ICF Fire Resistance

Fire Resistance

Ever seen concrete burn? Me neither. In tests where ICF walls were subjected to temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit for as long as four hours, the ICF walls never failed structurally. By contrast, wood frame walls typically collapse in less than an hour. When considering a wood frame home for your next house, consider the countless fire fighters who have died when a wood frame structure collapsed prematurely.

A common misperception is that the foam used in ICF homes is highly flammable. The truth is the foams in ICFs are manufactured with flame-retardant additives. Perform this simple test: Hold a lit match up to an ICF form block; the foam will simply melt away, but not support combustion.

Fire Containment

Another fire suppressing benefit of a concrete home is the ability of the ICF wall to contain a fire. A wood framed wall, far from containing fire, actually feeds a fire and facilitates the rapid spread of fire from one room to the other. In the typical house fire, a fire will pass through a wood frame wall in less than an hour. The temperatures needed to pass a fire from one side of an ICF wall to the other side typically do not exist in a house fire. A serious house fire can generate 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Even at these temperatures ICF walls do not allow the fire to pass from one side of an ICF wall to the other side.