Feature : Grand Rapids Builders Journal
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Gary Katt Builds Energy Efficiency Into Every Home
By Stephanie Kadel-Taras
When Gary Katt, of Gary Katt
Builder, Inc., in Grand Haven,
expanded his twenty-year-old
remodeling and additions
business to build custom
homes, he 
didn’t plan to be
come known for energy
efficient designs and
materials. But when his first
houses took advantage of
better insulation and heating
systems to reduce energy
cost, word quickly spread.
Now clients come to him
for this particular expertise,
and one designer specifically
refers her energy-conscious
client to Gary. In these times
of high gas prices, Gary’s
unexpected niche is
increasingly popular and
making more and more
sense. At the core of Gary’s
energy efficient houses are
insulated concrete forms.
These one-foot high
polystyrene blocks, filled with
concrete, and replace
conventional masonry blocks
in
basements as well as the
wood frame of the rest of the
house. They snap together,
stack on top of each other,
and are held together with
vertical and horizontal steel
rods, before being poured full
of concrete. The result is
solid, concrete walls with two
inches of foam insulation on
both the inside and outside,
“Think of a Styrofoam cup,”
says Gary, “that is one eighth
of an inch thick but youhome - 1 - 2 - 3 - next >>
