you sleep peacefully
at night;
- A remarkable home to enhance your
life;
- An ICF
home...

"If You Are Looking For A New Home -
Here Is Your Chance To Own The Home Of Your
Life..."
Hi, my name is Harvey Yurich. I am not a professional writer
- I am a custom home builder.
However, I chose to write to you myself, because if
you are looking for a new home, what I have to share with you
is extraordinary and powerful.
So, please take a minute from your busy schedule and
read this... I promise you will not regret
it.
As you read on, I'll tell you about a new type of
home that leaves your wallet fatter and your life easier to
manage...
Your Bare Feet Will Love
You...
Imagine the warm floors on a cold
winter morning... In-floor radiant heat transfers warmth from
the floor directly to your body in addition to heating the
air around you.
Warm water circulates through space-age, durable,
plastic tubing safely embedded in concrete – distributing
even warmth throughout your home. In addition to warmth, the
embedded floor heating creates wider and more open space than
ever before. Even your concrete floor in the basement
feels warm to the touch...
Listen to the silence - Because of
the thick walls, annoying neighborhood noises like fire
trucks, barking dogs and early morning lawn mowers are
reduced to a whisper.
Solid Concrete Construction means that your
home is sound proof, resistant to storms, high winds and
other severe weather conditions. Just imagine your family
sleeping peacefully through the noisiest of
thunderstorms.
Breathe the clean air - Due to our
diverse northern climate with long winters and hot, muggy
summers, you spend a lot of time indoors. Natural and
man-made pollutants affect the quality of the indoor air that
you breathe.
Some well-known offenders include mould and mildew
in traditional wall systems and poorly filtered forced air
heating systems that circulate dust in the
home.
Picture your home designed and built with a proper
air filtration and fresh air exchange system; with no noisy
furnace to circulate the dust around the house. Think of how
much less dusting you will have to do, or how you or someone
in your family will be protected from asthma
attacks.
"Which Four Letter Word Do You Use Each Month When You Pay Your
Utility Bills?"...
Imagine heating and cooling bills being half of what
you'd expect. Drafts are virtually eliminated and carbon
dioxide emissions from your heating unit are greatly reduced.
The concrete in your walls makes an excellent "heat sponge"
which stops winter temperatures cold (if you pardon
the pun).
Together, in-floor radiant heat and concrete floors
provide even temperatures, a healthier living environment,
quiet floors and overall comfort; and I promise you that the
glasses in your china cabinet will never rattle again (no
matter how hard you jump on the floor).
Add to this: No-maintenance Low E Argon filled self
cleaning windows, a 94% efficient on demand hot water heater,
draft free walls, 30-year maintenance free exterior, quality
interior finishing, hardwood floors, custom cabinetry,
granite counter tops, whirlpool tub and the latest and best
in security measures.
You will enjoy the safest, strongest, healthiest and
most energy efficient home available today.
Want Proof? The Pictures Below Tell The
Story...
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ICF House Stands up to 271-ton
Boulder: Jack Burns of Rockville, Utah awoke to a
frightening event. It seems a 271-ton boulder had crashed through
the rear of his house, plowed through the bathroom, and stopped
four feet from his bed. . Apparently the boulder fell from the top
of the butte, bounced a few times like a rubber ball, then careened
into the back wall of the house and the embankment up against it,
which stopped its progress. Observers measured the boulder after
the fact at about 12 feet by 16 feet by 16 feet. Luckily, his home
was built out of concrete using ICFs. |
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More Than 250 Homes Burn as Wildfires
Ravage Southern California: Powerful Santa Ana winds
kicked up before dawn Sunday, driving two ferocious fire storms
that had already burned more than 200 homes, across more lawns and
rooftops. In a canyon at the edge of Claremont, about 50 homes were
destroyed. Interestingly enough, the only home left standing, was a
home built out of concrete for Mr. and Mrs. Bruce. “Even though the
home needs extensive renovation, all of our possessions are intact”
said Mr. Bruce, “Luckily, we built it using
ICFs.” |
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Will Your Home be Safe from
Storms? In the summer of 2004, a series of four hurricanes
struck Florida. Many houses built out of wood suffered severe
hurricane damage, while homes next to them, built out of concrete,
had much less damage. The hurricanes that hit Florida have given
their endorsement to the new “Insulated Concrete Forms” system of
building. “It is not that the wind is blowing, it is what the wind
is blowing”, said Mr. Jones, the owner of the home (bottom, left),
who weathered the storm in his basement. “We knew that we would be
safe in our basement because we built it out of ICFs, said Mr.
Jones. |
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I believe the ICF wall saved my
life, claims Mr. Ray Demczyk of Cape Coral, Florida. Early
on the morning of June 26, 2004, as Mr. Demczyk and his wife slept
inside their ICF home, a potential tragedy was unfolding outside.
At approximately 2:00 A.M. an intoxicated driver was speeding down
the Demczyk’s street, fell asleep at the wheel, and never noticed
when his Pontiac Firebird left the road, became airborne, and
slammed into the exterior wall of the Demczyk’s residence at a
speed of 60 miles per hour. Stirred awake by a light thud, Mrs.
Demczyk left her bedroom to identify some household object that had
fallen to the floor. To her great surprise she found a set of
headlights shining through her living room window. The ICF wall’s
strength was evident once the cleanup had been completed and damage
was assessed. A 3 ft x 5 ft section of the wall’s exterior finish
suffered the impact of the crash, while the concrete wall itself
remained unscathed.

When asked if he was surprised by the strength of
the wall, Demczyk responded, "Strength, wind resistance, and
insulation were the reasons I built with ICFs. It should cost me
less than $800 to complete repairs to my stucco finish,” Emergency
workers on the scene said that the speeding vehicle would have
penetrated the residence and would have gone straight through had
the walls not been concrete. |
So What Are ICFs?
Whether you are in the “Real Estate" or
"Home Building Industry” or not, I am sure that
what you just saw and are about to read will intrigue your mind for
days before you really comprehend the true magnitude of it. In
fact, most people can’t believe this until they live in one of
these homes themselves.
Once you have built with ICFs, or lived in an ICF home, you
will undoubtedly never dream of going back to the flimsiness of a
stick-framed house. The difference in quality is like comparing
Niagara Falls to your backyard waterfall.
In A
Nutshell...
Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) are hollow
Styrofoam blocks or panels that are stacked to form the walls of a
building. The forms are filled with steel-reinforced concrete to
create a solid structure.
These interlocking, light-weight expanded polystyrene
concrete forms are designed to remain as a permanent part of the
wall after the concrete is placed.
The insulating capacity of expanded polystyrene coupled
with the structural integrity of reinforced concrete is a powerful
combination. These walls are stronger, safer, quieter and
more energy-efficient.
It is the perfect replacement for concrete block,
traditional poured concrete walls, brick, framed steel or wood
walls and any other typical material used in construction. It
complies with all applicable building standards (Actually exceeds
them).
Building with ICFs results in a Beautiful, Fire- Resistant,
Sound-Proof, Water-Proof, Strong, Wind-Proof, Super-Insulated,
Extremely Energy Efficient, Seismically Superior, Sustainable,
Environmentally Friendly Home that saves an average of 13 trees
from the old growth forests per home.
In fact since 1996 The Energy Value Housing
Awards in the United States and the R-2000
Awards in Canada continue to attract attention from
construction industry professionals. As Insulated Concrete Form
(ICF) wall-systems start to dominate these awards, the tolerances
are becoming more and more exacting.
The list Of Awards Is
Impressive:
- National
Energy Housing Quality Award.
- Canadian
Home Builders Association Enviro-Home
Award.
- Silver
Georgie Award
- CMHC
Healthy Housing™ Award
- EnerQuality R-2000 Environmental Excellence
Award.
ICF projects have won awards for "Enviro-Home","
Healthy Home," Technical Excellence In Design, Environmental
Excellence and Outstanding Energy Efficiency. They are
recognized as a "Green Product" and as "Kyoto
Friendly."
People Everywhere Are Raving About This Amazing New
Type Of Home!
In test after test, Insulated Concrete Homes are proving they are
here to stay. Apart from warmer and cozier winter nights there are
so many more reasons not to settle for just any
home:
- You will
enjoy a high quality and energy efficient
home.
- You will
enjoy a sound resistant home.
- You will
enjoy much lower utility bills.
- Your home
will last many times longer than any wood-frame
house.
- Your home
will give you peace of mind during severe weather
conditions.
- Your home
won’t have any drafts or cold spots.
- Your home
will have high fire resistance.
- You will
live healthier and more comfortably.
- No air
infiltration means dust and allergens are drastically
reduced.
- Your home
won’t have any wall cavities for mould, mildew, bugs or
rodents.
- Your home
will be superior to all others on your
street.
- Your home
will be earthquake resistant.
- Your home
will not mould, rot or decay.
- Your home
may qualify for lower insurance
premiums.
"With the way utility costs are steadily
increasing, existing wooden houses, and those being built
today will, in 10 years, have monthly utility payments that
exceed the monthly house payment..."
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Infrared photography of two side by side homes -
ICF home on the left - Enough
said! |
So, Is Your Home Energy Efficient For The New
Century?
You see... I have been in construction for most of my life.
From roofing to flooring I have done it all!
ICFs intrigued me as far back as 1994. At that time the
industry was in its infancy and it was a fairly expensive way to
build. There were only seven manufacturers accounting for only
0.03% of the custom home market share in North
America.
Advancements in technology and innovation, as well as
customer loyalty and word of mouth have rapidly propelled ICFs into
a residential market phenomenon.
It increased from 1.0 percent in 1998 to 2.7 percent in
2001, according to the National Association of Home
Builders. Additionally, the Insulating Concrete
Form Association and Portland Cement
Association predict ICFs will account for more than 8.0
percent of the residential market in 2008. There are over 70
manufacturers at present.
Since then, our company Rainbow Country Homes, now known as
ICFhome.ca, has built over 50 custom built homes, numerous walls,
basements and industrial projects throughout Ontario, and as far as
Europe, with this new type of construction.
We have also monitored the performance of these
homes throughout the years. When comparing them to all
available construction methods on five continents and in most
western countries, we categorically state that
there is no better built home available
today!
Now You Can Do More Than Just Dream About That
Perfect Home...
The Ultimate
Custom ICF Home can look exactly like you
want it to, like any other home, and it will cost almost the same
money as the stick house “Bob the Builder” wants
to build for you.
The price as well as the look are decided by you and
nobody else but you. This is not revolutionary thinking –
just common sense, and the way things should be
done.
The industry cites an extra cost of only 5%-10%, so
the question "Why would you build your home out of anything
else but ICFs?" is warranted.
From the outside, ICF homes look the same as wood
framed homes since all finishes such as stucco, brick and
siding can be used.
Inside, homeowners like the thick walls that provide
deep interior window sills for use as window seats or window
display areas, similar to the effect of adobe
construction.
"Of All the Decisions You Must Face When Building Your Home, There
Is None More Important Than The Person You Choose To Build It - So,
Choose Carefully!"
The fact is, I'm very passionate about showing you
all the advantages of ICF homes. Once you have become
informed, we can decide together on what the best plan of
action should be to create the ultimate home for you and your
family.
Buying a home is a major commitment. I don't want
you to regret your decision two weeks or five years down the
road; a bad experience with a builder gives all builders a
bad name.
So, if you are building in Ontario, you can give us
a call. We will show you our selection and discuss all your
options. I promise there's no obligation or pressure of any
kind. Just come into our office, have a cup of coffee, and
let's talk homes.
If on the other hand you are reaching us from other
parts of the world, please explore our website. There is an
extensive collection of insites and articles on all aspects
of modern building. Enjoy!!!
I look forward to helping you create your dream
home.
To Explore the
Possibilities Call Now: 705 533-1633
or click here to go to our
home page
or here to ask us a
question.
Sincerely:
Harvey Yurich
President ICFhome.ca
PS.: This type of home is about choices; choices
that make a difference in the levels of indoor air pollution
and energy efficiency, choices which are sensitive to the
environment, and important choices we make concerning our
safety. It is at the very least worth your time to find out
more.
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Want to
start a home building project but have no idea where to
begin? Download your special
free "Home Planning Guide". It will
assist you in selection and design of your new home, or
in remodeling of your existing one.
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End - Concrete Homes
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