Concrete homes are a bit difficult to pick out because in all likelihood the basic material is being kept hidden under a façade of lap siding, stucco or other materials, but there is a good possibility your house or those around you have ICF properties (insulated concrete forms), in particular areas that are prone to tornadoes, hurricanes and extreme forms of weather. And that should not be surprising because concrete houses and buildings have been around for a long time.

The Evolution of Concrete Building
The history of concrete homes is difficult to pin down because it depends on how you define the word ?concrete?. The fact is since ancient times there have been rudimentary forms of cement used for constructing homes and buildings. Historical records show that as far back as 1300 BC, builders in the Middle East coated their houses with thinned limestone with clay, and while technically it is not cement, it is the precursor to the modern materials used in homes today. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and especially the Romans used an assortment of materials to fortify their homes and buildings, but it was not until 1860 that Portland cement came into being and would eventually be the standard method used for concrete building.
Homes made of concrete today use varying amounts of Portland cement along with water, sand and stone aggregates (fine and coarse) and chemical admixtures are added as well to fine tune its properties. There are different ways by whi...