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Our products are selected to provide "a better way to build" - emphasizing performance, reliability and long-term costs.
First, our philosophy is that a building - home or commercial - should have the following characteristics:
1. Stand up to the long-term forces of time and nature. Compare with time-proven European construction.
2. Meet or exceed appropriate building codes and standards. They are in place for good reason.
3. Provide exceptional thermal insulation and thermal mass, which translate into ongoing energy savings and increased comfort to the people who live or work in the building.
4. Be economically feasible - not the cheapest building possible, but an excellent return on the investment.
5. Be aesthetically pleasing in all ways.
6. Be healthy and safe in all ways.
7. Provide a peaceable, quiet, relaxing environment.
8. Be easy and inexpensive to maintain.
To support construction of homes and commercial buildings that have these characteristics, we distribute:
 Arxx High Performance Wall Systems
 Insul-Deck Concrete Floor and Roof Systems
 European Windows
Swedeco Engineered Hardwood Floors
We also recommend, although we do not distribute,
Hardi-Plank siding,
InFloor radiant heat systems and
WaterFurnace Geothermal Heat Pumps where feasible.
Arxx High Performance Wall Systems
Because the building walls are the primary layer of protection between weather elements and the interior we are trying to optimize, choice of material for those walls is critical. In today's construction technologies, we find insulated concrete forms (www.concretehomes.com, www.forms.org) to be most appropriate by far to meet the 8 characteristics defined above.
High thermal resistance rating, reduced air infiltration, high thermal mass typically lead to a 50% reduction in energy consumption. The peace and quiet, protection from outside noise, never fails to surprise and delight them new ICF homeowners. With double-glazed windows in ICF walls and good roof insulation, you will rarely hear street noises. Concrete homes have a proven track record of withstanding the ravages of hurricanes, tornadoes and fires, when all the stick-built houses around them are in ruins. In fire wall tests, ICF's stood exposure to intense flame without structural failure for 3 to 4 hours. The polystyrene foam used in most ICF forms is treated so it will not support combustion. [Many insurance carriers are now offering a discount on a home owner's policy for an ICF home.]
With ICF homes, the maintenance equation is simple. No Rot = Less Repair and Maintenance. Neither polystyrene nor concrete will ever rot or rust. Concrete can even be exposed to the elements for centuries with few ill effects, as we see throughout Europe. Reinforcing steel, buried deep inside and protected by concrete's alkalinity, does not corrode. ICF homes provide a healthy indoor environment, too. Nothing held within or ordinarily emitted by an ICF wall is toxic, unless you choose to use a form that includes borate. The measurement of the air contents of actual ICF houses shows an almost complete absence of any emissions and is healthier than outside air. ICF homes can be designed in any style, and will accept any traditional exterior finish including vinyl or wood siding, stucco and brick. Because custom angles and curves are easily created, it's simple to build in bows, bays and radiuses. And ICF systems accommodate any of today's most popular design features, such as tall walls, large openings, long floor spans, and cathedral ceilings. Originally developed in Europe (where concrete home building is standard) ICF systems have been used successfully around the world for more than 30 years. Thousands of ICF homes have been built in recent years throughout the United States and Canada. They have proven successful in every region and climate, from Orlando to Calgary. ICF systems are accepted by all the major model codes in the U.S.
We choose Arxx High Performance Wall System ICF's over others that are available for a simple reason - Arxx product, support and merit are the best! Hands down! Yes, you can buy cheaper forms. But we personally prefer quality, integrity and performance over cheapness.
Arxx forms contain 5-1/4 inches of ASTM C 578 polystyrene foam insulation, combined with a typical 6-1/4 inches concrete wall, forming a wall rated near R-22 under standard ASHRAE 90.1 static temperature laboratory tests, but providing thermal characteristics that will make your energy bill think the wall is an R-50 wall! They are available in several special forms, and in 4-, 6-, 8-, and 10-inch nominal thicknesses. Outside buried webs enhance direct application of stucco. Embedded one-piece polypropylene webs @ 8-inch spacing bond the two sheets of EPS into a very strong form. The polypropylene does not conduct heat as metal does, and never rusts or decomposes. In test after test, Arxx walls meet or exceed standards set by building codes.
For more complete information on Arxx High Performance Wall Systems, including home plans, architectural details, design guide, specification documents, testing reports, code approval documents, and warranty information, please visit their web site. For local pricing, availability, training and educational opportunities, please contact us directly. See also our photo gallery for completed projects and what is now underway using Arxx High Performance Wall Systems..
European Windows
No matter how tight the walls are that we put around a home or commercial building, the windows and doors are ports for not only light and view, but also for heat penetration, air leakage and security violations. So the more we can do, via improving the windows and doors, the higher performance we will have.
We distribute the Mercedes-Benz of windows, Heinzmann Windows made available in this country by European Windows. Bringing German high-tech engineering, excellent craftsmanship, and experience in building superior quality windows for more than 30 years, Heinzmann builds double pane 4, 6, 8 or 10 mm regular, tempered or impact glass panels, separated by 8, 12 or 16 mm of Argon gas, into heavy fusion-welded vinyl sashes and frames built around heavy, galvanized steel tubing. The result is a window with very high overall thermal resistance, very low air penetration, and very superior in strength, energy efficiency, beauty and projected durability.
As you can observe on European Windows' website, when tested under 185 mph winds, Dade County officials measured only 0.02 cfm/ft2 air through the tilt-and-turn window at 1.57 psf, when 0.34 cfm/ft2 was allowed. Both fixed and tilt-and-turn windows passed all Dade County tests with flying colors. We particularly like the versatile design of the tilt-and-turn window, which permits the glazed panels to operate in two separate modes: the turn mode (swing mode) for easy cleaning, and the tilt mode (inward mode) for ventilation, all from one handle.
We also enjoy the pricing of European Windows, competitive with good Andersen or Pella Windows. Contact us with your window schedule for a detailed price table for your particular needs.
Insul-Deck Concrete Floor and Roof Systems
Pouring above-grade concrete floors that are monolithic with the concrete walls is made very doable by another "stay-in-place insulated concrete form." Insul-Deck manufactures a composite EPS and steel, 24" X whatever length you want, panel that, with added rebar forms a contiguous series of T-beams to span up to 32 feet. With shoring at 6 to 8 feet, the panels support the construction loads of workers, rebar and freshly poured concrete.
Why concrete floors? Increased comfort of the thermal mass (like living in a warm castle), increased strength, vertical sound control of the concrete and EPS, ease of adding InFloor radiant heat, and ease of attachment to concrete walls are among the reasons we like elevated concrete floors. And Insul-Deck makes forming and pouring them more economical and less labor requiring than other, more conventional methods.
We are proud to distribute Insul-Deck Concrete Floor and Roof Systems. Contact us for pricing and technical support of your design.
Hardwood Floors
Hardwood floors dress up any room decor, making them very aesthetically pleasing and comfortable, even over concrete and radiant heat. In a very successful effort to reduce the problems of shrink/swell and of finishing hardwood floors, Swedeco manufactures Engineered Hardwood Plank Flooring.
The base four layers are glued cross-grained to provide humidity and temperature stability, including an approximately 3/8-inch thick layer of an Indonesian mahogany species. The top layer, of Oak, Maple, Brazilian Cherry or American Cherry, is prefinished with aluminum oxide sealer and six coats of UV-cured polyethylene, is thick enough to be resurfaced if damaged, and carries a 15-year warranty. A micro-bevel and 4-sided tongue-and-groove joint allow the 6' lengths to be glued or nailed for a gorgeous floor covering.
We also recommend, although we do not distribute,
Hardi-Plank siding, made of cement, ground sand and cellulose in such a way as to be durable under weather, easy to install, almost maintenance free and good looking where siding is called for. Hardi-Plank comes in primed 6, 7 and 8" boards. They recommend Cabot paint for a 15-year warranty. Hardi-Plank competes very well with brick or stucco for a low-maintenance, durable product. It will be available in our photo gallery as soon as we get it installed on our personal home.
Radiant heat also fits well into our criteria for home or commercial building. Although we do not distribute it, we recommend it because it:
* Concentrates heat at the floor, where it warms people and objects
* Reduces energy costs by reducing heat loss
* Warms without drafts and erratic temperature fluctuations
* Provides a quieter home
* Eliminates circulation of dust from room to room
* Eliminates unsightly baseboards, hot-air registers and cold-air
returns that interfere with furniture placement. Our personal home already includes PEX (cross-linked polyethylene) tubing, purchased from Charlotte-based InFloor, (www.maxxonse.com) in the basement slab, and will soon include it in the Insul-Deck supported concrete slab under the main floor, and under the second floor. A few pictures of the basement installation are available in our photo gallery.
WaterFurnace Geothermal heat pump systems circulate a water-based solution through a loop of polyethylene tubing, usually underground. In winter, heat is absorbed from the Earth and pumped into the building; in summer, heat is pumped from the building into the Earth surrounding the loop.
Loops may be:
* - Pond loop, excellent if your building is located near a pond or lake,
* - Horizontal loop, in trench usually 6-feet deep,
* - Vertical loop, in a bore hole a few hundred feet deep, or
* - Open loop, which draws ground water through the heat pump and discharges it, e.g. into a creek.
Geothermal heat pumps offer the lowest operating cost of heating and cooling, free domestic hot water in summer, require little maintenance, and are unaffected by extreme outdoor weather.
MaxxBilt, Inc. provides services to support the products we market, distribute and sell. More specifically, we provide information, knowledge, advice and hand-holding as desired to construct outstanding homes and commercial buildings.
We have studied the engineering, economic and construction aspects of the products we market to the point of being able to offer consultation to owner, architect, engineer, developer and contractor of residential and commercial buildings, large or small.
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