What You Should Know About ICF
A guide by the Insulating Concrete Formwork Association
How difficult will it be to sell considering ICF is classified as a non-standard construction method? What about resale values?
As much as you love your ICF home, there may come a point in the future when you need to put it up for sale. With an alternative system like ICF, you may have concerns about how easy it will be to sell your home and whether it will affect the resale price.
Will There Be Any Problems Selling Or Buying an ICF House?
There are always ‘horror’ stories of people who have tried to re-mortgage or sell their homes and then come up against problems.
In the 50 years that ICF systems have been creating houses in the UK, fortunately, the number of times somebody has struggled to sell their home remains low. In mortgage terms, ICF houses and properties are considered as insulated solid wall construction methods. ICF, as long as it uses a system manufactured by an ICFA member, has been approved by the Council of Mortgage Lenders as a standard form of construction. However, the lending decision is always at the discretion of the mortgage lender advancing the funds.
Main Selling Points Of an ICF House
In terms of saleability, an ICF house can easily beat traditional methods when making a comparison of the reliability, longevity and energy efficiency of the property. Now’s the time to embrace the love of your home and sell these key ICF benefits.
Recent rises in energy bills along with the need to prevent climate change has, understandably, made many owners look towards choosing homes that are energy efficient. With an ICF building, the thermally efficient concrete core is enveloped by two layers of insulating material. The blocks and concrete sit in direct contact to automatically create a structure which maximises airtightness and thermal efficiency that delivers U-values as low as 0.10 W/m2.K.
In 2022, the energy usage was monitored of a semi-detached 4-bedroom home with a basement with a useful floor area of 110m2. Figures showed that over the year, the heating and hot water costs worked out to as little as £5 per week.
We all want to feel safe in our own homes. ICF is a durable and reliable construction method. With its solid concrete core, it can provide incredible strength that protects homeowners from the elements. This strength of an ICF building makes it an ideal choice in areas at risk from extreme weather conditions including winds of up to 250mph.
In a flood-risk zone, BS 85500:2015 Flood Resilient Construction guidance recommend ICF systems as a suitable build method. If correctly designed and installed, the concrete structure has no voids and creates a watertight shell. The insulated solid wall structure also creates its natural fire suppression system. The solid concrete core will not burn and can withstand extremely high temperatures that prevent fire from spreading internally or externally. Most ICF walls offer a fire protection rating of up to 4-hours.
Building an ICF house are incredibly cost-effective when you factor in the price of materials and speed of build. However, once in the home, additional costs are achieved through the reduction of ongoing home maintenance.
Due to the strength of the walls, the structure, under normal circumstances, will require almost no maintenance and typically it is only the internal and external cladding that may require some work.
As our lives become busier, we all dream of shutting our front door and escaping the chaos outside. If you live in a city, on a busy street or have loud neighbours, finding ways to eliminate the noise might be hard to achieve. While more traditional construction methods only offer soundproofing as an additional extra, the walls of an ICF house provide this function automatically.
The solid concrete core is an effective acoustic barrier which dampens sound vibrations and filters out unwanted noise. Just what the new owners need for a good night’s sleep!
ICF provides the perfect airtight structure. This removes gaps and drafts and reduces the amount of dust or allergens that normally infiltrate from outside to create a healthy and comfortable living environment.
One that is ideal for allergy sufferers. This same airtightness also prevents cold-bridging which is a major cause of condensation, moisture and mould.
While all of the above factors should contribute heavily to the resale value of your ICF home, in reality, house prices are still largely governed by the size of the property. What lies beneath the surface of an ICF home is out of sight. The interior and exterior in reality look no different to any other standard-built structure.
That means the valuation of your ICF home should be equivalent to other similar properties in the area.
Buying Or Selling ICF Homes?
If you are buying or selling an ICF home and would like more information on the build material, please get in touch and we can help answer any queries you may have.
