Building A House/Doing It Yourself/ICFs

[heehaw]

my better half an i have built 3 houses, or i should say, acted as our own contractor, and did a lot of the work ourselves; the only problem we ran into with the bank; the second house we waited till we had spent @ $30,000 before getting a loan; luckily we had a ledger and all receipts, they went thru them with a fine tooth comb; the only construction problem we had was with the sheet rockers; on all 3 houses, and not the same workers..if i ever build again, i will be there watching the sheet rockers constantly. the last house we did was for a daughter; in 96; @1200sq. ft; 3bedrm bath an a half; brick, 1 car garage, vinyl windows, 6inch walls; total cost @ $35,000.
geothermal; i have followed 4 installations; and i think its the way to go if your gonna stay there for at least 8-10 years; one of these used 1 well, and then dumped the water on the ground, garden in the summer, and pasture in the winter, i haven't been able to find out how much water it takes, but it must need a good well; the other 2 drilled wells and put loops in the wells; one put the loops in parallel, this one doesn't work worth a crap; the other has the loops in series and it works great..the last buried the pipes in the ground, @10 ft deep; and it works great..
heehaw

 

[dmccarty]

The R value of an ICF house is a very good question without a good answer. The manufactuers usually state the R value is anywhere from 25 to 50. A government lab, I think it was Oak Ridge was doing a study, that threw even more fuel on the fire. I'm not sure there is a good answer... 8-(

On the other hand, I guess I really don't care about the R value. I care about the cooling/heating costs. Everything I have read over the last 10 years says you save 50-70% in energy costs.

Running services, power/plumbing/phone/network/ etc is another good question. To save money on the wire installations some manufactuers tell you to run a router on the surface of the form to create a route for the wire. When the drywall is put up the wire is attached to a wall plate. Plumbing on exterior walls has to be considered carefull since you might have to install the pipes before the concrete is poured. These are the two things I don't like about ICFs.

I was drawing up a new floor plan last night to submit for approval to The Power That Be, when it occured to me to use furring lumber to give me a empty space to run wire. I was origionally going to use 2x4s to do this but that seems like such a waste.

Hope this helps...
Dan McCarty

 

[heehaw]

go to dougrye.com if you are considering building your own house; he is one of the most energy conscious architects
in the business, anywhere...he's big on geothermal units and says if you build your house to his specs; a 2000sq ft house will cost @ $50 a month to heat or cool, thats in the arkansas/missouri area..
heehaw

 

[RJohnson]

I have seen R values from R17 to R40 depends upon the exact system you use. I found some very good information at http://www.pcinews.com/concrete/ and there is a good article about electrical installation. Usually they cut out channels in the interior foam panel. The thing that really got my attention was the article for HVAC. The ICF type of homes are much more airtight than a conventional home and you may need fresh air introducted into the home.

Randy

 

[heehaw]

its been a while since i looked at doug ryes information, but it seems like he covers the need for fresh air in a tight house?? a couple of the things he recommends, other than geothermal hvac; metal ductwork, with joints sealed with mastic, air infiltration, cellulose insulation, caulk caulk caulk, his nickname is the king of caulk and talk..in this area, he advertises that he will guarantee the $50 heating/cooling cost. not sure what kind of guarantee???
heehaw

 

[dmccarty]

Hello Larry,

I finally got around to looking for my Fine Homebuilding with the geothermal information. More importantly I was actually able to find it last night!

It had some pretty good info and what really suprised me is that the author/contractor is in Apex, NC which is about 200 yards from the back of my current house! I'm going to have to reread the article but the prices seemed reasonable especially if he gives me a good discount for digging the trenches myself.

Thanks for the pointer....
Dan McCarty

 

[LarryT]

Dan, Keep us posted on your findings. I'm planning to do the same thing myself in a couple years so I'm very interested in your experiences.

Thanks,


Larry...

 

[dmccarty]

Larry,

You might get into the house before we do! The Power That Be and I had yet another talk about the house this weekend and we don't know what we are going to do. Before we start the house, the driveway has to be built so we can get the well drilled and the fill for the septic system put into place. I also have a couple of burns to do before hand as well. The burns are totally dependent on the weather. Which makes things even more easy. NOT!

Our current plan is for me to do all of that work to save money. Well we need money to do this and it will take awhile to get the cash. Unless we get a good amount back from Uncle Sam. Even at best case I would be lucky to have the driveway, well and septic fill done by spring. We have to have house plans drawn up which is going to take more time and money. Soooo, if we do it the way I just outlined things we would be hard pressed to get the house built by 12/20001. Instead of pushing, which is what we did last year, I think we are just going to take our time.

Course I'm interested in the geothermal system which adds more items to the ToDo List......

The only way around this timeframe is to get the loan from the bank and run the risk with the well and septic systems. Our neighbor/friend is doing this and I think they are nuts. Our/Theirs septic fill has to sit for at least 30 days before anything can be done with it. Their house is under construction and they are trying to move in by April . They have not put down one yard of dirt.......

I don't think I want to put myself into that kinda rock and hard place.

So, you might just get it done before us!

Later...
Dan McCarty

 

[putty340]

dmcarty,doing the foundation is pretty straightforward,go slow , the only things that can mess you up is not having it square and bracing.make sure the ground is solid-if you do disturb the ground,pack it with a jumper.the reason that the colder regions have crawls is the cold concrete just doesnt get warm in the winter, slab on grade is cheaper if you live in warmer areas. I just got finished building my house,the only things i subbed out was the plumming and the electrical- DO RESEARCH YOUR SUBS! If you are a homeowner they have a tendancy to overcharge you and put your job off as soon as they start it. If you go slow you can do it,just dont listen to people who try to scare you away from doing your own thing. GOOD LUCK.

 

[cowboydoc]

Dan,
Depending on the house that you want to build you can do it in six months if you have the time. My house was simple on the outside but we made it very nice on the inside. Three reasons for this. 1. I didn't have the time to do a complicated outside framing and concrete pour. I kept it pretty simple. 2. If it's not so extravagant on the outside then the tax man doesn't get you and in Iowa property taxes are outrageous. 3. I didn't plan on this being my last house. We started in the fall of 1999 and finished it up the end of this last summer 2000. I worked about 6-8 hours a day on the house plus 8-10 hours a day at the office. At times it really drug me down but in the end it was worth it. I had one guy that was a carpenter for a local contractor that helped me and I had a couple high school kids that helped with the grunt work on and off. Including the 25 acres, two barns and house I had about $120,000 into the place when I was done. The last appraisal that I got was for $265,000. The place down the road from me is an old house from the 70's with a small barn and only 15 acres and it sold for $195,000 so I think mine may even be priced a little low.
Anyway my point is that you can save alot money and have alot of equity when you are done by doing it yourself but just be prepared for that 6-8 months of hell working all those hours.