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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONCEPT HOUSE XI GETS ENERGY EFFICIENCY, QUALITY INDOOR AIR FROM UNIQUE BUILDING METHOD
Gurnee, IL, July 8, 2002 - For the first time ever, the Greater Chicagoland Housing Foundation this year chose to use an insulated concrete form (ICF) method of building to construct its Concept House. For this, the eleventh home in the Series, the Foundation selected the Arxx High Performance Wallsystem. The Arxx Wallsystem utilizes ICF technology to provide strength, energy efficiency and excellent indoor air quality. The Grand Opening for Concept House XI was held on June 22, and the home will be open to the public on weekends for eight weeks and will then be sold to a private owner. Concept Home XI will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through August 17.
Arxx was selected because it not only fit the theme of this particular house - to use environmentally sensitive and resource efficient products to build a home with good indoor air quality and energy efficiency - but could also easily the "Country-French" design of the home that included a stone and stucco finish. Arxx Building Products' engineering also allowed for unique design aspects such as an elevated 17-foot span where the second floor is larger than the first.
"I had been researching ICF's for some time and saw the opportunity to finally use that method of building here and show what it can do," says Mark Buschman of Buschman Homes, trustee of the Housing Foundation and builder of Concept House XI. "I was originally looking at another ICF manufacturer but found Arxx to be the most sophisticated manufacturer with the best engineering. They were able to provide plans where the other said they couldn't. I only had to have a local engineer approve Arxx's plans so working with them went smoothly."
The Arxx Wallsystem is a "stay-in-place" concrete forming system with a unique five-in-one construction system. Formwork and structure, vapor barrier, air barrier, insulation and strapping are installed with one single product. These forms remain in place and become an integral part of the reinforced concrete wall. The standard Arxx forms have exposed plastic webbing on both sides, so drywall can be easily attached on the interior and a variety of materials on the exterior, such as brick, stucco and siding.
The Arxx walls provide substantial energy-savings as well as sound and wind-resistance and a ULC/UL two to four hour fire resistance rating. In fact, Arxx Wallsystems have demonstrated energy savings of 45 - 50%, verified by regional energy companies. The built-in insulating features of the Arxx Wallsystem outperform trditional stick-built construction, especially when combined with other energy-savings measures. The Arxx Wallsystem's expanded polystyrene insulation, along with the airtight and temperature stabilizing features of the concrete walls, results in an effective thermal performance of up to R-50. That means less energy demands throughout the day. Concept House XI also utilizes radiant floor heating for added efficiency.
According to Buschman, the use of Arxx was complementary to the purpose of the Series because it "hit on all points for builders and the Housing Foundation. It is a new product and technique which very few tradespeople in our area are using. The Concept House was a practical, hands-on means of introducing it to the architect, builder, tradespeople and the municipality."
In this case, the municipality had in place an old ordinance that disallowed the use of ICF construction within the Village of Gurnee. The builder applied for a variance to build Concept House XI. Having approved the plans and allowed the Concept House to be built of Arxx, the Village of Gurnee is now considering rewriting the ordinance to allow ICFs.
The Concept House is located at The Reserve at The Merit Club Community in Gurnee. It is a two-story, five bedroom home with 5,937 square feet of living space and is valued at $1.5 million.
The first Concept House was built in 1982. The programs uses a series of showcase homes to introduce products, building techniques, housing designs and land-planning concepts to builders, the community, planners and consumers. The Concept House Series also gives manufacturers of building products a showcase for those products. A house is built roughly every year and a half to two years, with planning for each house beginning as soon as its predecessor is completed. When built, the homes are used by suppliers of the featured building products for seminars or meetings that allow employees to see the products in practical application. The Concept House is also used by the Greater Chicago Home Builder's Association and by the Housing Foundation, that hosts village officials so they can see new products and technology in use and work towards changing building codes to allow new concepts and uses of products.
Arxx Building Products, based in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, is North America's leading manufacturer of insulated concrete forms (ICFs)
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