Press Releases
Reward house stands up to tornado
Released: June 01, 1998
Washington, Iowa June, 1998—As Reverend Monte Asbury, pastor of New Oaks Church in Washington, Iowa, sat alone in his Reward insulating concrete form (ICF) house the night of May 15, 1998, he thought about how satisfied he was with the house and how glad he was that he built it.
As residents of the street, they were allowed in, but could only drive to within half a block of their home ... because of the fallen debris.
Earlier that day, Reverend Asbury, his wife Lori, and son Lucas, 7, had returned from Burlington, Iowa, to find their street barricaded because a F 3 tornado with winds up to 200 miles per hour had touched down there about two hours earlier. Because they hadn’t been listening to their car radio, this was the first they had heard of the tornado. As residents of the street they were allowed in, but could only drive to within a half a block of their home—they had to get out and walk the rest of the way because of the fallen debris.
The Asburys’ main concern was for their other two children—Hannah, age 16 and Ben, age 12, whom they had left at home. As they approached their house they were relieved to see it standing almost intact, and found their children, who had been in the house when the tornado struck, safe at a friend’s house.
"When Hannah and Ben heard the sirens," recounted Asbury, "they grabbed the essentials—pop and chips—and headed for a windowless room in the basement." Asbury said the two waited out the storm there, and although frightened, experienced nothing more than their ears popping. "They said it felt like their ears were being sucked out of their heads, so there must have been a tremendous change in atmospheric pressure."
"The kids didn't even hear the tree hit the house."
Although the Asbury house was in the direct path of the tornado, it suffered minimal damage. The tornado snapped a huge tree next to the house in two, and the top half of the tree fell on a corner of the house (the only part for which wood was used) and splintered it. "The kids didn’t even hear the tree hit the house," Asbury said.
"The contractor who helped build the house said he was absolutely certain a wood wall would have been crushed by the tree that fell."
While several roof trusses were damaged and pushed aside, the roof of the house remained intact because the builder had secured it to the walls with hurricane clips. "Our roof framer installed the hurricane clips just because he thought it was the right thing to do," said Asbury. "The wood sheeting on the south side of the house had lifted in the wind, so we probably would have lost the entire roof without the hurricane straps. The contractor who helped build the house said he was absolutely certain a wood wall would have been pushed in by the tree that fell." About the only other visible damage was a caved in garage door.
The Asburys had lived in their house less than a year before the tornado struck. Asbury and his wife had planned their house for several years before beginning construction, and were looking for alternatives to wood. They settled on Reward after seeing it in an ad and talking to Reward builder, Larry Stevens.
The Reward system is made up of individual hollow foam blocks of expanded polystyrene that are stacked like building blocks and braced. Vertical and horizontal rebar fits into the hollow core for reinforcement and concrete is pumped into the core. The interior configuration of the blocks creates a waffle shape wall that takes approximately 30% less concrete than a traditionally poured wall and provides superior strength.
Another important factor in the strength of the wall is the curing process of the concrete. When traditional concrete walls are poured, the forms are removed shortly thereafter, and the curing process is all but halted. With Reward, the foam blocks stay in place and the concrete is allowed to cure and harden to a strength 50% greater than the concrete in a poured wall.
While the garage and roof trusses of the Asbury house were built with wood, the interior walls and floor joists were built with steel, and vinyl siding was applied to the exterior walls.
Asbury listed several reasons he chose Reward for his home, and energy efficiency was near the top. "No one could match Reward in energy efficiency," he said. "There is no air infiltration. We put in a continuous vapor barrier with insulation at the ceiling. The trim carpenters were concerned about moisture accumulation, but with the air exchanger, we are able to keep the humidity at about 40%, and if we ever get a little moisture build-up we easily get rid of it by simply turning up the heat recovery ventilation system. As a result of this controlled environment, Asbury’s house has a greatly reduced level of airborne dust, pollens and allergens.
Reward homeowners can realize 50 - 80% savings on monthly heating and cooling costs when the house is built from footings to eaves
According to Reward officials, this saving is possible due to the high thermal mass of the concrete walls and the extraordinary insulating properties of the expanded polystyrene block. The ground temperature below the frost line is wicked upward through the footings and into the wall, and is effectively carried to the eave line. That means that the house is heated and cooled from a constant 56° and does not have to overcome the extreme heat and cold experienced in Iowa’s climate.
From where Asbury sits in the office of his church, he can look out the window and see six bare foundations between the church and his house one block away. "Several people have come up to say, ‘I’ll bet you’re glad you built a concrete house.’ If I had more time I would be selling Reward houses here in Washington.