Concrete advantages of going green

Ecological construction and design create new ideal for home-building

By Susan Dewey

The idea of an “earth-friendly home” used to bring to mind visions of glaring solar panels bolted to a roof, perhaps a huge windmill in the side yard or a strange cave-like structure buried into the side of a hill. Today, you can build a “green house” that looks like any other home on the block, whether you’re dreaming of that perfect little Cape on a cul de sac or a sprawling manse at the edge of Cape Cod’s famous seashore.

Todd and Lori LaBarge have built a 4,000-square-foot earth-friendly house, a “sea-captain’s gambrel” perched on a bluff beside Corporation Beach in Dennis.  From almost every room, there are panoramic views of Cape Cod Bay. Owners of LaBarge Real Estate Services, Todd and Lori live in this handsome, elegantly decorated house with four busy children (Olivia, 10; John-Paul, 8; Mac, 7; and Ceci, 3) and their Chesapeake Bay retriever, Tug.

Even on a bitterly cold winter day with the wind howling at 40 knots from the northeast, it is warm and quiet in this shingled, classic New England house. The three floors of the house rise above the beach-grass hills of Bleak House Downs like a ship at sea, with windows everywhere and decks with expansive views of the water. The rooms are large, open and airy; it’s hard to believe that this is what is called “a concrete house” – a house built from foundation to roof without wood and with minimal steel, constructed on white polystyrene, Legolike blocks, filled with concrete.

Beneath the LaBarges’ handsome wainscoted walls, painted in pleasant earth tones, and gleaming hardwood floors are three floors of concrete blocks. When you stand in front of a solid wall of windows in the dining room looking out over a wild, storm-tossed Cape Cod landscape, you can barely hear the wind whipping scrub pines sideways, and not a single draft penetrates.

t might sound like construction more suited to a parking garage, but concrete or ICF construction (Insulated Concrete Form) methods are becoming more and more popular around the country. Unlike a traditional home built with a wood frame, or “stick,” construction, a house constructed with insulated concrete forms offers notable ecological  advantages to homeowners by reducing the amount of traditional building materials (like wood) in the construction phase; considerably limiting the reliance on dwindling energy sources for heating and cooling (savings are estimated to be as high as 35 to 50 percent); and cutting down on cleaning, fumigating and remodeling materials that have a negative impact on the environment.

To read more of this story, see the May issue of Cape Cod VIEW on newsstands now. Don't miss a single issue of the VIEW, subscribe today.