A long-time leader in prestressed hollow product, Savage, Minn.-based Fabcon Inc. cites a new production technology that solves the challenges of adding insulating foam to precast concrete wall panels, significantly increasing their energy efficiency and design flexibility. VersaCore brand panels reportedly improve heating and cooling efficiency up to 30 percent and remove limitations on specifying door and window openings.

The production breakthrough enables Fabcon to offer higher-performing product without increasing cost. Traditionally, hollow-core panels have provided the benefit of reduced shipping costs, while solid panels enabled the casting in of window and door openings. VersaCore is the first precast product to combine both advantages. Fabcon is manufacturing the new wall panels in its Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania plants for construction projects throughout the Midwest and Eastern regions.

“Bringing this level of value to customers — without adding cost — is especially exciting in a market that has seen relatively few innovations over the years,” says Fabcon C.E.O. Mike Le Jeune. “Previous attempts to change a panel's underlying technology have not succeeded because manufacturers have been unable to stabilize lightweight materials, such as foam, within a layer of wet concrete. Our new, patented manufacturing process remedies this problem.”

In Fabcon's previous production process, pea gravel occupies a panel's interior. After the concrete cures, the panels are tilted up and emptied of gravel, which leaves a hollow core. The VersaCore process puts insulating Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam billets directly into the fresh concrete, eliminating the cost of the gravel and equipment to remove it. VersaCore panels with foam billets actually weigh less than hollow-core members. Under the old process, some pea gravel inevitably remained and added to panel weight, which was reflected in shipping costs.

With commercial heating and cooling costs typically representing about 32 percent of a building's total operating budget and nearly half of all energy loss due to poor insulation, as reported by the U.S. Department of Energy, a material's insulating ability — usually represented as an R-value — is crucial to energy efficiency and lower energy costs. The high-density cell structure of foam gives VersaCore panels one of the highest R-value ratings available in a concrete panel. The foam increases the R-value of a Fabcon 12-in. insulated panel from 12.78 to 16.4. Likewise, the company's noninsulated 8-in.-panel R-value improves from 2.20 to 6.0. This compares to industry averages of 10 and 2.34, respectively. High R-values also contribute to lower construction costs. Specifically, R-values help determine the size of heating and cooling systems. The use of smaller, less expensive equipment is made possible by building with high R-value wall systems to minimize heating and cooling demands.

The VersaCore technology will also appeal to architects and owners who have tried to increase hollow-core R-values by adding liquid foam at the construction site, product developers note. “Customers sometimes specify 8-in. hollow-core panels and hire a local contractor to fill the cores with foam on the job site,” notes Fabcon Director of Engineering Tom Kuckhahn. “An 8-in. VersaCore panel provides significantly greater R-value and eliminates the extra contractor costs and time.”

Design flexibility is another advantage of the new wall panel technology. Previously, realizing the benefits of an insulated hollow-core panel meant excluding cast-in door and window options. Contractors added the expense of cutting openings — at several hundred dollars each — on the job site.

“The extrusion equipment required in the previous process prevented us from casting in objects larger than small reinforcement plates,” Kuckhahn reports. “VersaCore panels allow us to create window and door openings of any size and accommodate structural design requests like pocketed connections. This saves time in the construction process, helps control costs, and provides architects and engineers with a whole new range of options and tools.”