Building with ICF House Plans

1
Building with ICF House Plans A Step-by- Step
Guide
I have had inquiries about Insulated Concrete
Form (ICF) construction. What is ICF? Should I
consider ICF house plans for my new home? Those
who have read my profile know that for more than
20 years I have designed and built using solid
construction systems. I did so because I believe
solid construction methodology is superior in
every way to conventional composition
construction as in framed construction. It is
important when planning to design and build a
house for your next home to take into
consideration that when you clear a lot and build
a structure you permanently change the ecosystem
that was there. So first, carefully evaluate
exactly where on this lot your house should be
placed and what trees you can save and what you
are going to do with the timber that you must
remove. Next, instead of just orienting your
house to the street, consider orienting your
house to the sun to take advantage of passive or
active solar energy to heat and cool your
home. Then examine what other resources are
present to your site that can be integrated in a
synergistic relationship to your new habitat. Is
there stone or site timber that can be utilized
into your plan? Is there water on your site? Is
your lot large enough to use convection ground
tubes or bore wells for geothermal heating and
cooling? These are just a few of the things you
should peruse when finalizing and implementing a
plan for the construction of your next home. My
point is your primary concern should be to reduce
as much as possible your impact on the
environment. Now this brings me back to solid
construction and the use of Insulated Concrete
forms (ICF). Most of my experience has been in
specializing in using a hybrid approach to
designing and building a solid concrete house. I
recommend using ICF as the best system for
construction below ground level either in a
basement or in an earth bermed house. For above
grade I prefer using Autoclaved Aerated Concrete
(AAC), which I will address in a future
blog. There are at least a dozen companies which
have their own patented insulated forms. What is
common to all of them is they make a permanent
concrete form using polystyrene foam for the
shell of the building blocks for the forms or as
in the case of Rastra Forms they make a cement
form blocks in which use polystyrene beads as an
aggregate and insulating element. Most of the
companies use 2 inches or more of 2-pound density
foam on the inside and outside walls of their
form blocks. 2 lb. density polystyrene foam has a
resistance to heat transfer from
2
inside or outside with a rating of R-6 per inch
so a standard 12 form has a rating of R-24 and
the solid 8 inches of concrete on the inside has
a thermal mass that is hard to calculate but is
at least R-2. Save Green by Building
Green These thick, airtight walls act like a warm
hug for your home. Cozying you up while fending
off sky-high utility bills. In fact, studies
show ICF homeowners can slash energy costs by
over 50! But thats just the start. These
sustainable stunners will keep your wallet and
Mother Nature happy for decades. Boasting
fireproof forms, steel-reinforced durability, and
low (like, hardly any) maintenance
needs. Fortresses for the Modern Age Worried
about wild weather? Scoff at severe storms when
you live in an ICF stronghold! With their
beastly steel-reinforced concrete cores, these
homes shrug off raging winds and angry skies.
Theyll keep your family safe and serene, no
matter whats happening outside. And that solid
construction isnt just brawn, its function too.
With superior noise insulation, ICF houses hush
the chaos of the outside world. More Than Meets
the Eye (And Budget!) Okay, we know what youre
thinking This all sounds amazing, but what
about the price! True, ICF houses can have
higher upfront costs. But stick with us for a
second! Over the lifetime of your home, those
energy savings, low maintenance, and
storm-defying strength, house resell value, more
than make up for it. Were talking decades of
cost-effective comfort! Plus, with free ICF and
concrete house plans available online for every
dream homefrom snug cottages to sprawling
estatesyou can easily find an affordable fit.
ICF House Plans Advantages
3
Insulation When you consider that a standard wood
framed wall is R-13 using conventional fiberglass
insulation between wood 24s the difference is
remarkable in energy consumption over the
lifetime of your habitation. Another factor to
understand is that fiberglass insulation ratings
are primarily based on heat transfer from the
inside of the house to the outside, but not so
much from the outside in. Solid foam insulation
is superior in this respect because it is
unbiased in that it is as effective in resisting
heat induction from the outside and this can be
very important especially in hotter climates in
reducing cooling loads. Solid foam insulation is
also at least twice as effective in sound
isolation than fiberglass insulation. Sound
Isolation Another advantage of solid insulation
as in the use of ICF construction is its high
sound isolation over conventional construction
and insulation. Such solid construction makes for
a quiet home, whether from the sound pollution
from outside or the hum of mechanical
systems. Rebar Another common aspect of ICF
systems is that they all use an integrated way of
placing rebar reinforcement in proper spacing
both vertically and horizontally. This is
critical to this form of construction. Block
Patterns What distinguishes these different
companies forms is primarily in how the blocks
fit together, such as in a tongue and groove
pattern or a waffle pattern. Wall
Attachments The other factor is the method they
provide for attachments to the forms such as
sheetrock, furring strips or paneling. Wall
Strength Finally, another difference is in how
much concrete is required to fill the forms. It
may be argued that those that require more
concrete are stronger and those that require less
concrete have a higher thermal mass. Rest
assured that there has been extensive engineering
done in the design of these forms and when you
meticulously assemble these systems with proper
reinforcement
4
placing, tying, and overlapping rebar, especially
at corners, this is an extremely strong and
reliable building system. Withstanding
Catastrophes The most remarkable factor about
solid construction over conventional framed
construction is that when it is properly
assembled it is a monolithic structure making it
more capable of withstanding high winds, floods
and even earthquakes, in that the entire system
moves together like a ship on the ocean. When
composition construction is met with these same
conditions a part of the structure may be
impacted and it pulls away from the rest of the
structure making the system subject to
collapse. Fires In a fire a solid houses
integrity is not compromised, even if the foam
forms melt the concrete structure remains.
These forms are resistant to fire and insulate
the concrete and steel within from
disintegrating with the intense heat. However,
with intense heat over an extended period the
forms will melt. Now on the other hand Autoclaved
Aerated Concrete (AAC) is not affected by fire
at all. Infestations ICF systems are generally
resistant to insect infestation. Early on however
it was discovered that termites will channel
between the foam and concrete to get to wood. I
recommend however not using wood structure in a
concrete house. Concrete Wood? Concrete and
wood are not compatible. Wood is an organic
material which expands and contracts while
concrete and steel do not. This is why stucco
sided houses have gotten such a bad reputation.
Masonry stucco is intended for steel frame or
masonry construction. If you decide to use wood
framing for partition walls in a solid built
house, be prepared for cracked sheet rock joints
especially at corners where the concrete meets
wood. I believe that most of the ICF
manufacturers have now lined the insides of their
forms with boric acid which insects cannot
tolerate. To state what seems obvious, ICF
houses are durable, strong, reliable and will not
rot like wood. I cannot tell you in my 35 years
much of which was remedial work on wood (stick)
frame
5
houses, how many dumpsters I have sent to land
fills filled with rotten or insect riddled wood
and failed siding materials impregnated with
formaldehyde. I do not think I need to tell you
that cannot be good for our environment! My
experience with trying to correct poor
workmanship, failed building materials and the
general flaws of standard wood framed
construction is what led me to seek out
alternatives to overcome the typical issues I
was addressing with clients homes. This is what
led me to using ICF for basements and AAC for
above grade as a primary building system for my
designs and construction. I did extensive
research and training so that I could design and
build these systems and train crews to do this
work. I discovered how important it is to
anticipate ahead of time what can and cannot be
done effectively on the building site and how to
prepare various crews for the eventualities they
may face in performing their work on the site.
So, I prepare plans in such a way that most
construction practitioners can understand. One
thing few people understand is that it can take
years for concrete to cure to its highest
compression strength. This is a stark difference
between typical cast-in-place concrete using
steel or aluminum forms. Permanent ICF forms
allow the concrete to hold its natural chemical
heating process and the moisture for it to cure
completely achieving its intended compression
strength. As soon as conventional forms are
removed, and the concrete is exposed to the air
the curing process ends and its compression
strength. So, Are There Cons to Using ICF
Construction? I have seen this system fail in two
occasions. Both were a result of poor workmanship
practices which failed. It is important to
understand the system and follow the proper
construction procedures. Honeycombing One house
had a wall failure because of honeycombing, or
voids in the concrete, which was a result of
when the forms were poured, they did not vibrate
the forms and they used too high of slump
concrete, so consequently the concrete did not
fill the forms uniformly. Corner Collapse The
other failure was a corner collapse. First, this
was a result of the workers not bending the
rebar at the proper 90 degrees and proper tying
and minimal overlap. Second, the corner was
6
not adequately braced during the pour, which may
have been providential in that it exposed the
reinforcement failure which would have failed
later after the construction of the second
story. When pouring concrete into these forms
make sure you do not use more than a 4 slump
concrete and use 3200-4000 psi concrete. Make
sure that as the forms are filled, they are
vibrated to prevent honeycombing. There is no
grace in using this building system with faulty
workmanship! Strong Bracing Required Another con
is that it requires a great deal of bracing to
hold the forms during pouring and curing. I
cannot stand seeing construction materials not
being salvaged and thrown away as waste. I
highly recommend that all exterior and interior
load walls be built with ICF forms and
concrete. All other non-load bearing partition
walls should be framed with light gauge steel
studs, so the bracing you use for the forms
should be steel and salvaged after the concrete
is cured, so they can be used for partition
walls. Blow Outs There can be unforeseen blow
outs during the pour which can be very
frustrating and costly. Make sure before pouring
to have ready plywood patches and screws to cover
these blow outs quickly. Never try to do a pour
with less than four skilled workers on site and
certainly more on a larger house. Form
Bulges Another thing that can happen unforeseen
is permanent bulges in the forms. It is important
to apply expanding polyurethane adhesive between
form blocks for permanent bond and fill possible
unseen voids between blocks. Also make sure to
adequately brace the forms before the
pour. Proper Threaded Rod Placement ICF is a
part of a complete monolithic structure and
should be built on a well reinforced monolithic
concrete slab. I highly recommend forming a
keyway joint and properly tying 5/8 threaded
rods to the horizontal footing rods to extend
through each story to the top bond beam.
7
With a plan that calls for or requires a basement
I design specifying the use of ICF permanent
forms and do a complete surround concrete
basement in which I use as a heat/cold closet in
integration with natural convection air flow to
reduce heating and cooling loads. Most of my
experience has been in designing and building
with two different ICF systems, which I can
certainly endorse and share what you need to know
if you use these forms. The first is American
Poly steel Forms and the other is Rastra. Find
Your Fortress at Eco Sustainable Home Designs Why
settle for a home that just looks pretty? With an
ICF house plans from ecosustainablehomedesigns.com
, youll enjoy rock-solid construction, superior
energy efficiency, and savings galore! Weve
got free-to-browse options to spark all the
inspiration. Small, sustainable starter homes?
Yep. Sprawling, multi-generational palaces? You
betcha. Eclectic, eye-catching architectural
gems? Oh, yeah. Whatever your dream home goals,
we have an ICF plan thatll check every box.
Durable, gorgeous, and energy-savvy? Now thats
what we call a win-win! So what are you waiting
for? Your dream ICF homeand all its benefitsare
just a click away here! Discover ultra-efficient
comfort that keeps you and your wallet happier,
longer. Conclusion Insulated Concrete Form
construction is an excellent building system when
proper procedure is applied. I use this system
often in full surround basements in my designs.
Because of its effective high thermal mass I use
these basements as heat/cool closets in
correlation with integrated natural convection
air flow to highly reduce heating and cooling
loads which translates into lower energy
consumption. If you have an interest in this
form of construction or have further questions,
please let me know. I am happy to work with you
on such a plan and provide consulting for you and
your builder. Contact us now!