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It was an ambitious
undertaking but the
tradesmen,
volunteers, and ICF
forms were up to the
task! BuildBlock®
Insulating Concrete
Forms (ICFs)
were installed
overnight as the
house superstructure
for an
“Extreme Makeover:
Home Edition”
project benefiting one very special family in Vermont.
The new home was built from foundation to roof in less than a week and presented to the Vitale family on September 12, 2007. The family’s story, the construction project and the unveiling of the home will be shown in a future episode of “Extreme
Makeover: Home
Edition.” The popular ABC program is acclaimed for radically rebuilding homes in less than a week’s time for families with special needs. The unveiling to the Vitale family of Vermont.
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BuildBlock donated the ICFs and on-site technical support during the installation.
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“As
far as we know this
was the fastest ICF
installation ever,”
said BuildBlock’s
Jason Fisher who
served as the ICF
technical advisor
during the
construction. “We
started stacking
forms just after
night fall and
completed pouring
the concrete within
the wall shortly
after sunrise. This
is far less than the
usual installation
time frame, but we
accomplished it!”
The challenging
installation was led
by volunteer
tradesmen from
New Form Building
Systems of
Maine. Owners Erica
Libby and Michelle
Atherton and a team
of others made the
trek to Vermont to
contribute their
much needed
expertise.
Read more about the
construction
process.
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The McKernon
Group of Brandon, Vermont, is the general contractor for this exciting project. The McKernon group is a BuildBlock Master Distributor and specializes in green building techniques. By their suggestion, the Vitale Family home was built using BuildBlock Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs) and several other green-building materials and features including state-of-the-art windows, low-flow showers, "green" hardwood floors, and photo cell solar panels. “The use of insulated concrete blocks on both the foundation and walls will reduce heating cost and environmental impacts by 30 percent,” said Bill McGrath, McKernon’s Director of Business Development. “But most important, it will provide the Vitales a totally new environment to raise and care for their family in a home that will be very low in maintenance costs.” |
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Headquartered
in Oklahoma
City,
BuildBlock
Building
Systems
produces
state-of-the-art
Insulating
Concrete
Forms (ICFs)
at ten
manufacturing
facilities
throughout
the U.S.
ICFs are
hollow EPS
foam blocks
which are
stacked into
the shape of
the exterior
walls of a
home or
building,
reinforced
with steel
rebar, and
then filled
with
concrete.
The EPS
panels stay
in place to
provide
permanent
insulation.
Combined
with the
concrete
core, the
ICFs result
in a
structure
with
remarkable
energy
efficiency,
safety,
strength,
and noise
reduction.
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Read more about the construction process.
Photos Courtesy of the McKernon Group, Jeff Nickerson, and New Form Building Systems. |
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Extreme Makeover:
Home Edition
Sundays, 8/7c on ABC
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