This is about a concrete house.
Before people begin writing letters telling me that they have lived in concrete houses since the late 1940s, the only similarity between your house and this house is the name of the material.
Your houses look like concrete houses. The new generation of concrete houses–I’ve toured four in Houston and one in Dallas over the last three years–don’t look like concrete houses.
Which is, I suppose, a testament to the versatility of concrete. For a house in Plano, Texas, builder J. Michael Hewitt chose insulating concrete forms for the exterior walls. Polystyrene foam forms are set up for the walls. Reinforcing steel is added, and concrete is pumped into the cavity to form the finished wall.
The foam forms stay in place to act as insulation. They can be cut into just about any shape to accommodate designs or site conditions.
These insulating concrete forms, or ICFs, are designed so that the builder can easily attach wood or aluminum siding, brick, stucco or stone on the exterior, and drywall or plaster on the interior.
Concrete is an excellent sound-proofing material. According to Pieter VanderWerf, a professor of management at Boston University, concrete walls can reduce sound transmission by more than two-thirds the level of frame construction.
Concrete also is an excellent insulator. VanderWerf analyzed statistics from 58 houses–29 concrete and 29 wood frame–of similar square footage and age (less than six years old). He found that the insulation qualities of concrete saved the typical homeowner $221 a year for heating and $89 for cooling.
“The percentage of energy-saving showed no discernible relationship to local climate,” VanderWerf said. “We tentatively concluded that these rates of savings should be fairly constant, regardless of location.”
This is especially important in areas of the country such as the desert Southwest. There, winter temperatures rarely fall low enough at night to warrant the installation of heating systems. With the thermal mass provided by concrete construction, most homeowners can keep houses comfortable with a gas or wood fireplace.
The thermal mass serves as an excellent insulator in the summer desert heat, reducing air conditioning bills.
The same is true in Florida, where heat and humidity are major environmental factors.
Concrete houses also are more resistant than wood structures to disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and fire.
State Farm Insurance, which paid out billions of dollars in claims for damage from Hurricanes Andrew and Hugo, is planning to begin construction of a disaster-proof experimental house in Florida this spring. Company officials say that concrete will play a major role.
One major attribute of concrete is that it can be easily transformed into a variety of shapes and uses. Because builders in the Southwest traditionally have used it in construction, concrete is turned into decorative flooring and countertops, as well as half-barrel ceilings reminiscent of the basilicas of ancient Rome.
That’s what the master bath at the Plano house reminded me of. The ceiling is a half-barrel, capped over the vanity at the exterior wall by a marble arch that contains a large, semicircular window.
While concrete and its many uses is the centerpiece of this $1.2 million, 5,600-square-foot model house, the house makes use of other building techniques and materials that either are new or making a comeback.
The front door is made of solid mesquite, with iron hardware to enhance the Southwestern theme. While mesquite grows abundantly in Texas, the more mature wood is usually imported from Mexico. It lasts forever. The 200-year-old doors of the mission San Xavier del Bac outside of Tucson are of mesquite, which turns rich and dark with a chocolatey color when exposed to the desert sun.
The four-bedroom, 5 1/2-bath house has four living areas, including a second-floor media room with a projector.
Included are a library, two gas fireplaces, a three-car garage, and a pool with a spa.
The master bedroom closet has a vault and a “safe room” hidden behind a wall of shelves that is really a door. The door leads to a small room made entirely of steel and concrete. In case of an emergency, residents can use the room for protection, because it is equipped with controls for the home’s alarm, electricity and telephone.
Also innovative is a control panel in the downstairs living area near the kitchen. A personal computer runs the house, and with a flip of a switch, the resident can turn on the lights, control the temperature, check caller ID, and see who is at the front door by means of a video camera.
So the house isn’t just about concrete. For that, the Portland Cement Association built a demonstration house nearby where builders attending the National Association of Home Builders convention in January 1999 and 2000 can see how ICFs and other concrete products are used.
