Styrofoam future.

• Author: Gerhart, Clifford

Cecil Pugmire has seen the future, and it's made of styrofoam. The marketing director of Polar Supply of Anchorage is a fervent believer in Reddi-Form, a product new to Alaska that makes home construction faster, easier and cheaper. Pugmire believes that in the future, this styrofoam building system is the way a lot of buildings will be built.

The principle behind Reddi-Form is simplicity itself. The styrofoam blocks, 4 feet long and 1 foot high, stack together like giant Lego blocks, using only minimum bracing. You pour the concrete in, and voila! Instant building. The styrofoam is left to provide a very respectable insulation factor of R22.

"In three hours, you can pour a nine-foot wall," says Pugmire. "The strength of this product lies in the way it's engineered. The way the styrofoam block is molded allows it to withstand the extreme hydrostatic pressure of the concrete being poured. Reddi-Form's unique design spreads these forces in a way that allows the foundation and high walls to be done in a single pour."

After the concrete sets, a large number of interior and exterior finishings can be applied. You get the advantages of styrofoam insulation without feeling like you live inside a beer cooler.

Pugmire says that although it is relatively new to the construction industry, styrofoam, or EPS (expanded polystyrene) to give its proper name, has been used extensively in the building trade in Europe for over 20 years and is being mandated as a construction material. Reddi-Form, manufactured locally by Western Insulfoam, has been on the market for about three years in the United States.

According to Pugmire, builders using Reddi-Form blocks can make a six-inch-thick concrete wall that will equal or exceed the strength of standard 8 inch concrete or concrete block walls while utilizing only 50 percent of concrete normally used. Total material and labor cost is approximately $5 to $7 per square foot depending upon concrete costs and location. He also says it not only reduces costs but significantly reduces total job time and overhead costs by combining several construction...