Fire resistant concrete

There seems to be a hierarchy among architectural materials. Wood and granite are the most popular, glass and aluminum are the trendiest, and marble is the highest of high-end. And then there's concrete...poor, unlovable concrete. We walk on it, drive on it, and even spit gum on it. Some respect. It's just so hard to love a material that's given us block housing, parking decks, and most of the world's prisons. But things may be changing for the ugly duckling of architecture. There is a new trend toward embracing concrete for home construction, mainly because it's one of the strongest and most durable of building materials. It's also incredibly resistant to fire, which makes it a safe bet for homes.

The fire-resistant properties of concrete are fairly easy to understand. The components of concrete – cement (limestone, clay and gypsum) and aggregate materials – are chemically inert and therefore virtually non-combustible. Concrete also has a slow rate of heat transfer, which means that concrete walls in a home act as a fire shield, protecting adjacent rooms from flames and maintaining its structural integrity despite exposure to intense heat. (source: howstuffworks)