Concrete block house
In the attic, block houses can be insulated equally as well as frame houses, Miller said. He said that although block houses have gotten a bad rap because their walls have lower R values than frame-constructed walls, the insulation of walls isn’t as important to heating and cooling as is the insulation of the ceiling.
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Miller, who was hired by Florida Concrete and Products Association two months ago specifically to promote block construction, said block houses stay cooler on summer mornings because it takes longer for them to heat up. However, advocates of block construction said that block offers several advantages over frame. Concrete block walls are wider than frame walls, and take up more room, Johnson said. Johnson also said a frame house of equal exterior dimensions with a block house will have more interior space. Termite infestations have been reduced because many builders are treating the soil under a house with pesticides before it is built. Wood rot problems have been taken care of by pressure- treating wood at lumber factories. “You have many people who come down here, and frame is the only thing they know.” Johnson said many of the original problems with frame houses in Florida have been solved.
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“Frame is the only way they build houses up north,” Johnson said. Quincy Johnson, a Boca Raton architect who has designed both block and frame houses for several major subdivision developers in Florida, said another factor in frame’s favor is that home buyers moving to Florida from the North are more familiar with frame. “If you want to get a curve in a wall or a special angle, you can do that with frame construction, but you can’t with block,” Harter said. A second reason many builders are going to frame homes is that they offer more flexibility in the finished look of a home.