Safety, Come What May

ICF Builder magazine has an active Facebook group called ICF Builder group. If you aren’t familiar with it or already a member, you can find it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/icfbuildergroup.
As you might imagine, many of the 13,000+ members are ICF installers, some are manufacturers, and many others are people who are active in the industry such as homeowners seeking advice on their homes. It’s a very active place for ICF-related discussions. And a couple of months ago, one post caught my eye. The post by Nexgen ICF, a company providing ICF installation services, contracting, ICF form sales, and consulting based in Iowa, showed photos of a drunk driver hitting a home that Nexgen built out of ICFs. A drunk driver jumped the road, flew through the air 58 feet, then landed, traveled another 450 feet, and came to a complete stop (unsurprisingly) when he hit the ICF garage wall. Nexgen ICF said in the post, “If it wasn’t for the concrete ICF wall, he would have been inside the garage for sure.” The homeowner allowed Nexgen to share the photos of what happened.

Another similar serious incident happened that was shared with me by Paul Hubble of Force 5 Walls, a certified and accredited ICF supplier, installer, and trainer in Alabama. The owner of the affected building, who was also the general contractor (not Hubble), told Hubble he was very impressed with how the ICF was virtually undamaged in the incident. The car hit a retaining wall, flipped, and hit the ICF building sideways, roof first. The only damage to the ICF building was superficial stucco damage that was easily patched up. There was no damage to the ICF at all and there were no structural concerns either. It’s easy to think of “disasters” as being environmentally caused, but there are many other ways in which ICF protects buildings and their inhabitants.

Photo courtesy of Rodney Hubble