Going green in the building business

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

A lumber-free, energy-efficient home that’s fireproof, moldproof and environmentally friendly doesn’t have to be a vision of the future. You can get it from Chad O’Mealy and his business, Pacific Northwest IFC, right from O’Mealy’s Fox Island home.

O’Mealy distributes building materials made of expanded polystyrene, or “EPS” and recycled plastics. The material is used for walls reinforced with steel and filled with concrete.

“The beauty of constructing from this material is, anybody can do it,” O’Mealy said. “You don’t have to have any special training, because the pieces fit together like Legos. There’s nothing you can’t do with concrete that you can’t do with this.”

O’Mealy has a portfolio of homes built from the material. Some of the homes have curving, ornate walls, balconies and rounded corners.

“Architects love this, because you can have huge windows, even in seismic zones,” he said. “The product calculates so high on an engineering scale that it gives you the opportunity for huge openings.”

O’Mealy ran lumber yards for many years, nine of them in remote areas of Alaska. He said watching the way houses were constructed from wood changed the way he felt about construction. He felt so strongly about it that he resigned from an executive position and started his own business in 2004.

The concept for building houses using IFC originated in Dade County, Fla., where people were looking for homes that would withstand the onslaught of hurricanes.

“These houses are bulletproof,” O’Mealy said. “We have aerial photos of southern California that show whole hillsides completely devastated by fires. In the middle is one house still standing — that’s an IFC house.”

Similar photos of the Atlantic seaboard show seemingly untouched houses that pop up in the middle of neighborhoods ravaged by hurricane debris.

O’Mealy distributes his product in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Alaska, Hawaii and Mexico. It has been popular in California and Mexico because of its superior barrier against sun penetration.

Also, air conditioning costs in IFC houses can be as much as 70 percent less than conventional brick structures, O’Mealy said.

The Pacific Northwest has been slower to embrace the concept because, “We live in lumber land,” O’Mealy said. “People see all these trees around and think there’s this endless supply. But this building system has a single unique quality that could benefit the Pacific Northwest: it’s resistant to mold. Plus, it’s used from 40 percent recycled materials.”

O’Mealy added that Puget Sound is in a seismic region.

“We’re way overdue for a big one,” he said.

“Clients who construct new homes are foreseeing those problems, so they are looking for the best building material possible,” O’Mealy said.

“I knew the building industry was going to tank,” he said. “Educated people are building houses, and they’re demanding that they be windproof, fireproof, soundproof and moldproof.”

IFC also sells water-proofing systems for below-grade applications, spray cement and ornamental concrete and windows. It also offers faux wood concrete siding that can be attached to the IFC blocks, virtually eliminating the need for lumber.

A ‘green’ home

To order materials for a “green” home, call Pacific Northwest ICF at 253-549-2889 or visit www.pacificnorthwesticf.com.

Reach reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by e-mail at susan.schell@gateline.com.