1. This unique custom 4500+sqft Home located near Guthrie, OK. recently received its HERS certification (Home Energy Rating System) and received an excellent rating of just 40. 

    This demonstrates that a superior ICF constructed concrete home is far more energy efficient than any new Builder grade stick home being currently built in Oklahoma! 

    Custom Home Builders OKC Concrete Tornado Resistant Homes in OK proven more Energy Efficient
    Custom Built Concrete Homes OK, Proven Energy Efficient & Tornado Resistant


    In real terms, the HERS certification estimates that this beautiful new high efficiency and Tornado resistant hilltop home will save the homeowners well over $5,400.00 per year in energy costs

    That's nearly $450.00 per month savings and with energy costs steadily rising, the savings will simply get bigger and bigger. It just goes to prove, if you want a stronger, safer, more affordable home in Oklahoma, you need to demand that your Builder uses the right materials and method! 


    Let Insulated Concrete Forms & More, LLc, Tornado Resistant Custom Homes Specialists located in Oklahoma City, show you how to save BIG money while also living safer.


    This beautiful new home sits atop a hill looking out across a valley spanning more than 5 miles, so being Tornado Resistant and Super Insulated was especially important to the home owners. This stylish custom built Tornado Resistant Home in OK provides approximately 4500 sf. of heated and cooled living space and was designed with the look, feel and charm of an 80 plus year old home from days gone by. 

    When weather allows, Homeowners can meander outside to their almost 5000+sqft of wraparound covered porch to relax on as they sit and enjoy the spectacular Oklahoman view. To enhance the natural look and beauty of the unique home, all exterior concrete walks surrounding the home are stamped in a river slate pattern and acid stained to mimic real Oklahoman stone slabs. All exterior walls of the home are built with Quad-Lock QPX3 ICF forms (R-28) and poured with a 6” concrete core of 4000 psi concrete, embedded grade 60 steel rebar, plus 25 lbs. of Helix Steel reinforcing per cubic yard of concrete added to insure the highest level of safety.


    This Stylish Custom Built Concrete Home by ICF & More OKC is in Guthrie Oklahoma and Shows that Concrete Toprnado Resistant homes can be Good Looking and Practical Too!
    This Stylish Custom Built Concrete Home is in Guthrie Oklahoma

    Contrary to the "concrete box appearance" which naysayers of ICF construction repudiate, the home, with its very traditional, stylish and quaint appearance of a home of built decades ago boasts a state of the art operational system



    This allows this Tornado Resistant Concrete Home in Oklahoma to take full advantage of its superior thermal performance to deliver exceptional energy savings and money back into the homeowner’s pockets. 


    The Builder of this home is so confident that building homes with Quad-Lock ICF materials delivers the Strongest, Safest and Most Energy Efficient Homes possible, they are the only custom home builder in the Great State of Oklahoma who pays Heating and Cooling Costs for One Full Year on a New Custom Home to prove it!


    To see more photographs of this superior custom built property in Oklahoma county, see here  

    Discover more about the unique offer from ICF & More OKC to pay your energy costs for the first year here 

    For a competitive quote to build your Tornado Resistant new concrete home in Oklahoma better, contact ICF & More here today.

    Custom Concrete Built Home in Oklahoma from ICF & More OKC Proves Tornado Resistance and also mean Superior Energy Efficiency
    Custom Concrete Built Home in Oklahoma Proves Tornado Resistance and also mean Superior Energy Efficiency

    Concrete Custom Home Project Oklahoma Details

    Location: Near Guthrie Oklahoma
    Type: Private Residence
    Size: 4500+
    Construction Team: Construction Services of America, LLc.
    ICF System: Quad-Lock and Quad-Deck
    ICF Distributor: Insulated Concrete Forms & More, LLc.
    Helix Distributor: Insulated Concrete Forms & More, LLc.
    Operational System: ClimateMaster Tranquility 30 Broan ERV
    Footings: Fab-Form
    Stone:    Coronado
    Stucco: Sider-Crete
    Other Suppliers:
    Dolese Bros. Concrete
    Forest Building Materials
    Decra Roofing
    Jeld-Wen windows

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  2. This 5000 ft2 New Home in Meridian, Oklahoma, is built Tornado Resistant & to Save Money...

    Daniel Keeslar is on a mission of life and death: to get other builders, homebuyers, appraisers, city leaders, lawmakers if need be and others to see the value of enhanced safety in new homes, paid for with improved energy efficiency.
    Tornado Proofed New Home in Meridian Oklahoma - ICF & More OKC
    Tornado Proofed New Home in Meridian Oklahoma

    Ok, It's his business, Insulated Concrete Forms & More, Custom Home Builders in Oklahoma City. But it's his cause as well. It's not overstating it to say that lives are in the balance when tornadoes and strong straight winds come up against traditional construction versus a house built like a giant safe room.

    That's what energy executive Kurt Swanson and his wife, Joyce, are counting on and it's what they paid a little extra for upfront with their new two-story, 5,000-square-foot home built on a bluff overlooking the virtual ghost town of Meridian, 12 miles east of Guthrie, but then they knew the facts about ICF construction.


    “We were moving up from Houston, and we were going to build a new house on this piece of property, and wanted something that was low maintenance but also extremely safe, moving into Oklahoma,” 
    Kurt Swanson said.

    He'd done his own research on ICF systems before finding Keeslar's company at 7500 W Reno Ave., Suite 200. Insulated Concrete Forms & More, OK, Who build Tornado Safe Homes — from ICF into which steel rebar is inserted and 4,000-pound-per-square-inch concrete is poured — and which fitted the bill for the Swansons:

    "A mortgage payment a little higher because ICF costs more, and an electric bill a lot lower thanks to the insulating qualities of ICF and geothermal air conditioning. It requires less than half the tonnage of a traditional system, resulting in “a wash” or better over time — plus there's the extra safety."

    Concrete Custom Homes in OK Cost Less, are More Resistant, and Can Be Attractive Too! ICF and More OKC
    Concrete Homes Cost Less, are More Resistant, and Can Be Attractive Too!

    The Benefits and Cost Savings Building with ICF in Oklahoma

    Trying to get people to see the benefits of the ICF system, and what he might term the immorality of ignoring it, is an important part of Keeslar's long-term business plan. He's been at it for nearly 10 years now, since 2011 in Oklahoma City.

    He has customers, especially for Custom Home Building and School Tornado Safe Room Construction in Oklahoma but he is not seeing the general movement away from tradition to innovation he believes is necessary for homebuilding — especially in Tornado Alley.


    He has written to city code officials and lawmakers, hobnobbed with other builders and developers, held forth for Architects and Engineers and argued his case before anyone else willing to listen.



    The Need for Stronger, Safer Buildings in the Heartland Conference

    Earlier this month, he put on the “Need for Stronger, Safer Buildings in the Heartland Conference” at the University of Central Oklahoma. The keynote speaker was Aris Papadopoulos, of The Resilience Action Fund, author of Resilience, the Ultimate Sustainability: Lessons from Failing to Develop a Stronger and Safer Built Environment.”

    Other speakers were Ryan Colker of the National Institute of Building Sciences; Kevin Davis of Quad-Lock Building Systems; Chris Ramseyer, Ph.D., director of Fears Structural Engineering Laboratory at the University of Oklahoma; and Kevin Simmons, Ph.D., professor of economics at Austin College.

    It wasn't just ICF show-and-tell. It was about “fortified” construction in general.

    “The city of Moore has adopted a fortified home standard as the basis and I want to see Oklahoma, as a state, do that statewide,” Keeslar said, referring to minimum regulations for high wind resistance the Moore City Council adopted in 2014.


    Why Homebuyers & Builders Should Insist on ICF...

    Despite the innovation, safety and savings, ICF won't sell itself, he said, until customers know there are alternatives to traditional stick-built houses and know to demand it — and that will require a broader and more widespread understanding of building resilience.

    “Why is it important to me? As a builder, if we can't improve people's lives, if we can't save them in times of traumatic events, then what's the purpose? I mean, people can live in a pup tent. They can live in a painted cardboard box. If they're after cheap and inexpensive, then let them go that way,” Keeslar said. “But if you want to save lives and have quality of life, then this is by far the best way to go — far better than mere sticks.”
    It will take changing more minds, he said.

    “The biggest obstacle right now is the builders. The building community will only supply to the customer what the customer demands,” 

    Keeslar said.  

    “The customer needs to be educated and know that this technology is readily available and actually costs them less money - Right now the biggest factor is builders not educating themselves so they can communicate that back to the public. They're happy to give the public exactly what the public's expecting, which is the cheapest thing that money can build.”

    No Help from Home Appraisers Either

    In the meantime, he said, appraisers aren't helping.

    “The appraisers simply aren't giving any credit at all for either energy efficiency or for strength and safety. It's just not happening. They're not doing it. Can they? Absolutely, they can. Will they? They won't. They say that it's just not important to them at this point,” Keeslar said.

    And here, he turns his thinking from the industry to legislation.

    “Lawmakers need to be involved and force that issue. None of us wants more government involvement, but unfortunately sometimes the government has to get involved. It's just like cars. We have seat belts today, mandated. We have things that are government mandated for our own good and our own protection,” he said.


    After all, as Daniel and ICF & More Oklahoma have proven time and time again, Custom home builders in Oklahoma and Northern Texas can build with ICF and reinforced Concrete to give their clients a Stronger, Safer Home at around the same cost as a flimsy stick built house, AND the homeowner benefits from significantly reduced cooling and heating costs, actually saving them money in the longer term. 

    Insulated Concrete Forms & More, LLC is striving enthusiastically to make building with Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma a more accessible, affordable & Green method of construction. Through product awareness & education, we are helping Architects, Contractors & Homeowners across the Great state of Oklahoma to discover the many benefits of building their next project with Insulated Concrete Forms.
      
    Replacing the traditional flimsy wood stick framed home or commercial building with Insulated Concrete Forms & reinforced concrete results in buildings that are far stronger, naturally tornado resistant & safer, quieter, healthier and exceptionally energy efficient - all while enjoying the added benefits of lower monthly operational costs including heating, cooling and insurance. There is indisputable proof that homes built with insulated concrete forms, a superior Green Building materialactually cost less to own than inferior "traditional" construction methods. 

    Insulated Concrete Forms and More LLC are committed to building the most resistant and economical tornado resistant homes and buildings possible in Oklahoma - on time - on budget. 

    To receive a free quote on your next project, contact us now

     
    Custom Home Builders in Oklahoma, ICF & More OKC, Lead the way in Tornado Resistant Concrete Homes Designed to Cost Less than Flimsy Traditional Construction
    Custom Home Builders in Oklahoma, ICF & More OKC, Lead the way in Tornado Resistant Concrete Homes Designed to Cost Less than Flimsy Traditional Construction





    Article about Custom Home Building in Oklahoma to Resist Tornadoes also published in NewsOK, Written by Richard Mize - Real estate editor Richard Mize has edited The Oklahoman's weekly residential real estate section and covered housing, commercial real estate, construction, development, finance and related business since 1999.   










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  3. Is Oklahoma City to follow Dallas in Adopting ICF as the Preferred Construction Method for Single & Multi-Family Housing?


    I’ve just returned from the 2016 World of Concrete show in Las Vegas, NV where I was honored to be a guest speaker at the inaugural meeting of the newly formed CICFI (Council of ICF Industries). Delivering my speech for about 20 minutes to a full room of interested building professionals who came to learn more about ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) construction OK was a real treat for me, and exciting for the CICFI organization. At the completion of the seminar, I was even approached and asked if I would be interested in addressing Canadian Governors and Lawmakers in Calgary, Alberta, Canada later this year on the subject of building Stronger, Safer, Healthier and More Energy Efficient. WOW!!!!

    ICF and More OK Daniel Keeslar speaking at the ICF Summit World of Concrete 2016
    Daniel Keeslar (OKC) speaking at the ICF Summit World of Concrete 2016

    While at the 2016 WOC show, I was fortunate to meet with Architects, Engineers and Developers from across America and from around the world. Interestingly enough, every person I spoke with has success stories from using ICF construction on their projects. 

    One of Oklahoma City's closest and larger neighbors, Dallas Texas, has really opened their arms to ICF construction and has embraced it big time


    One contractor I spoke with has successfully constructed five multi-story multi-family apartments and or Hotels in the past 18 months alone and has several more on the schedule for 2016. One developer I spoke with is planning to start 260 single family homes and 3 multi-family apartment building in Dallas, all with ICFs in 2016. He says, “At our current rate of growth, using conventional construction methods, Dallas can no longer sustain or justify building homes that use such enormous amounts of energy to operate nor hold up to Mother Nature’s wrath, the infrastructure in Dallas just won’t support it any longer. ICF construction will allow us to build much safer Net Zero homes at a more affordable cost.”

    Multi family multi-story ICF insulating concrete forms condominiums with Quad-Lock in La Paz, Mexico Icf and More OKC Oklahoma
    7 Story condominium complex built with Quad-Lock ICFs in La Paz, Mexico

    Even CMU construction, the previous favorite method for building a "solid" envelope, has proven to be far more expensive than building with ICF- which is also stronger, faster, and better insulated - especially if air transfer rates are factored in. And wood? Please, wood is a “Has Been” method of construction which should no longer even be considered. America needs and wants buildings that can stand toe to toe with Mother Nature and win!!! ICF buildings have a “proven” track record for being able to do just this.  Whether it’s tornados, earthquake or extreme temperatures, ICF buildings are leading the pack with all other methods in a distant second place. No other form of construction is Stronger, Safer, Healthier, and more Energy Efficient or will cost less to own than ICF. And as far as life expectancy – your great-great-great-great grandchildren will be living and working in these homes and buildings when they're old and gray. Concrete construction rivals and surpasses even European construction methods which have produced buildings that are already several hundred years old and still functional.


    This is where I need you Oklahomans


    If anyone reading this has the wherewithal to get our Governor and or Oklahoma policymakers together to discuss bringing these more advanced yet simple to implement building methods to Oklahoma quicker, please let me know as I would love the opportunity to introduce and discuss this outstanding method with them. I think everyone can agree, it's time to prevent more deaths and injuries from Mother Nature's mass destruction in Oklahoma, while reducing home ownership and building costs too. Home construction in Oklahoma hasn't changed significantly in the past 150 years - what other part of our daily lives is so important and yet so far behind the times? The facts are simply inarguable:

    1. Concrete is far stronger and superior to wood framed construction
    2. Tornados, earthquakes and extreme temperatures aren’t going away
    3. Oklahoma needs and wants homes and buildings that are stronger, safer, healthier and more energy efficient that cost less to own

    Now is the right time to change construction practices in Oklahoma – for everyone's benefit. Tell your Builder you want an ICF home or building!



    - Thank you for reading, and please get in touch to learn more about ICF construction

    Daniel Keeslar
    Insulated Concrete Forms & More LLC, OKC
    7500 West Reno Avenue, Suite 200
    Oklahoma City, OK. 73127
    Phone: 405-470-6955
    info@icfandmoreok.com 
    The Benefits of Insulated Concrete Forms for Tornado Resistant Construction in Oklahoma City 
    Tornado Safe Room Project Details from Insulated Concrete Forms & More, OKC, OK 
     
     
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  4. Girl Scouts Tornado Safe Room Project Details from Insulated Concrete Forms & More, OKC, OK.



    During this higher than average tornado year (1), we are delighted to announce that Quad-Lock and Insulated Concrete Forms & More, Oklahoma City recently came together in a joint project for the benefit of the community, by providing the ICF work and materials for the 2028 square foot safe room project built at Girl Scout Camp E-Ko-Wah (2), located in Southwestern Oklahoma near Marlow on scenic Lake Fuqua.



    The large insulated and reinforced concrete safe room design will better insure that camp guests and counselors alike all have a safe place to retreat into when Oklahoma’s infamous tornados and strong weather patterns blow through, but the room will also provide a comfortable and affordable office space during normal utilization.



    In detail: The 12.25” thick ICF walls of the building stand approximately 11-8” feet tall and are topped off with 12” of engineered Quad-Deck with a 6” concrete cap to complete the safe protection envelope. Walls and cap were both cast as a monolithic pour with 4000 psi concrete and 25 pound of Helix Micro Rebar per cubic yard of concrete added at the jobsite.


    2000sqft R-28 ICF Tornado Safe Room for Girl Scouts at Camp Ekowah OK by ICF & More OKC
    2000sqft Safe Room R-28 Tornado Resistant ICF & Concrete Structure for Girl Scout Camp E-Ko-Wah

    As mentioned, along with being used as a Safe Room during inclement Oklahoma weather, the large room has also been designated to be used by camp staff as an office area. The benefit of the continuously insulated R-28 exterior walls and the double insulated roof of the building, comprising a non-ventilated attic of 7” of expanding foam, is that the projected heating and cooling costs of the building have been designed to be less than $20 per month during peak times of usage – less than .01 cents a square foot per month. We believe that this community project showcases the considerable advantages inherent in using ICF & reinforced concrete for construction projects in Oklahoma State, being stronger, safer, extremely energy efficient and above all, affordable (3).

    Finished ICF & Concrete Tornado Safe Room for Girl Scouts at Camp E-Ko-Wah OK by ICF & More OKC
    Completed ICF & Concrete Tornado Safe Room for Girl Scouts at Camp E-Ko-Wah

    Daniel Keeslar of ICF & More OK proudly presents the donation to the Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma on behalf of ICF & More and Quad-Lock Building Systems for the construction of the Tornado Safe Room
    Daniel Keeslar of ICF & More OK proudly presents the donation to the Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma on behalf of ICF & More and Quad-Lock Building Systems

    For more details or assistance with Safe Room design, contact Insulated Concrete Forms & More, LLC Oklahoma City, OK.   


    The ICF Energy Efficient & Tornado Resistant Concrete Construction Experts | Insulated Concrete Forms & More OKC, Oklahoma

    Sources:



    (1)    NOAA Tornado data



  5. Can homes in Oklahoma be built to withstand a tornado? The answer is yes with ICF & Concrete



    A search on the Internet for ideas on building a Tornado Resistant home in Oklahoma brings up many articles on the subject – but with misleading headlines and comments like:


    Tornado-Proof Homes In Oklahoma: Possible To Build But Expensive And Hideous

    It is possible to build a tornado-proof home. But the cost would be excessive, and your house would certainly be the ugliest on the block.

    In widely read sites like the Huffington Post, is it any surprise that many residents of Oklahoma City or Oklahoma State in general resign themselves to building or rebuilding using inferior wood stick-frame construction – proven totally inadequate for building a Tornado Safe home in Oklahoma? – Look at the destruction caused in Moore OK in 2014 for example:


    ICF Tornado Safe Houses would have helped Moore Oklahoma to sustain significantly less damage
    ICF Tornado Safe Houses would have helped Moore Oklahoma
     


    And here’s a thing – concrete homes built using a Green Building Material made, tested and proven in the USA and Canada can look exactly like a wooden stick frame home, or some would say even better! 



    Imagine for a moment too if an Insulated Concrete Form constructed Tornado resistant ICF home could be built in Oklahoma for around the same price as a flimsy stick built home 

    Ask Yourself – why would ANYONE build with wood any more?

    Bear in mind, the common thread here was that most of the homes destroyed in Moore OK were stick frame wood built – or “traditional” – (Ironic considering that timber structural frames for house construction was an idea that was largely replaced by solid masonry wall construction around the 1400 to 1600’s period in Europe to improve a home’s durability and fire resistance.)
      

    Thankfully there are some more objective articles out there – one for example in Popular Mechanics repeats the theme with “If an extremely powerful tornado drops down on a home, there's not a lot you can do” – but acknowledges “Our wood-frame houses just aren't built to withstand such force, as the pictures from tornado-ravaged towns this weekend attest

    “This dramatic example raises a fundamental question: 


    Can a home be built to withstand a tornado?


    The answer is yes—if the home were constructed like a bomb-proof bunker, with thick walls, a reinforced concrete roof, and a super-strong internal support system to prevent structural collapse.
     
    Popular Mechanic’s goes on to say “the average home, which is built out of ordinary construction lumber, plywood, and particle board  and wood-frame structures are particularly at risk: In short, a tornado turns a wood-frame house into a gigantic, wind-driven pry bar. Once the departing structural elements have left a hole in the structure, the wind enters and dismantles the home like a bomb. 

    So the danger of a stick frame home in Oklahoma isn’t only that it disintegrates when on the periphery of a tornado path, providing little to no shelter or protection for the homeowners – but that the destroyed wood structure itself then becomes a Tornado driven whirling mass of airborne missiles that cause more mayhem and destruction to other flimsy wooden Oklahoma homes, the landscape and unfortunately Oklahoman’s themselves…

    So the article about Tornado proof homes in Oklahoma continues:

    How to "tornado-proof" a house, how to increase its resistance to damage? 

    their conclusion “you have to build it so it performs like a single-piece…

    And that’s where building a home to be tornado resistant in Oklahoma from ICF and reinforced concrete makes the most sense – especially as building from ICF brings so many advantages for the Oklahoman homeowner in addition to it being stronger, more durable and naturally Tornado proof because of the inherent strength of concrete and an integrated reinforced home design.

    But then let’s see what the experts say – in an article in NBC News about the Tornado that devastated Moore Oklahoma – the message is clear “Tornado-proof homes? Up to 85 percent can be spared”, expert says

    The article continues inexpensive construction techniques could have kept up to 85 percent of the area's damaged houses standing according to Andrew Graettinger, a civil engineer at the University of Alabama - "Lower wind speeds, you design to protect your house and higher wind speeds you design to save your life," Graettinger said. "Unfortunately, (in Oklahoma) you have to do them both."

    The total cost is the equivalent of installing granite countertops or a whirlpool tub, which many homeowners opt for without a second thought to make their homes look nice and raise their value.” Graettinger noted. 

    He makes a good point, and put like that should minor cost differences be any reason for not building a better, more solid and Tornado resistant home structure?  – especially as choosing to build a Tornado resistant home in Oklahoma from ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms) reduces heating and cooling costs, and reduces insurance costs – bear in mind, Granite countertops or a whirlpool tub don’t reduce your monthly outgoings every month or reduce insurance costs either. Nor do Granite countertops or the hot tub protect your family’s physical wellbeing or your financial investment in building your home.

    Now that ICF built, Tornado resistant homes in Oklahoma using reinforced concrete are available at a comparable initial cost to old-fashioned and proven inadequate stick-frame housing, it’s surely time to:

    Build Safe
    Build Affordable
    Build For Generations


    Remember – as the Experts put it "If you are above ground and you get hit in a storm like that, ( The one in Moore, Okla. May 20th 2013 ) no matter the type of construction unless it is a concrete-reinforced structure, you are probably not going to have anything left,"

    Building Tornado Resistant Homes in Oklahoma, ICF & More OKC, Your local ICF Dealer




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