Insulated concrete Forms Portugal
What if you can have your own home built for you, quicker construction time, the finished house costs less to heat or cool, it is stronger by design, has great acoustic qualities and costs you no more than you would pay for normal concrete construction. Sounds interesting?
Well, that is what we are offering here at P.P.Property.
Using a combination of proven building methods and materials, plus modern heat recovery ventilation systems, we can deliver a turn-key solution managed from the ground up.
The walls will have insulation inside and out with a minimum of 5cm of Neopor on either side, this is achieved by using ICF (insulated concrete form). These formers are then filled with steel and concrete ensuring that your house will be very strong. For roofs and ceilings there are a variety of methods used depending on the design of your house, but be assured that they all go way beyond current norms.
We do insist that the windows are of a high standard, there is no point in making super-efficient walls and low-quality windows, but this does not limit you in terms of style or colour.
If you have existing plans/architects drawings send them to us and we will give you a quotation.
So let us examine the above statements
1.Quicker construction time using ICF, your construction time is dramatically reduced. Your house is built out of Neopor construction blocks 1 metre long. They go together very fast, once up other stages of the construction are also faster, chasing out for your electrics and plumbing is faster, you can bury pipework in the walls for ventilation also some conduits can also be buried in the wall.
2.The finished house costs less to heat or cool, By insulating with Neopor inside and out and filling the 15cm void with concrete you are forming a very thermic barrier between the inside of your house and the elements, combine this with a heat recovery system and you are left with a very efficient house indeed. Of course, your windows have to be of a good thermal standard to take full advantage with this.
3.It is stronger by design. In Portugal, it is necessary to build with a structure, normally concrete rafts, pillars and decks are used, this is a very strong construction method but our way is a lot stronger, instead of having lots of pillars all able to create a single point of failure, all of the walls become the structure, there is no single point of failure and it is much stronger for it. Also, the chance of structural cracks due to settling is vastly reduced, in fact, it is extremely unlikely.
4.Has great acoustic qualities. Having all of your walls made from Neopor means that sound is greatly absorbed, there is much less echo than a traditional house, also sound has to travel through 10 cm of Neopor plus 15cm of solid concrete, the result is obvious to all.
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So what is Neopor?
It is a polystyrene that has been infused with graphite, the graphite reflects radiant heat and helps the polystyrene absorb energy. It also has the added bonus of making the polystyrene easier to fabricate, making the process more accurate. When we discuss how well insulation works we use what is called the R-Value, the R-Value of EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) is around 3.6 which is very good in comparison to most insulating products, but Neopor has an R-Value of 5. That is a significant difference. It also makes it the most cost-effective insulating layer. A typical new build home in Portugal will have about 60% of the insulation we are offering.
Of course increasing the thickness of the EPS will achieve the same results and depending on the design of your property we will soon have other systems at our disposal that do just that.
What are the benefits of using ICFs for building?
ICFs or insulated concrete forms is a formwork where reinforced concrete is used to build walls, roofs or floors. There is a rigid thermal insulation component that acts as an exterior and interior substrate. These forms include interlocking units that are stacked without mortar and then filled with concrete. For better visualization imagine hollow Lego bricks stacked to form two walls with space in between them and then the space in the hollow being filled with concrete.
ICFs is the new technical solution for buildings that are being adopted for residential and commercial units all over the world, including Portugal. It can be made from cellular concrete, polystyrene or polyurethane foam. Steel bars are placed inside the forms to achieve flexural strength. Once the concrete is poured and has dried, the forms are left in place as they have additional advantages, the major one is insulation properties.
Benefits of insulated concrete forms
ICFs have a lot of benefits, because of which it has become very popular.
The plus points or benefits of using ICFs are:
1.With an ICFs wall, the whole structure is strong concrete without any gaps, thus there is no chance for vermin and insects to use the wall for transit or hiding. Although the form can be tunnelled through by a very determined creature, the thick concrete wall will be impossible to penetrate.
2.It will facilitate a comfortable interior environment with excellent thermal performance, especially when a heat recovery ventilation system is added.
3.ICFs walls are believed to reduce the potential for mould and that they are good for regulating humidity levels, when using a heat recovery ventilation system there will be no damp issues, in fact, you have excellent air quality inside the property.
4.The form walls are also known to be fire resistant and have a 4-6-hour fire-resistance rating.
5.There are lesser acoustic transmissions, because of airtightness, materials used and wall thickness; the walls have lower rates of sound transmission and they absorb sound, therefore no echo in large open plan areas.
6.These concrete walls are super strong, almost 10 times stronger than wooden structures.
7.The structural integrity is very high, so they have better resistance against forces of nature.
8.The main components used in ICFs – concrete and form materials do not degrade easily, hence ensuring the longevity of the structure.
9.There is minimal leakage and reduced air loss when using ICFs in buildings.
10.Due to the continual insulation barrier along with a high level of thermal resistance, there are considerable energy savings to be had with this type of construction, leading to many financial benefits, i.e. cheaper domestic living.
Insulated concrete forms are a revolutionary technology that has multiple potential benefits. It leads to stronger walls, floors and roof, It is obviously stronger than a block wall. The cost of using ICFs and labour involved is also comparable because the labour is vastly reduced. The constructors need only to put up the mould and fill it with concrete. It is much faster than laying bricks to create a wall. ICFs are made to be resistant to natural disasters and it creates a safe environment for occupants of the building.