Issues with AllWall (CFI)
Dr. Nabil Taha has over 27 years of structural engineering experience. Prior to opening his own engineering firm in Oregon in 1997, he was a Professor of Engineering at Northern Montana State University and at Oregon Institute of Technology. He has structural expertise in a wide range of building systems and can answer questions related to virtually any common building method. His focus is on green design and he is always willing to trying something new. Dr. Taha is dedicated to future sustainability through innovation; he creates solutions for beautiful sustainable and safe structures by melding old and new technologies. He loves a good challenge. He is Licensed in twenty three states and can design buildings and/or consult to assist with structural permitting in these states as well as internationally. As a prior College Professor, Dr. Taha is a teacher at heart. He loves to share his knowledge and offers educational seminars and trainings for the do-it-yourselfers and professionals alike. Dr. Taha's goal is to continue to grow and provide knowledge and services for those trying to make their dream project a reality. No project is too big or too small. For information about Dr. Nabil Taha and his engineering firm see www.structure1.com
Questions and Answers
Q: I already know you aren't too keen on ICF but I what you thought of this one called All Wall Forms CFI (Concrete Form with insulation).
A: (Kelly) I would say that it would perform better than the ICF systems, because of the relationship of the thermal mass on the inside, with the insulation toward the outside. It is however, a highly industrialized solution for building, relying on much steel, concrete, and sythetic insulation...meaning that the manufacture and transportation of all of this is not particularly ecological.
C: (John Griffin) I believe you are mislead. The steel is light gage steel except where rebar is needed for columns and tie beam as in any concrete built home. The insulation is EPS, which is green, and more important the EPS is totally incapsulated within the concrete. Shipping: all materials can be purchased locally in any city in the USA. The homes built with All Wall have been certified Green.
I agree, All Wall CFIs are 9% more energy efficient than ICFs, in the field homes tested with CFI, and sealed attic (icynene under roof plywood without any vents to outside air, except the 6" flex duct that is filtered from the eve and delivered to the return air with a manual damper) are performing 65% better than codes in Florida, as well the homes have HERS of 93.2 the highest in Florida. Check out the website of allwallsystem.com and you will find 80 pages of information, not only telling about CFI's but how you should design your home to get the same results All Wall has. All for FREE!! including all engineering needed for any home in the USA and installation instructions of the patented CFI system. You will find everything written in the website will stand up in court and is engineering sound and verifiable.
With CFI's alone with code insulation in the ceilings doubled we could save the world's 50% of their energy consumption in homes and commercial buildings. Building per the All Wall website we can save 65% of the world's energy consumption for housing and commercial buildings. The effect of shipping, versus the savings of energy reduction is minimal. If you are worried about Green Construction, saving worlds energy, and making it so home buyers live for less every day, you should suggest CFIs. In particular the All Wall System, since it is the only one, since I created the term CFI.
