Concrete construction becoming popular on the Island

Newest project at Las Palmas Townhomes

By Dale Rankin
dalerankin@hotmail.com

Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) homes, common in the Texas Hill Country and required in parts of South Florida after Hurricane Andrew, are starting to become popular on Padre Island.
The first Island town home developments using ICF construction for all exterior and common walls is Las Palmas Luxury Town Homes by Brian Miller of Sand Dollar Development at the corner of Leeward Drive and St. Augustine.
The largest are2600 square feet and the electric bills are guaranteed for two years by Energy-Wise Structures not to exceed $52 per month for the first two years after purchase on interior units and $61 for those exterior units. A typical bill for the same sized wood frame house is in excess of $300 per month. The structure obtains an R-value of R-50 with the ICF construction.
So far Padre Island and the surrounding Coastal Bend area have seen a small handful of ICF custom homes built. Tests at Texas Tech University simulated tornado-like conditions and shot a 15lb 2x4 lumber missiles at 150mph showing that only ICF walls can survive a tornado/hurricane with no structural damage; which means substantially lower insurance rates in hurricane prone areas.
The concrete construction also reduces the noise outside a home to a Sound Transmission Class of 50; about 75 percent lower than wood frame homes.
Cost of an ICF home is typically five percent higher than wood construction and construction time is 10 weeks, compared to 16 weeks for a wood framed.
There are several types and brands of concrete construction but the ICF method consists of walls made of pre-made interlocking Styrofoam blocks tied together with rebar set vertically and horizontally 16 inches on center. Four-foot tall rebar secures the wall to the foundation. When the blocks and rebar are in place the walls are filled with concrete.
The Las Palmas Luxury Town Homes consist of 42 units in ten buildings built in five phases. So far phase 1 is sold out and phase 2 has 4 units left of the total 17 in the first two phases. Phase 3 is expected to open for reservation around November first of this year.