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ROGERS, Neb. (KPTM) - Everyone is looking at ways they can cut back on the monthly bills.
Most people don't realize the kind of home you live in could save you some money.
This 1,600 square foot home near Rogers Nebraska will look like just like any another house once it's finished, but its walls and roof are made of Styrofoam panels covered with plywood.
Homebuilder Larry Steffy says that makes these homes highly energy efficient.
"And you don't need a furnace in the home, a small portable air conditioner that fits into the window and a small portable heater or 2," says Steffy.
He says the panels keep the winter cold and summer heat outside, and that keeps more money in your wallet.
"With the cost of energy going up and limited amount of energy, I think we're just scratching the surface of this," says Dean Ainsworth who works for Menards.
"Hopefully it catches on, its about the best deal you can get I think, its very well insulated and don't cost much to heat," says John Steffensmeier of Rogers Nebraska.
Building a house out of Styrofoam does leave one question.
Is it safe?
"The home is 5 times as strong and in some diagonal testing it is as much as 15 times as strong. When the hurricane went through New Orleans, basically this is a foam panel home, this was the only ones left standing," says Steffy.
Larry likes these houses so much he currently lives in one.
This is the 6th foam panel house he and his crew have built.
The easy construction is just another incentive.
"Pretty simple, this back wall here is just 2 pieces, had the walls all up in one day, roof, up in another day, so it's pretty easy," says Steffensmeier.
"A 4 man crew can normally put up the basic structure in 3 to 4 days and then you gotta do your finish work and you can do that in any fashion you desire," says Steffy.
Larry hopes he'll have this house done is just a couple of weeks.
This kind of construction isn't really new, but if you're wondering just what kind of savings a foam panel house can provide, a homeowner in Fremont Nebraska has been living in one for ten years now and says he has saved around $100,000 compared to other homes the same size.
