Anyone with ICF building experience?

   / Anyone with ICF building experience? #51  
First photo shows walls stacked and braced with bucks in all the window and door openings. We stacked all this ourselves without much experience in block work. Also since these blocks are set up for square installations, we had to do a lot of custom cutting to get the 120deg angle cuts. We burned up one electric chainsaw! But it was really pretty easy and if you could've seen the block stacking job...well, oh boy, we weren't professional block layers, that's for sure. There were gaps and shims and bulges. Oh, and we used liquid nails in plenty of places to hold stuff together. Then came the big day, got the 80' boom pumper in there and put 26yds in the walls.
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   / Anyone with ICF building experience? #52  
Not sure what's going on with this post but photos show trusses we built and put up with easy lift we rented...great tool! Then roof on, ready for stucco.
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   / Anyone with ICF building experience? #53  
This is most recent outside photo showing stucco on, closed in, moved in but still working on doors and trim. Taken in February after the only snow we got all winter...It was gone by that evening. Got the 2m antenna up...I put 1 1/2" pipes up through the roof into a couple interior stud walls so I could put up tv dish, ham antenna, etc. and have cables running through weatherhead into walls. Also photo of interior before sheetrock showing nail protection plates in place. Even with that, cabinet installer still put a screw right through the center of MC cable!
OK, that's how it went over the last 7yrs. I had originally planned on using Polysteel 'cause a buddy of mine was a dealer and even got a bunch of it but ended up selling it after hearing about different problems installing it like cutting it with poly then hitting the steel in it. Also just wasn't thrilled about polystyrene even though once it's built you wouldn't see it but you would still have a million little balls of poly around. The Faswall is just wood chips from pallets (which sometimes are hardwood) with the rigid insulation block built in. The Faswall is all covered up now too but I did leave one spot open in a closet for a 'truth window'. It's pretty easy to work with and I would definitely do it again.
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   / Anyone with ICF building experience? #54  
DirtRanger: Nice place, looks like you have a beautiful view looking over some terrific scenery. And nice to see someone else who drank the Faswall kool-aid. :laughing:

Like you said in your comments, the blocks lend themselves well to the DIYer and there's definitely more than one way to skin a cat when working with the blocks. The key is taking your time, planning ahead, AND leaving yourself some 'wiggle room' for unforeseen requirements. Running a few extra pieces of conduit; widening an interior wall from 2x4 to 2x6 (or 2x8) to accommodate plumbing vent lines, additional electric, etc.; or setting some extra utility boxes here and there can save a lot of headaches down the road. It's a lot easier to put a blank on a box then it is to cut in another box after the pour.

Again, thank you for posting your construction pictures and giving us a peek at your construction process.
 
   / Anyone with ICF building experience? #55  
montanadave, you're right about planning ahead...we didn't do that in some cases and wish we would've put some tubes in the concrete and through the walls. For instance, we didn't really plan for the power conduit in to the house (duh!!) so we had to bore through the Faswall (concrete and steel). That's what ya get when you're the barefoot architect!!
 
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   / Anyone with ICF building experience? #56  
Ive been watching a couple build their new ICF, timber frame home-youtube channel is "Pure Living for Life" They filmed the entire process....including adding electrical and plumbing after the fact.
 
   / Anyone with ICF building experience?
  • Thread Starter
#57  
This is most recent outside photo showing stucco on, closed in, moved in but still working on doors and trim. Taken in February after the only snow we got all winter...It was gone by that evening. Got the 2m antenna up...I put 1 1/2" pipes up through the roof into a couple interior stud walls so I could put up tv dish, ham antenna, etc. and have cables running through weatherhead into walls. Also photo of interior before sheetrock showing nail protection plates in place. Even with that, cabinet installer still put a screw right through the center of MC cable!
OK, that's how it went over the last 7yrs. I had originally planned on using Polysteel 'cause a buddy of mine was a dealer and even got a bunch of it but ended up selling it after hearing about different problems installing it like cutting it with poly then hitting the steel in it. Also just wasn't thrilled about polystyrene even though once it's built you wouldn't see it but you would still have a million little balls of poly around. The Faswall is just wood chips from pallets (which sometimes are hardwood) with the rigid insulation block built in. The Faswall is all covered up now too but I did leave one spot open in a closet for a 'truth window'. It's pretty easy to work with and I would definitely do it again.

Good stuff DirtRanger, thank you so much for the pix & info! I know it takes some time to post that all up, I appreciate it!

Fantastic build site, love those high elevation views! Another unique house design as well, wondering how you settled on that? Also curious what led you to going with the concrete floor on the top level? Would love to see more pix in & out as you finish things up. (More of yours too, Montana Dave!)

Two positive reviews of Faswall, also a good sign. I'm thinking my simple rectangle should be a piece of cake!
 
   / Anyone with ICF building experience? #58  
I used ICF forms for my garage foundation back in 2015. I believe they were Arxx Brand, but as I looked today, they may have been an older series. Mine were 12" by 3'-0" X 2" thick foam panels with 1/2" x 1/2" Lego style bumps (top & bottom) to interlock the courses. Think 3D checker board. Outside & inside walls were connected with these plastic spacers. I went with 8" as it was only the foundation. However, my garage sits on pure rock so I had to cut the bottoms to the rock taper. It wasn't difficult once you go the hang of it, just needed a level & a way to scribe the foam to the rock. I used a jigsaw to cut them with a fine blade & got a typical insulation serrated knife for the minor cuts. Sawzall wasn't as friendly to them, granted it didn't break any, but was a lot harder to keep to the scribe line. The plastic spreaders slide down these plastic channels that are embedded in the foam. That part was a breeze. it was helpful to put any horizontal steel in place while you are laying the courses as the spreaders get in the way. I tied the steel right to the spreaders to keep everything in place. Since my slab & foundation were all one pour, I had to backfill the interio up to the empty forms, this caused a little bow out in the deepest section, about 4' tall wall. I had to scramble to backfill the outside also, so despite what the manufacturer says, they do not hold back over 4' of fill. I used the loader to dump the stone, but hand raked it up to the forms so it wouldn't shift, this kept all the other lines straight. I also ran an open ended pipe from inside to outside @ the low spot so any water that came up out of the rock had a way to get out, the forms seal extremely tight. I used a can of spray expanding foam to seal an large irregularities between forms & rock. I then ran rigid foam on the gravel to over the top of the inside side of the forms to keep a continuous insulation barrier. Then my metal reinforcing mesh & radiant tubing. One thing I didn't like about them is the corners. They are rounded on the inside, (outside is square) so when you lay out the studs above, the outside corners are sitting on foam not concrete, so i used the serrated knife and trimmed them square inside. I wouldn't recommend if you are going more than 4' tall as this weakened the corners a bit & all that poured concrete weight could cause bowing of the corners. Not sure if any of this helped you, but this was my experience with them. Here is a photo as we got close to pouring the concrete.
IMG_20151227_155023-1.jpg
 
   / Anyone with ICF building experience?
  • Thread Starter
#59  
I used ICF forms for my garage foundation back in 2015. I believe they were Arxx Brand, but as I looked today, they may have been an older series. Mine were 12" by 3'-0" X 2" thick foam panels with 1/2" x 1/2" Lego style bumps (top & bottom) to interlock the courses. Think 3D checker board. Outside & inside walls were connected with these plastic spacers. I went with 8" as it was only the foundation. However, my garage sits on pure rock so I had to cut the bottoms to the rock taper. It wasn't difficult once you go the hang of it, just needed a level & a way to scribe the foam to the rock. I used a jigsaw to cut them with a fine blade & got a typical insulation serrated knife for the minor cuts. Sawzall wasn't as friendly to them, granted it didn't break any, but was a lot harder to keep to the scribe line. The plastic spreaders slide down these plastic channels that are embedded in the foam. That part was a breeze. it was helpful to put any horizontal steel in place while you are laying the courses as the spreaders get in the way. I tied the steel right to the spreaders to keep everything in place. Since my slab & foundation were all one pour, I had to backfill the interio up to the empty forms, this caused a little bow out in the deepest section, about 4' tall wall. I had to scramble to backfill the outside also, so despite what the manufacturer says, they do not hold back over 4' of fill. I used the loader to dump the stone, but hand raked it up to the forms so it wouldn't shift, this kept all the other lines straight. I also ran an open ended pipe from inside to outside @ the low spot so any water that came up out of the rock had a way to get out, the forms seal extremely tight. I used a can of spray expanding foam to seal an large irregularities between forms & rock. I then ran rigid foam on the gravel to over the top of the inside side of the forms to keep a continuous insulation barrier. Then my metal reinforcing mesh & radiant tubing. One thing I didn't like about them is the corners. They are rounded on the inside, (outside is square) so when you lay out the studs above, the outside corners are sitting on foam not concrete, so i used the serrated knife and trimmed them square inside. I wouldn't recommend if you are going more than 4' tall as this weakened the corners a bit & all that poured concrete weight could cause bowing of the corners. Not sure if any of this helped you, but this was my experience with them. Here is a photo as we got close to pouring the concrete.
View attachment 618250

Thanks Loaderman, all info is appreciated, as I'll be in research mode for the next several years.... So much to learn!
 
   / Anyone with ICF building experience? #60  
Thanks Loaderman, all info is appreciated, as I'll be in research mode for the next several years.... So much to learn!

You're welcome. I just bought them & went for it. If you have any carpentry or building skills, they are not that bad to assemble, just remember, concrete flows, so you need to keep it tight together. If the rock you're building on is uneven, have some gravel handy to shovel around the forms & some spray foam to seal in the concrete.
 

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