A home that stands up to fire, noise, sun, wind, rain, snow, bugs, mould and inevitable Acts of God like, earthquakes and hurricanes;
A 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;
A home made out of concrete that still 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 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 Juric. 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 windows, a 98% 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…
 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. |
| 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.” |
| 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. |
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
- Best Concrete Home Sollution 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…”
| 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 12 percent of the custom home residential market in 2012. There are over 70 manufacturers in North America at present.
Since then, our company has built over 100 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 system for building homes availabletoday!
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!”
A home is the largest personal investment that you will make. Although complex, the process can be stressful or it can be fun and exciting. Choosing the right home builder is the difference.
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 information and articles on all aspects of modern building. Enjoy!!!
I look forward to helping you create your dream home.