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insulated concrete form house

Started by Crunchycon, June 03, 2007, 11:02:23 AM

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Crunchycon

So my wife and I have been looking for a house, with enough space for our shop, for about six years.
We get a new realestate agent and the first thing he says is "have you ever thought about building? My partner owns a lot five blocks from here and he is looking to sell it."

I have always liked the idea of ICF construction but never thought I would get to do it.

I have started posting pictures of our progress in my album titled "new shop".

Don't forget your sunglasses!

Raider Bill

What ICF forms are you using? Are you setting them yourself?
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

Crunchycon

I am using Logix forms and I am setting them myself as well as filling them with concrete.
I found the Logix forms to be the tightest fitting and they are also the thickest of the ones I looked at.

Raider Bill

The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

Crunchycon

We just finished prepping the first story and we are going to pour Tuesday June 26.
It requires the use of a monster size pump truck that can reach 100 feet.
We will also have a film crew there to document. How much fun is that?

I'll be sure and post the new photos within a week.

Raider Bill

The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

Crunchycon

It's about 100' to the back of the house but only 34' to the top.
Still, it's a big truck.
I just added the photos from the last pour.




Crunchycon

We just added the wells and tubing for the geothermal heating and cooling system. It was 2 days of relentless noise but the low utility bills will be worth it.

We also insulated the basement floors with P2000. It is a vapor barrior and metalized plastic wrapping an EPS core.

I've updated the photos in my gallery 8/5.

Radar67

Tell us a little more about the goethermal system you installed. I understand you drilled 6 wells for it? What square footage will it heat and cool? Give us all the skinny on it.  :)

Stew
"A man's time is the most valuable gift he can give another." TOM

If he can cling to his Blackberry, I can cling to my guns... Me

This will kill you, that will kill you, heck...life will kill you, but you got to live it!

"The man who can comprehend the why, can create the how." SFC J

WH_Conley

How would you rate the cost verses regular poured walls?

How much R value are you getting.

After opening my mouth to a guy about price on my place I may have to build.
Bill

Crunchycon

Our geothermal system uses the earth as a heat sink by circulating antifreeze down into the wells and back up to our hvac unit. The number of wells and thier depth is to insure that one doesn't change the temperature of the earth. In our case six wells for a total of 1050 feet will heat and cool 5500 square feet of living space.

As far as cost for the walls, it is more expencesive for the basements but you will make up the cost with the superior insulation and no framing for the outside walls. You just put the drywall directly on the foam. And I also wanted 10 foot ceilings in my basements which really adds to the cost since not a lot contractors have 10 foot forms. Since I'm going all the way to the attic with these forms I'm saving quite a bit of money in framing cost.

The walls have an R-value of 24. Combined with the thermal mass of the concrete it is quite resistant to heat loss/gain. With a stick built wall you might put in an R-16 fiberglass batt but your 2x6 only has an R-value of 7. 

Raider Bill

What are you using for floor joists?
I'm trying to decide if pouring my slab before setting ther ICF's is a good idea. I will be working in red clay. Any suggestions on that?
Also I'm a bit curious abouth the anifreeze in the wells. Is the system sealed?
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

Crunchycon

I went with I-joists, it is a great way to get a dead flat floor.

I don't know about pouring the slab first. Would it sit on the footings? Do you have to have a soil engineer sign off on your site before any thing is poured?

The system is sealed. The anifreeze is an effective way to transfer heat.

Raider Bill

I'm thinking about going my footing to the height my finished slab would be. I'm not sure how that joint would effect the waterproofing but3 sides would be below grade. I'll have to do a step down on the front for the driveout.
No Enginerring or inspections needed except a final electrical before permant hookup.
My house is a 40X48 ICF all the way with full driveout basement. Timber frame greatroom in center 24X40 with beds and baths on either side.

I was wondering, would running your field lines or well lines through a A/C Evaporater unit with blower accomplish anything? I don't know what ground temp is in Tenn. say I ran hundreds of feet of pipe with pump through such a unit instead of freon?
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

tim1234

How are you going to finish the outside of the house.  Can you use brick or do you use some sort of siding.  If brick the forms would need some sort of brick ledge.

Tim
You buy a cheap tool twice...and then you're still stuck with a cheap tool!!
Husky 372XP, 455 Rancher, Echo CS300, Alaskan 30" Chainsaw Mill

Crunchycon

Raider Bill, It seems to me as long as you have drain tile under your slab you should be fine.
I have had inspections from day one, soil composition, rough plumbing, water service, rebar, in fill housing guidelines, footings, a thirty-five page report on the storm water runoff. The list goes on and on.

Essentially we are running our well lines though an A/C evaporator. By it self it won't change the temperature of the whole house but it is a good start. The rest of the equipment can be smaller and therefore more efficient.

Tim, We are doing brick and if you look carefully at the pictures you can see the brick ledge. We used 10" block for the basement and 6" block above. For the basement we are using Grail Coat. But you could put siding or just about anything you want for the exterior.

Don P

There was a comment on Grailcoat the other day on the TF Guilds website.

Crunchycon

Wow! Thanks for the heads up on that one.

Now does anyone know what else I can use over my styrofoam?

Raider Bill

The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

iffy

We just completed our icf basement recently using Logix forms, 8" wall, 9' tall. Used a pumper, no problems whatsoever with blowouts, etc. Used their brickledge form on 3 sides 3rd course down. The 4th side is walkout. We also drilled geothermal wells in our basement. Will be using a heat pump with the geothermal wells and air ducting system. Couldn't do radiant, as we live in Kansas and air conditioning is just as iimportant as heating here.
Upon the advice of the form supplier, we poured the spread footings and frost wall, then set the first row of forms, glued them down with foam, and put a 2 x 4 on the footing on the outside to ensure they stayed in place. Then we poured the floor. This gave us the advantage of a good surface to work from, made a secure place to anchor the lower end of the form bracing, and was easier to pour without the walls in the way.
Buiilt a conventional I joist floor on top of that and am now going up with 9" swedish cope logs. Made my own stacking diagram and worked with a mill to get a high percentage of my logs into their standard "random length" mix without additional cost, and paid exra for special notches and notches in odd places. So far so good.

Raider Bill

Did you pour the first course of blocks when you did the floor?
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

iffy

No, as I didn't want a cold joint. I do have a cold joint on the frost wall, tho. The frost wall is 30" deep and is constructed with the logix forms also. When I formed it up, I ripped the bottom form so the top of the frost wall form would be flush with the top of the spread footing for the non-walkout walls. I then ripped 1 1/2" off the bottom of the waste portion of the first form I ripped, and set that on top of the frost wall form. I poured the frost wall to this new grade 1 1/2" higher than the spread footings. When I was ready to form the walls, I pried the 1 1/2" spacer off and set the first full height form on top of the frost wall form.
This process served two purposes: first, it protected the frost wall existing form when I backed the well rig over the wall, and also when I used my skid loader inside the basement. Also, the 1 1/2" of concrete sticking up when I pried the spacer off assured that the bottom of the full height wall form would stay in place.
Also, in the area of the frost wall, I pushed 1/2" emt conduit through from the inside form and on top of the concrete in the wall, and made sure it didn't project into the floor area. Then put short pieces of #4 rebar inside the conduit for the floor to bond to. This gave me sort of a floating floor support, as there wasn't a footing in this area to rest the floor on.
Boy, that is confusing.

Don_Papenburg

Raider , I poured my floors before I did my ICF walls .  I had 4" chanel iron  for forms . Worked out real good .  Then when I poured the walls it pushed the foam tight to the floor.
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

Raider Bill

Thanks guys. trying to get my steps in a row here. Leaving Thursday for 2.5 weeks to get my footers in. MAybe even the floor if I'm lucky.

Does anyone know the correct pitch for a sewer drain pipe that will run under the slab and connect to septic? Does 1 inch per 8 foot seem enough?
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

Radar67

If I remember correctly, it is 1/8 inch fall per 8 foot of pipe. Daren can answer this one for sure.

Stew
"A man's time is the most valuable gift he can give another." TOM

If he can cling to his Blackberry, I can cling to my guns... Me

This will kill you, that will kill you, heck...life will kill you, but you got to live it!

"The man who can comprehend the why, can create the how." SFC J

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