Why Are Florida Homes Made of Concrete Block?

[@chrisburnett9618]

Great information. I didn't know about the 50% rule.

[@ainemairead4542]

I lived in a Cinder Block home during Hurricane Charley. The only damage was, roof panels, and the Metal Shudders had indentions from debris the F-0 that decided to breeze through the Yard.

[@Nelsonconstructionrenos]

Yes, roofs can be the weakest link.

[@donaldcurtis9229]

Stop making cinder blocks back in the sixties it's concrete block

[@shaynelhta]

why aren't there more icf houses?

[@lightning9279]

America resists change.

[@Nate12-]

You are a lucky man

[@vikvargas2118]

For south Florida yea but not necessarily for northern Florida.

[@Nelsonconstructionrenos]

Fair comment, we are located in South West Florida and service Hillsborough and Pinellas County and when remodeling often find issues with wooden framed structure, whether that is termites or mold and rot caused by water ingress.

[@jeffbguarino]

I know for a fact that concrete blocks don't insulate worth a damn. I am in Canada and at -30 C the concrete is a conductor of the cold and in summer it conducts heat. Even if you fill up the voids in blocks , there is still a cement connection a couple of inches thick. In Canada you would see the frost outline of this on your interior wall. 2X6's are the best and the wood is 1 1/2 inches wide but still wood is a better insulator than concrete. I put R20 insulation in the walls and 2 inches of SM on the outside for R30 walls . In Florida brick construction , you would be lucky to get R3. In Florida they also only have single pane windows. I use triple pane low e with argon gas. Bricks might be more sound proof but sound travels more through the windows than the walls. Unless you are in an apartment block, houses don't make a bit of difference with interior sound, wood or brick, so that is not an issue. People in Florida don't really get extreme temperatures so they don't know how concrete conducts heat/cold, they have had no experience with this. My basement is cement 8 inches thick and if I had no insulation , then the concrete would be very cold in winter. In summer it draws the cold from the deep ground and actually helps to cool the whole house. So it has zero insulation value. So I put 2 inches of SM on my basement walls 8 feet deep into the ground and on the inside I insulated the walls with R10 SM. So I have R20 on my basement walls. I also put 3 inches of SM insulation under my garage floor , so I heat the garage in the winter and the concrete stays warm. I think that the brick construction in Florida should sheath the houses in insulation from the outside, this would keep the walls at room temperature and you would not get the bricks expanding and contracting everyday with the heat cycle. Concrete does expand and contract with temperature, so does wood. In the winter the wood in my attic shrinks and I get a fine crack in one of my bedrooms upstairs and in the summer the wood expands again. Most people do not know this.

[@Nelsonconstructionrenos]

Hi @jeffbguarino, actually it is not common building practice to use single pane windows down here in Florida - they're all triple pane, low e with argon gas, and of course hurricane-proof. Insulating against the heat is just as important to us as insulating against the cold up north. We do get R value from the block down here, and injecting with insulating foam can bring up to about an R6 or an R8, or higher depending on how it is built. Thanks for your input! We're originally from Canada, so we definitely know the importance of insulating against cold, and especially insulating your pipes!

[@jeffbguarino]

​@@Nelsonconstructionrenos My two houses in Florida were built in 2008 and they have single pane windows. I also shop a lot at Home Depot and Lowes in Kissimmee and never noticed any 2 pane windows let alone 3 pane but I really don't know what the contractors are currently building with. My patio door in Florida shattered last year and I went to a glass company to buy a new glass and it was single pane tempered glass. The other windows in my houses are not tempered glass either so if they break they will be big pieces. They do say on google the E4 coatings are worth it in Florida but not multipane windows. I see they do sell multilayer glass, with plastic sandwiched in between , to make the window resistant to hurricanes. Same as your cars windshield with a layer between two glass. I just searched google and I see they do have some window companies in Florida selling dual pane windows with argon or krypton and low E. But I don't know how wide spread the practice is of using these windows because they are a lot more expensive. Condensation is a big problem on interior of windows. The multipane windows need a desiccant to keep the interior free of moisture. Once you get moisture the window is usually ruined. They put the desiccant inside the window frame and you don't see it. Florida is so wet, inside and out that the multipane windows might all have problems in the not to distant future. The desiccant gets used up over time , so these windows only last so many years. www.nachi.org/condensation-double-paned-windows.htm#:~:text=As%20the%20sealant%20protecting%20this,to%20prevent%20condensation%20from%20forming. In Winnipeg it is so dry that we don't usually have problems with the tri pane windows. Unless you don't have your windows caulked properly on the bottom. Water can get under the window and slowly invade the seal on the bottom and soak all the silica desiccant.

[@alexandrep4913]

​@@jeffbguarinolol home depot and Lowes? You really did your homework.

[@jeffbguarino]

@@alexandrep4913 I wasn't doing homework. I have never seen tripane windows in Florida. Anywhere. Can you name a place, I would be interested to see what they have.

[@oscarnalikka2369]

Have you heard of wienerberger porotherm system, its in use allover Europe. It is great at insulation and would be perfect for Canada. I dont suppose Canada is colder than Ukraine and Russia.