Disaster Resilient Homes & Buildings
Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and fires threaten our safety and our prized possessions. And they seem to be on the rise, both in frequency and intensity. At the same time, families continue to be drawn to the beautiful coastal areas (and the many other locations) that are prone to these dangerous climatic events.
Strong and safe ICF homes are not expensive. But when severe climactic events threaten, they’re priceless.
First, the highly insulated concrete-and-steel Element ICF building envelope will protect and provide comfort and peace of mind to your family during the threatening event itself.
Then, in the days and weeks afterwards while your community’s utilities and infrastructure are being repaired and your air conditioning or heating is left unpowered, the air-tight and highly insulated Element ICF envelope will continue to surround your family in an ambience of relative comfort, with moderate temperatures and humidity levels.
Fire-rated cladding protects Element ICF form panels and provides additional protection against wind-borne debris.
Reinforced concrete ICF walls are stronger than wood-framed walls, and are designed to readily resist seismic loads in all seismic zones.
Element ICF walls have a fire resistance rating of up to 4 hours.
- Two thick panels of continuous insulation
- Air-tight wall assembly maintains interior humidity levels longer
- Concrete thermal mass maintains the interior temperature longer
Reinforced insulated concrete floor offers fire protection between floors and a stronger structure against seismic, high wind loads, and wind-borne debris.
FEMA-compliant saferoom
The EPS form panels absorb debris impact thereby minimizing damage.
Element ICF keeps windows secure and will not ignite like wood bucks during a wildfire.
Element ICF Wall plates offer more resistance against high wind loads.
Truss anchors resist high wind loads, including uplifts, and lateral loads.
Metal roof panels offer durable, long-lasting protection against strong winds and wind-borne debris, and will not ignite during a wildfire or lightning strike
And as well, ICF is also a great option if you wish to build a separate safe room either outside of the home or inside an ICF, or wood-frame, home.
Element ICF is the perfect start toward building a cost-effective and highly disaster-resilient home or building. And here’s how you can optimize the power of Element ICF to provide maximum protection, peace of mind and comfort for the specific climactic event(s) that are of particular concern to you:
Make Your Element ICF Home More Flood Resilient
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Make Your Element ICF Home More Earthquake Resilient
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Make Your Element ICF Home More Wildfire Resilient
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