Concrete Home Technical Report

1.0 Introduction

Concrete homes are the future towards sustainable housing. Concrete houses provide the homeowner with benefits not seen in regular timber houses such as low energy cost and maintenance (Concrete Network, 2015). This technical report will be based on the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario where the current climate conditions will be more suitable for the new development of concrete houses. In a city where the climate is generally colder, more heat will be required to heat a house than a city where the climate is warmer. This is means when designing houses using traditional methods, more heat loss will occur. This report analyses the design benefits of concrete houses through design and heat loss calculations. Comparisons will be

The wall system includes the exterior layer, insulation and interior layer. In this report, we will be analyzing concrete and wood frame. As mentioned in section 4.1, most concrete construction is done using ICF walls. ICF walls are an increasingly popular option due to their durability and simplicity compared to wood-framed walls. Typical wood frame design consists of 140 mm wood stud., fiberglass batts insulation, gypsum board and plywood. 4.2.2 Insulation

When designing for insulation, R-Value is used to determine the type of material as well as its effectiveness. R-value is the measurement of a material's capacity to resist heat flow from one side to the other (Citation). As shown in Table 1, each type of wall system consists of a layer of insulation between the interior and exterior layers. For wood frame design, the most typical insulation used is fiberglass batt. Fiberglass batt is usually fitted between wood joints upon construction. The R value is dependent on the thickness of the fiberglass batt; the thicker it is, the larger the R value. Since the fiberglass will be installed between wood joists, there will be sections of the wall that are not insulated thereby reducing the overall R effectiveness of the wall. For a concrete design, the ICF will typically have a higher R value because of its assembly. As shown in Figure below,

According to Appendix A and B, the approximate fuel cost difference between concrete and timber construction is $500 annually. Therefore, it will take at least 100 years after construction for the cost of energy saved in a concrete house to equate the extra amount spent during initial construction. This is also the approximate life span of a concrete house with minimum maintenance involved. 6.2.2 Safety Analysis

Concrete provides three different kinds of safety to the user, fire, structural and health. When compared to timber, concrete is fire proof; which leads to less accidents and endangerment to occupants. In accordance to the Ontario Building Code, concrete also provides a 2 to 4 hour FRR (Fire Resistance Rating) because it is a non-combustible material. The structural integrity provides additional protection against severe weather. With concrete, there are no health risks to residents. Wood, being an organic material, it naturally contains problems within itself.