But, in terms of overall efficiency, it suffers from the same weaknesses of foam board sheeting unless the air leaks are stopped. So far as we know, fiberglass was invented as an air filtering material. We're still waiting to open up an older wall insulated with fiberglass and find clean fiberglass. Most really old wood structures are built from first-growth virgin timber. Before the advent of stick framing, wood framing used more massive structural shapes rough sawed and hewn from the finest woods like chestnut or oak.
Some older buildings use wooden beams more than a foot thick.
Without constant attention and maintenance, it loses its structural strength and its energy efficiency through movement and increased air leaks over time. Building Technology ICF results in a super insulated structural composite wall by combining the structural and insulating components in concert. Follow this link for more performance information. Our research concludes that most of the primary brands of ICF's are basically the same when finished, offering similar performance and features. There are, however, some installation differences between brands of ICF which may be valuable in choosing a particular brand.