| Constructed by Merlin Contracting, L.L.C., the $1.9 million, 5,180-square-foot New American Home 2004 is in the luxury community of The Lakes at West Sahara, about 15 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip. The home is described to have a modern "loft" design. |
Concrete Home,
Concrete Construction
Americans are warming up to the idea of concrete houses.
by Stacey Enesey Klemenc
had the right idea. If you want a structure to last for centuries (think Coliseum, aqueducts), shelve the sticks. Build it out of concrete.
And although most Europeans grasped onto this concept eons ago — their dwellings are built to be passed on from generation to generation — it's taken the less frugal Americans awhile longer to literally bring the concept home.
But it's here and finally catching on. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the market share of concrete homes has steadily increased in recent years, from 3 percent in 1993 to more than 14 percent in 2002. In 2002 alone, more than 150,000 single-family homes were built with a variety of exterior above-grade concrete wall systems, including masonry construction, which uses concrete blocks to form the basic structure of a home; cast-in-place forms, which are filled with concrete to create walls, then removed once the concrete is hardened; precast panels, which are cast in a factory and then assembled in large sections at the job site; and insulating concrete forms (ICFs), where concrete is pumped between two layers of foam insulation to form walls.
The No. 1 reason concrete homes are gaining in popularity depends on who you ask, and where. "There are five or six strong benefits associated with concrete," says Dave R. Pfanmiller, managing partner of the Security Building Group, L.L.C., who built the first cast-in-place concrete home in Raleigh, N.C., and is currently building concrete condominiums in North Topsail Beach. "Depending on your geographical location, the list is reprioritized.
"At the beach, strength and safety are a big issue. In the Milwaukee area, it's energy efficiency. In another part of the country, it's durability [resistance to insects, mold or fire]. You just reshuffle the deck and you come up with the same benefits, just in a different order."
But the list remains the same. Concrete walls make for a house that's comfortable, solid, durable, resistant to natural disasters, quiet and incredibly energy efficient.
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