Chill blocks ICF Insulated Concrete Forms

Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) are also referred to as Insulating Concrete Forms.

This method of building walls and roof decks started in Canada by the contractor Werner Gregori and then it spread around the western world, and is now also in demand in tropical countries to keep the interior of the house cool.

The main benefit of ICF is its thermal insulating properties where it insulates the interior temperature of the house from the outdoor temperature. So in cold climate areas, the cold from outside will be isolated by the foam and you can keep warm inside as the warmth produced by your heater will also not escape to the outside. The inner core of the ICF block will be filled with concrete so when you stack the ICF blocks like lego blocks you will form a hollow wall which you will then fill with poured concrete to form your solid concrete wall. When the concrete dries or cures, what you have is a solid concrete wall that is double insulated from inside and outside by a thick usually 2 inch thick foam from inside and outside of the house. ICF walls usually come in 6, 8, and 11 inch thick inner core, though some will request even thicker cores.

The inner supports of the ICF blocks allows for you to tie your horizontal and vertical rebars depending on the structural design of the house.

In hotter climate areas such as in tropical countries like the Philippines, ICF is in demand as it also does the reverse which is to keep the heat from outside from getting inside the house. So when you cool down your house interior, your ICF wall will keep it cool by isolating the heat from outside, so your air conditioner do not need to over work and so you don’t have to pay astronomical electricity costs. So when you build your roof and ceiling, you also need to place sufficient amount of foam insulation between your roof and ceiling to isolate the heat from outside and to keep your interior cool.

For now, we prefer that we only supply ICF blocks for projects that we get to build or at least we have to supervise the build of projects that use our own ICF blocks locally manufactured which we call Chill Blocks ICF blocks.

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White contrast modern exteriors

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White is beautiful and becomes even more beautiful when combined with other color contrasts such as brown, cream, beige, wood, black, grey – heck white is the universal contrast – it is great with almost all colors. You can tell white is the universal favorite – it is the most in-demand color, at the paint stores, than any other colors.

We are attracted to white because it means calmness and serenity – it is the purest of all colors. It evokes freshness, simplicity, and order.

It is the color that is more often associated with perfection, goodness, honesty, cleanliness, and neutrality. No wonder it is mostly used as a theme by almost all religions in the world.

In designing white is often a favorite background contrast color because it blends well with almost all colors giving the designer’s canvass a natural setting, a clean canvass that helps to focus attention on specific elements.

White is also a favorite of interior designers because it makes the room look bigger by reflecting all lights – it maximizes the natural colors. So in exterior designing, the house can look bigger with white, makes it glow by enhancing all the other color elements of the exterior design.

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Have your own water purification system

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Since we all get drinking water from a water refilling station, then why not have one for our own.

The water refilling station supplies the whole neighborhood, and having your own water purification system assures you have the best purified water since you can always make sure your filters are properly maintained on time. The water refilling station nearby can attempt to extend the replacement schedule of their filters to make more profit or thru simple negligence, you on the other hand can laser focus on your own filters thus you can make sure your filters are replaced on time – that is the big convenience of having your own water purification system.

You can have a full industrial scale size capable of even supplying your neighbors with just a 3 by 5 meter space – just enough to fit 2-3 1000 liter tanks or your can have smaller tanks if you have a smaller space. The reverse osmosis filters and the rest of the equipment only require a square meter space.

Having your own water treatment system for your drinking needs is also very low maintenance since the system will be equipped with automatic shut off valves and sensors then you can be assured that it only uses electricity when it needs to fill back your tanks, and this is also the time when it actively treats the water – only when it tries to fill back the tanks – which is when it detects a certain drop in the available reserve after a certain amount of use which you can set ahead.

We all get our drinking water from the water refilling stations these days since we can no longer trust the water supply system since it is hard for them to maintain their pipes – some can be near sewers – and they also add chlorine and flouride to the water. Chlorine and flouride are the oldest additives that community water suppliers add to the water from the tap system. Chlorine kills germs and pathogens while flouride helps to prevent rapid oxidation of the metal pipes. These two strong chemicals will be absent in your water if you drink water from reverse osmosis systems – your nearby water refilling station. When you install your own reverse osmosis treatment system, the filter system is designed to remove chlorine flouride and other water additives and the microbes and pathogens.

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Light cement + styro precast walls

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Light precast walls made of mixed polysterene (styro) foam and cement sandwiched in fiber cement is the new thing for walls today. This non traditional material for walls is extra ordinarily strong. We even tested the sample house with a sledge hammer which created a dent but did not make a hole through to the other side.

This is light yet each 2 x 8 feet panel needs to be carried by two workers. It has a snap on edging that you can link to another panel like you are linking puzzles. You will use a special cement based adhesive that connects each panel with the strength of epoxy.

If you compute the area covered by the 2 x 8 feet dimensions of the pre cast walls and compare it with the cost of the equivalent area covered by the traditional hollow blocks, the traditional hollow blocks will still come out cheaper, but the advantage lies on the ease and speed at which you can pile them up and cover your wall in no time – thus saving you big time on the cost of labor.

So if you do a quick computation – the relatively higher cost of the pre fab panels will be carried on to the savings you will make on the cost of the labor, as labor nowadays is costly due to the recent increases in workers wages. Labor always costs more than materials thus every bit of time that you can save on the labor time is always big savings on the total cost of the project. This is why more and more people are getting on with the pre fab frenzy. We get more calls on pre fab requests than the traditional materials when building homes or doing expansion renovations.

Styrofoam (polysterene) is also very popular for heat insulation thus mixing it with cement will give your walls excellent heat insulation with the strength of concrete – saving you money on the cost of the electricity for the air conditioners. You might still need air conditioners during noon time, but you don’t need to run it the whole day anymore…

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Europe Standard Form works for your construction project

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Europe style form works may cost higher than the usual metal pipes and clamps that we use but the computations assure this will save a lot of labor time due to its snap on features – unlike the traditional clamp system on metal pipes that takes a lot of tightening works. The plastic phenolic boards are secured with metal frames that interlock using snap on lock pins – very easy to assemble and also easy to disassemble. This relatively new form work systems in Cebu is brought here by a Korean connection.

A few developers such as the Aboitiz group have already tried the system which you can buy for long term or rent for short term use.

The way to use the forms is to submit your structural plans and we will give you a costing proposal on how much the forms will cost if you will rent or buy it. You can also use the snap on forms on just your columns and beams, if you are inclined to use steel decking for your slabs. If you want to try it, we strongly suggest to start with the columns and beams.

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Why bypass the big profit oriented construction outfits

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These times of world wide high priced fuel has resulted in high priced construction materials and construction services.

A lot of project owners have halted their dream projects, opting to prioritize health care and food security for their families.

The construction scene has resulted in a slack of projects, except for those in the big time levels – those big contractors engaged in high level commercial projects and those engaged in government projects.

So what becomes of the small time builders – those just seeking to build their homes or expand or renovate? A lot of them have resorted to freelancers – engineers and foremen and or even directly to the carpenters, but most of them have experienced underpricing – where they’re projects were underquoted – they were offered very low attractive estimates and these have resulted in unfinished projects.

Now most of these project owners have already set a budget or even loaned those budgets yet when the project resulted unfinished due to under pricing – they are now at a loss resulting in having to loan again or even go back abroad to earn some more to finish the project.

It is of utmost importance that your project should be quoted precisely or if ever there is a deviance in the costing estimate – that deviance should be manageable and will not result in another loan or you having to go back abroad again. Thus your need to engage with highly experienced project managers – those who can quote the right cost estimate yet not profit oriented so you can build your dream project – be it home or commercial structure – at the least cost to you or at the most cost efficient way…

Cebu Design and Build Consultants Utility

Online Utility for Designers, Builders, and Materials Suppliers

Chill blocks ICF Insulated Concrete Forms

White contrast modern exteriors

Have your own water purification system

Light cement + styro precast walls

Europe Standard Form works for your construction project

Why bypass the big profit oriented construction outfits