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| Construction Process
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.
“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.
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Extraordinary measures were taken to accomplish the “extreme” project. Interior walls and siding were being installed at the same time forms were being stacked, and special high-strength concrete with accelerators was used so the trusses could be installed just a few hours after the pour. “The curing concrete was putting off so much heat it blistered the feet of the plumbers and HVAC crews that were working in the crawl space,” Fisher said. “Huge fans were brought in to cool the area for workers.” Fisher went on to say that as many as two concrete trucks were pouring their loads into the pump truck at a time with two more trucks waiting to off load right behind them. |
| The family for the Vermont project, which includes parents Lou and Sara Vitale and their two children, Kane who is 3-½ and Louie, Jr., who is almost 2, have been living in a hunting camp in Athens for the past 5 years. Louie, Jr., was born with several birth defects, including Arthogryposis, club feet and skeletal displasia. He is on both a feeding tube and a breathing tube and is confined to a wheelchair. More information about Louie’s special needs can be found on his mother’s website at http://louisangelo.tripod.com/.
Each episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is self-contained and features a race against time on a project that would ordinarily take at least five months to achieve. This involves a team of designers, contractors and several hundred workers and volunteers who will build an entire house, plus the interior and landscaping in four days. The Vitale family episode will air sometime in December.
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Extreme Makeover:
Home Edition
Sundays, 8/7c on ABC
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