Concrete Houses: A Good Choice For Your Home
If you are planning new home construction, what building materials you choose make a huge difference in design and durability. When you think of all-concrete houses, you may picture a bunker-like building, graceless and dreary. Nothing can be further from the truth. Choosing concrete allows your home to be strong, stylish, and energy efficient and provides you with nearly endless design choices.
Durable
Concrete walls are a popular choice for residents of hurricane and tornado-stricken areas. These walls can survive up to 250 mph winds and all the debris that comes with those conditions. In addition, concrete walls are extremely fire-resistant. They can withstand temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately four hours with collapsing, something wood walls do in around an hour.
Healthy
Concrete also offers you many health advantages. Mold, mildew, and other nasty microorganisms cannot grow on concrete. You escape the many chemicals found in wood homes. Arsenic, copper, chromium, and other harmful substances are not found in concrete. Building one of these homes literally means you can breathe easy.
Other Benefits
Concrete houses are also energy efficient. Since very little outside air gets into these houses, heating and cooling costs are greatly reduced. Various types of concrete should lower your heating energy needs by approximately 44% and your cooling energy needs by 32% compared to a frame house. If you buy or construct an all-concrete home, expect to benefit from noise reduction and pest control. As an added bonus, termites have a big problem with concrete.
Style
You may believe that your style choices are limited with concrete, but the opposite is true. Concrete can take on about any form you choose. You can create a contemporary home or something more traditional, like a colonial or a Victorian model. You can add a facade to hide the fact that your home is all concrete, but it's not really necessary since beautiful finishes can be created with concrete alone.
If you are still associating concrete homes with those 1950 bomb shelter pictures you have seen, you need to get a new perspective. Concrete does provide you with a safe place to shelter, but in addition to that factor, you also gain style and durability. You will enjoy lower energy bills while fighting off pests. Mold and mildew will be kept at bay in your new, healthy home.
For more information, contact Robert R. Andreas & Sons Inc. or a similar company.
