I’ve not mentioned it before, but I am taking the first ever offered “Green Real Estate” class in Washington. It’s being held at North Seattle Community College. When I am done I will be a Certified Built Green Professional and have 30 more clock hours for the bi-annual RE license renewal! NEWS FLASH – they are calling for students for next quarter. It’s not actually scheduled but the demand has been so high, they are considering offering it again in January. Email me if you want to be put on a notice list should they offer the class again. There are a lot of real estate professionals in the class, but there are also a lot of builders and developers – and individuals who want to do their own green remodeling – in this class of over 50 adult professionals.

ANYway, we enjoyed a very interactive presentation with Chuck Wilson, a local distributor of PolySteel, an ICF product. This was not something I was very familiar with, Insulated Concrete Forms. Fascinating stuff! Highly insulating, very strong, (would hold up to that blasted storm of last December, even if a tree hit it), and here’s the creative part of me jumping for joy – it can be made into any shape. You can have curved walls, you could float shelves or benches into the walls – the possibilities are endless. A three story home is common – and they have built apartment/condo buildings up to 9 stories high. He assured us it’s not difficult to work with – you could even build your own, since much of it comes precut from the factory.

I encourage you to visit the PolySteel web site to learn more about this building material and how it works. American PolySteel, LLC, is the oldest manufacturer of insulating concrete forms in America (since 1978), and pioneered an industry that now boasts 50 products and builds thousands of homes and commercial structures each year.

What a great presentation! I was in rapt attention for over 90 minutes and the questions asked by everyone in the room led to very animated conversation!

You would never know an ICF home from a stick-built wood frame home – or a steel frame home either – from the street.