|
|
|
Choosing The Right Cabinet For Your Needs
Cabinets are essentials tools to any household of office. These facilitate organizing materials, files, documents and other things that have to be kept for storage, reference or future use.
While the design of the cabinets, particularly for a...
How To Buy Double Glazing in the UK
Double-glazing reduces heat loss through your windows. You can save money on your heating bills. *However, it will be a long time before you save enough money equal to the cost of the windows*. If you can't afford to replace *all* your windows,...
Lighting for Seniors
Lighting for seniors requires attention to some specific details. When planning a lighting design for aging baby boomers we want to provide both adequate light to see clearly and a safe environment. With a combination of recessed, pendant, track and...
Style and Perfection in Home Decoration with Plantation Shutters
Choosing plantation shutters for form or function? Plantation shutters offer both to today’s homeowner. These unique window treatments trace their roots to ancient Greece. The Greeks used them for both privacy and security. Interior shutters were...
Tips for Keeping You "Home Invasion" Free
Home invasion formerly known as burglary is the type of crime that you can do something to prevent. In this article I am going to address preventative steps to protect your home from being unlawfully entered. What is home invasion? Home invasion...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
A new type of home that leaves your wallet fatter and your life easier to manage...
A home for the 21st Century is not about the latest in gadgets
and wireless alarms, internet connections or top of the line
intercom system. It is about strength, comfort and energy
efficiency.
Baby Boomers are buying their last home and they know what they
want.
Enter a new type of home. 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 gives you
unprecedented comfort and a breath of fresh air 24 hours a day;
a home that can resist hurricanes in Florida as well as sub
artic temperatures in the Canadian North.
Imagine an airtight, steel reinforced concrete cube with about
3 inches of styrofoam insulation on both sides of the wall and
body temperature heated floors.
Fresh air from the outside enters the house through a series of
pipes buried 5 feet below the ground where there is always a
constant temperature - 8 Degrees Celsius.
If you really wanted you could open high efficiency Low-E Argon
filled windows, but why would you want to?
During the summer the incoming air is pre-cooled; during the
winter it is pre-warmed. The flow is strictly controlled,
pre-conditioned and filtered for a breath of fresh air - 24
hours a day.
Computer modeling of this type of air pre-conditioning shows
that just this one idea saves 11% on heating and cooling costs
comparable to conventional venting system.
This new type of luxury home is built as a combination of some
of the newest technologies in modern home building: Insulated
Concrete Form (ICFs), radiant floor heating, a tank-less water
heater and a low energy consumption air conditioning system
(that that you may need to use but very rarely). The outside
walls, which are built out of steel reinforced concrete make
this home wind and fire resistant, bug and mould resistant and
provide excellent protection from hurricanes,
tornadoes and
earthquakes.
Outside voices, traffic noises and police sirens are muffled by
the walls thickness which allows you to sleep soundly every
night. Gone are floor squeaks, drafts and the rattling of glass
in your china cabinet.
Because of the exceptional insulation of insulated concrete
forms, there is significant ongoing savings in energy costs and
greatly increased comfort levels for the homeowner. The savings
are anywhere from 35% to 60% depending mostly on the style of
home and the size and type of windows.
Features, such as a high (92%) efficiency tank-less water heater
heats the whole home, while providing an endless supply of
potable hot water. It turns itself on when you turn your hot
water tap, therefore there are no standby losses as with a
conventional hot water heater. This equals approximately 25% of
energy savings just to heat your hot water.
It is also easy to incorporate a full solar heating, so you can
achieve a complete independence from the grid.
This type of home costs only about 10% more than a comparable
wood framed home and considering a long term savings, comfort
and security why would anyone build homes differently is a
merited question.
If you are thinking of building, or simply want to see for
yourself what all the fuss is about, the model home can be
viewed on Jan 15, and every Saturday after that until the month
of April. It is located on 252 Pearson St. by the golf course in
Meaford, Ontario.
About the author:
Harvey Juric CEO of ICFhome.ca has been building Insulated
Concrete Form custom homes in Ontario since 1995. For more
information about the model home, Insulated Concrete Forms or
Radiant Floor Heating contact ICFhome.ca by telephone 519
843-7612, e-mail info@icfhome.ca, or visit their web site at Ontario Home
Builder or Luxury
Home
|
|
|
|
|
|