Phoenix-area company uses foam to build houses as material costs rise

Homes in the Phoenix area are often built with lumber, but amid rising costs and questions over lumber's environmental impact, one Arizona company is using a different material to build new structures. FOX 10's Steve Nielsen reports.

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[gwensick]

Our home is built with Polysteel block from Arizona now known as Mikey Block which are insulated foam panels filled with concrete...we hardly ever need air conditioning or heat and it could with stand a hurricane. Been in the house 16 years and love it. The roof is also concrete filled panels.

[caleb]

I've lived in a foam house for 22 years. It's great because every time it floods, my house floats and my stuff never gets wet.

[DHxJarsyl]

ICF was only about 10% more than lumber before lumber went up. It is also completely water proof, about as air tight as physically possible, and one of the best insulated buildings. We don't use it, because companies don't care about any of that. They want to keep building things the same way. Their sole goal to make as much money as possible while doing as little work as possible. Even if this building type works out, most companies won't adopt it unless they are forced to.

[josephmancha]

I’m still concerned that foam will off gas. If it is anything like polyurethane I believe the gas emitted can be quite dangerous. Did they mention anything about fire risk? The smoke from such a fire seems like it would be dangerous. Just very curious about this.

[Cherry]

A foam house, Nerf should really get their hands on this.

[surgep]

30 years later
Tv Lawyer: Did you get mesothelioma from the foam home you were sold? You might be entitled to money.

[PercentAshamedOfU]

“What if you could build a house without wood?”

Sir, Just about every European and asian house built in the past few centuries would like to have a word with you.

[ericmcquisten]

This is a S.I.P. construction home, which is NOT new technology, but is a good method of building a home. However many experts would contend that I.C.F. construction homes are better, since the center of the foam walls are made of reinforced concrete, in I.C.F. homes. But yeah, wood-framed homes are more costly, take longer to build, are more prone to termite and dry-rot, and are not as good for insulation purposes wither.

[lvanasse]

I can’t stop thinking of a wolf huffing and puffing.

[JM-qrqz]

Houses in the US are built using supplies that are cheap and can be built quickly for money asking companies. Bricks and cement are the way to go but aren't profitable and take more time.

[Demonoid]

I've always found the idea of those air formed concrete/foam dome homes an interesting idea. Though they lay in rebar before using the shotcrete on the foam. Due to the inherent shape of the structure, they're darn near indestructible and cost no more than a traditional home to build. Way more energy efficient than a traditional home, and significantly stronger structure.

[BeamTeam]

I want my house to be built out of chocolate ice cream 😂😂

[mikesuch]

In 1999 my wife and I bought a 50% foam home in a new housing track in El mirage AZ. You lean on the wall too hard and break them. Cannot hang anything heavy on them. And they're basically threw away homes. As the guy said 100% recyclable.

[seantyler]

Compacted dirt walls are the most eco-friendly. With enough pressure it becomes similar to concrete

[Shdxwxz]

Honestly the foam home is a pretty good idea. Because you can build the exterior walls as strong as you want to with concrete or bricks. The foam provides insulation at a far cheaper cost than a traditional wood structure with fiberglass insulation, and it's actually safer as fiberglass is very toxic if breathed in, as well as there being essentially no possibility of work place accidents from the handling of wood.

With new modern roofing that's concrete based, and because of foam being so easy to drill through, you can easily wire solar panels or other devices through your home.

It's really a rather ingenious invention because foam really is one of those things we have no use for, except things like this.

[jellyman]

That’s really cool!! Hope this way of home building takes off and proves to be an innovative way of building good and strong houses!

[Showza]

In 5 years: "Cutting-edge company is building homes from cardboard to mitigate rising materials costs"

[MWS]

I built a Strata foam home in AZ in 2005…. Rated As a platinum green home and I’ve now read some of the laughable comments, but I speak from experience of building and owning this Strata home for 17 years. The walls are 250 lbs per sq inch in strength, and we tested a demo home with a furnace that was ignited to 1500F………not an issue and the house did not burn understanding the petroleum evaporates during the build process and the fiber- crete walls are extremely strong and non flammable. My energy bill is 1/3 of my neighbors, my garage stays as cool as my inner home, and during my swimming pool build a backhoe hit my outer wall within the courtyard…..a small dent appeared, but a regular home would have been destroyed. Wellington Ritter, Dean of Architecture at ASU, highlighted this build as one of the most amazing structure being built over traditional stick homes. At this point in time I feel very safe and as far as pests….well the house is glued together, and I’ve had two scorpions in my home since 2005………that entered through my front door😂😂. My last house had three scorpions a week! For any of those “Doubters” out there….believe me if you have a chance to build this home you will never look back. Wind..not a problem…my sub division had a 80MPH down burst that came across the McDowell mountain range in 2005 and every house suffered damage…………….not mine !

[colorado]

My dad‘s a firefighter I just showed him this he just said we’re fucked 😂😂

[MrAnonymousme]

As a home invader. I gave thanks to whom ever came up with this idea. You made my job easy