APEX Block™ is stirring up more media buzz as the popularity of the block continues grow. Part of the media buzz comes from Construction Today Magazine, who was able to scoop up an interview with Dale Siens, President & CEO of APEX Block. Set to be featured in the magazines February issue, the magazine article will give readers an inside look at APEX Block™ as the manufacturer and international distributor of a revolutionary energy saving building product. Construction Today Magazine with the featured article is scheduled to hit stands Tuesday, February 21st, 2012. Read More
Construction Today Interview
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Tagged Apex Block, Construction Today, icf, insulated concrete block, insulating concrete block
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The Advantages of ICF Construction
Insulating concrete form, or ICF construction allows homes to be built to maximize levels of comfort, quietness and energy efficiency. Though traditional construction will always have its proponents, ICF offers homeowners numerous benefits which extend to the overall value of the home. This is vitally important when it comes time to sell the home, as ICF houses are generally assessed at higher values than those built using traditional techniques. Though ICF has its detractors, the technique is preferred by many construction experts and homeowners.
If you are interested in ICF construction for your new home, you should make sure that the benefits outweigh the associated costs. If you are certain that building your home using ICF will work best for you, you will need to decide which forms you will use. If you want the best, you should seriously consider Apex Block. Apex Block is made using a high percentage of recycled content, plus it is stronger than foam forms. Read More
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Reasons for Building Green Homes with ICFs
Many of those involved in sustainable and environmentally friendly construction are building green homes with ICFs. 
The abbreviation ICF stands for Insulating Concrete Form. The formwork that is created acts as permanent insulation for the building. This form of construction is growing in popularity as it is energy efficient. The forms themselves, lock together without the use of mortar and are then filled with concrete. They fit together in much the same fashion that Lego toys do for children.
When a construction firm is building green homes with ICFs, they are using structures that can be manufactured from a number of different materials. The most common forms that are currently in usage are made from Polystyrene foam that is either expanded or extruded. They can also be manufactured from Polyurethane foam that is soy-based. Additional forms include, cement-bonded wood fiber and cement-bonded polystyrene beads. The concrete is pumped into the basic form and then rebar is used to add to the overall structural efficiency. Read More
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The Advantages of Building Your New Home with ICF Blocks
Building a new home is something that people typically dream about for years before it 
actually happens. While buying an existing home is a wonderful and exciting accomplishment, building a home of your own that can be customized and tailored to fit your specific preferences is ideal. Traditional building materials such as brick and lumber are still the most popular for building new homes, but alternative materials such as ICF blocks are being used more frequently as people realize the amazing benefits of using them in new home construction. Read More
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Building Earthquake Resistant Buildings With Insulated Concrete Form Walls
Building earthquake resistant buildings does not need to be extremely
expensive as long as the proper construction materials are used and the structure is sufficiently engineered. One of the most earthquake resistant materials available is concrete. Concrete structures in countries such as Japan, Guam, the Philippines, and the United States have proven the capacity to withstand quakes with magnitudes of over 8 on the Richter scale. One of the costliest earthquakes in U.S. history, the 1994 quake in Northridge, California (6.8 on the Richter scale), caused an estimated $20 billion in damages. Most of the engineered structures that included concrete components, however, remained mostly undamaged.
Homes that are built with steel-reinforced concrete have a very good record of surviving earthquakes largely intact and structurally sound. Reinforced concrete walls perform well under seismic stress due to the composite system: Concrete has the ability to resist compression forces and steel can withstand the kind of tensile forces that an earthquake produces. Even building earthquake resistant buildings with walls that are only lightly reinforced can provide over six times the load resistance of framed wall constructions. Read More
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Basic Overview of ICF Walls
Insulating concrete forms, or ICFs, are composed of plastic foam forms that are rigid and can be made into many construction materials, including icf walls. They are a type of thermal insulation that hold concrete in place while it is curing, and remain there afterwards. Other uses of ICFs include structural configurations such as grid, as well as post and beam. These sections are a durable, lightweight, and energy efficient option for your construction needs. Materials that are used in creating ICFs are commonly expanded polystyrene (EPS), insulating foam, or extruded polystyrene (XPS). Some basic forms of ICFs are 4 x 8 panels with plastic ties or integral foam, hollow foam blocks, and foam planks that are held together using plastic ties. They all serve the purpose of providing backing for exterior and interior finishes. Read More
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Uses and Applications of Foam Concrete Form
Foam concrete form is a type of insulating structural formwork that is used in building energy efficient reinforced concrete structures. These structures include flooring, walls and roofs. The concrete forms come in the shape of modular units that interlock, allowing the builder to stack them without using mortar and fill the entire interlocked structure with concrete, which reinforces the structural element. Read More
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Building Green Using Insulating Concrete Forms
Insulating concrete forms are the type of formwork used to place concrete in building structures, that remain permanently in place and function as insulation that can help to save energy in the completed building. Such forms make walls that are sandwiched between two layers of insulation. This sort of construction is normally used for low rise buildings, whose facades are then completed so that they look similar to traditional construction, both from the inside and the outside. Read More
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Tagged Apex Block, building green, green building, ICFs, insulating concrete forms
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Insulated Concrete Form Homes
Insulated concrete form homes, or ICF homes, are one of the newest, and brightest construction concepts. They make up an estimated six percent of all new home construction in the United States due to their amazing energy efficiency, which makes them very eco-friendly. When looking into building a home, or even a commercial building, it is good to know all the facts. What is an ICF, what makes them better than traditional materials, and how much do they cost are all questions that should be asked in order to choose the best solution. Read More
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Tagged Apex Block, ICF homes, ICFs, insulated concrete form homes
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Designing Spaces Shoot A Big Success
The home improvement television series, Designing Spaces, was onsite in Southern Oregon to showcase an Apex Block constructed home for an upcoming show. Despite the wet cold weather, filming went off without a hitch and many are highly anticipating the finished product. Read More
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Tagged Apex Block, concrete forms, ICF Construction, ICFs, insulated concrete forms
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