This is a photo of a ICF built home. It was the only home left standing in this neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina.

Will Your Home be Safe from Storms? In the summer of 2004, a series of four hurricanes struck Florida. Many houses built out of wood suffered severe hurricane damage, while homes next to them, built out of concrete, had much less damage. The hurricanes that hit Florida have given their endorsement to the new “Insulated Concrete Forms” system of building. “It is not that the wind is blowing, it is what the wind is blowing”, said Mr. Jones, the owner of the home (bottom, left), who weathered the storm in his basement. “We knew that we would be safe in our basement because we built it out of ICFs, said Mr. Jones.

More Than 250 Homes Burn as Wildfires Ravage Southern California: Powerful Santa Ana winds kicked up before dawn Sunday, driving two ferocious fire storms that had already burned more than 200 homes, across more lawns and rooftops. In a canyon at the edge of Claremont, about 50 homes were destroyed. Interestingly enough, the only home left standing, was a home built out of concrete for Mr. and Mrs. Bruce. “Even though the home needs extensive renovation, all of our possessions are intact” said Mr. Bruce, “Luckily, we built it using ICFs.”

ICF House Stands up to 271-ton Boulder: Jack Burns of Rockville, Utah awoke to a frightening event. It seems a 271-ton boulder had crashed through the rear of his house, plowed through the bathroom, and stopped four feet from his bed. . Apparently the boulder fell from the top of the butte, bounced a few times like a rubber ball, then careened into the back wall of the house and the embankment up against it, which stopped its progress. Observers measured the boulder after the fact at about 12 feet by 16 feet by 16 feet. Luckily, his home was built out of concrete using ICFs.

I believe the ICF wall saved my life, claims Mr. Ray Demczyk of Cape Coral, Florida. Early on the morning of June 26, 2004, as Mr. Demczyk and his wife slept inside their ICF home, a potential tragedy was unfolding outside. At approximately 2:00 A.M. an intoxicated driver was speeding down the Demczyk’s street, fell asleep at the wheel, and never noticed when his Pontiac Firebird left the road, became airborne, and slammed into the exterior wall of the Demczyk’s residence at a speed of 60 miles per hour. Stirred awake by a light thud, Mrs. Demczyk left her bedroom to identify some household object that had fallen to the floor. To her great surprise she found a set of headlights shining through her living room window. The ICF wall’s strength was evident once the cleanup had been completed and damage was assessed. A 3 ft x 5 ft section of the wall’s exterior finish suffered the impact of the crash, while the concrete wall itself remained unscathed.

When asked if he was surprised by the strength of the wall, Demczyk responded, "Strength, wind resistance, and insulation were the reasons I built with ICFs. It should cost me less than $800 to complete repairs to my stucco finish,” Emergency workers on the scene said that the speeding vehicle would have penetrated the residence and would have gone straight through had the walls not been concrete.