Concrete Homes

Concrete constructions are still the main method of building a house in Ireland. Traditional concrete buildings still dominate at least 85% of all new houses built in this country. The reason for this could be the lack of experience of other methods of construction within the building industry. There are obviously advantages and some disadvantages with every method of construction and this also applies to concrete homes.

Concrete buildings are mainly made of a cavity wall made of blocks with rendered finish for the external walls and a masonry built partition walls for the internal walls.

As far as the construction time of this type of building it must be considered that it will not be as fast to construct as Timber Framed buildings but you should take into account that with Timber Framed buildings, the same amount of time will be taken back at the manufacturing location to construct the frames.

Advantages of Concrete Homes;

1. Better known method of construction to the builders in Ireland so in some ways less problems.
2. Durable and fireproof.
3. Concrete blocks act as heat storage, therefore when the house is heated it will take longer before the heat emitted through the walls.
4. Solid walls for putting up things like kitchen cabinets or shelves.
5. Overall, a more quieter house as the sound does not travel well through concrete blocks.

Disadvantages of Concrete Homes;

1. It takes longer to construct on site than a Timber Framed house.
2. It will take longer to heat up than a Timber Framed house.

Insulated Concrete Form

If you inted to go for a concrete home, you should then also consider ICF method of construction. The following is the information provided on ICF by Reward Wall Systems:

Considering the advantages and disadvantages of the Traditional Concrete build and the imperative to construct sustainable buildings into the future, Insulated Concrete Form is the solution to taking advantage of the strengths of Concrete and to eliminate it’s disadvantages. The Irish building industry now has the ability to construct environmentally friendly buildings taking full advantage of the strength of a reinforced mass concrete monolithic structure using Rewards “iForm” and achieve a Calculated U-value of U = 0.24 W/m2*K. while at the same time producing faster builds. The ability to Pour up to 5 Metre lifts vertically at a time means a watertight building shell can be constructed quickly allowing internal services and finishes to be run independently of the external cladding eliminating delays to follow-on trades.

Services are easier to install. “iForm” is lightweight and easily managed and manhandled on-site. Lower plant and equipment costs plus lower labour costs and very little waste material saves money.

For more information visit: www.rssl.ie

* The picture below is produced and copyright of Irish Concrete Federation.

To receive more information on concrete constructions visit Irish Concrete Federation on www.irishconcrete.ie .

IRISH CONCRETE FEDERATION
Unit 8, Newlands Business Park,
Newlands Cross,
Clondalkin, Dublin 22
Ireland Tel: +353 1 464 0082 Fax: +353 1 464 0087 Email: icf@iol.ie