Concrete / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

...concrete - case study Ecohome's sister organisation Ecohabitation recently compiled an extensive 128-page comparative analysis report of wood v concrete for building mid-rise in Canada and North America and which calculated the embodied carbon reductions and cost implications in association with: Groupe de Neuve Ltd -...

...concrete, which has a very heavy carbon footprint. Wood structures, as a consequence - including glulam and CLT (cross laminated timber) products for mid-rise multifamily residential buildings - don't yet occupy their fair share of the market across Canada and North America. For economic and environmental reasons, it's...

...concrete and is stronger and less prone to water leaks than a CMU or stone foundation wall that are found on earlier homes. This method of poured in place concrete basement walls, while effective, has been surpassed in many ways by a more modern, high-performance alternative: Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF blocks). An I...

...concrete the solution we've been waiting for to reduce the carbon output from home building? Concrete in homes = high carbon footprint  Have you ever seen a house without any concrete in it? it’s not impossible to build a home without concrete as you could rest a home on screw piles, but you really don’t see that very ...

...concrete.  Alternatively, a basement can be constructed by beginning with a frost protected shallow foundation slab, followed by an ICF foundation wall. This provides a continuous layer of insulation separating the concrete from the ground. The result is a very comfortable and energy efficient basement, with no thermal...

...concrete and disbursing it into homes, also to create a radon barrier. Radon gas occurs naturally in the soil, a result of decomposing uranium in the ground. So it's everywhere, but more intense in some locations than others. A passive radon stack are also a prerequisite under the LEED for Homes program. Radon gas is t...

...concrete, which is completely non-toxic and very durable. The production of concrete is a heavy polluter, releasing one ton of GHGs (greenhouse gases) per ton of concrete. So we chose a concrete mix that included 50% recycled material, which significantly lowers the total emissions of our build, and brings in some LEED...

...Concrete is very expensive to purchase and extremely energy intensive during manufacturing. The process of building a basement requires 3 costly visits from a team of concrete trucks; once to pour a footing, again to pour walls, and a third time to pour a basement floor. For every ton of concrete produced, one ton of g...

...concrete to be poured. CONCRETE POURING TIPS FOR A SLAB ON GRADE CONSTRUCTION: Ensure that the contractor waits for the proper weather conditions before pouring the concrete FPSF slab. According to the CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation), you must not pour concrete into a frozen formwork. In addition, the co...

...concrete this way is how to effectively insulate the completed structure if environmental conditions require it. Permanent Insulated Concrete Formwork or Insulating Concrete Forms. Insulating concrete forms or insulated concrete forms (ICF) are a system of formwork for reinforced concrete constructed of a rigid thermal...

...Concrete foundations - pros and cons: For a modest sized home, a concrete foundation will cost you easily between $20,000 and $30,000. Factor in a subfloor and finished flooring, you’ll be lucky to stay under $40,000. Building basements ‘just because’ invites unnecessary costs, potential humidity problems, and greater ...