ICF Day 2

Window Buck

No, not Uncle Buck, a window buck.

Don't ask me why they call them that, but this is what one looks like.  Actually, since we are doing the 3 inch recess the 2x4 section on the top and bottom plus a sliver of extra wood on the sides will come off after they pour.  This particular window is in the Master Toilet, and will be a 20 inch wide by 30 inch tall window (smallest window I could get that made sense for this space).  The largest buck is on the dining room window, which is now a mulled unit at 7 feet wide by 8 feet tall.  It has an awful lot of bracing in that unit to withstand the pressure of the concrete that will be above it coming down from the header across that window.  The opening at the bottom of the buck allows them to shovel in concrete in case it doesn't get filled from the sides, as well as get their "consolidator" concrete vibrator in there to make sure there are no voids in the concrete.  Pretty cool, eh.

The ICF guys spent most of the day again with more layout issues, positioning all the ICF over the slab and then measuring out where all the windows and doors will be.  I heard a rumor that their form braces are on another job waiting for a pour, so we may not go too far beyond what you see for a while.  Today they actually glued down the bottom course with a foam adhesive to the slab.  In some places they have placed the ICF forms slightly past the slab to allow for things not perfectly square, or in other cases to make things come out to an even inch increment.  I am hoping this won't cause too much trouble for the framers??  We have a lot of critical dimensions inside the house, primarily where all the columns get arches and groin ceilings on top of them.  But, in that area I think the ICF is sitting pretty much where it should be. 

A closeup of a corner form.  Every little square you see is 1 inch square.  There are lines right on the block so they can measure things and mark out things right on the block.  This block has had it's corner clipped so we could study the angle web that is in place (evidently a newer version of Reward block).  This is there so you can attach an interior wall right to it with screws.  Otherwise, you would screw into the foam and grab nothing.  The interior wall really isn't acting on the ICF wall much in terms of force, as it is really held in place by the bottom and top plates.  But, attaching at the mid point keeps the wall from bowing in and out, so this is a nice touch by Reward to include this feature.

Finally, I finished the electric plugs I promised just as the sun was going over the hill.  I had to wait till everybody was gone and not dependent on the electric.  Reworked the temp pole putting a strain releif tie where the romex entered the box, and then wired up both outlets, one on a pole, and the other on a portable stake that can be moved around.  The light you see I wired into a day/night sensor and then on top a 12 watt outdoor CFL bulb.  Puts off quite a bit of light for that wattage.  My iphone didn't like taking pictures in light like this, as it lit up the work area better than I thought.  Working with 10 gage wire is not what I am used to, and stuffing all that into a shallow box was pretty tough.  Wifey let me buy a new lithium powered drill before Christmas, though, and it was happy to screw all that stuff down lickety split...  he he he...

In this picture, you can see how the ICF terminates on top of the slab.  Also you can see the bottoms of where the windows will be in Bedroom 3.  At some point, they have to take off the corners of course 2 and weave rebar into place under that.  I think that will slow them down quite a bit tomorrow.  There was quite a bit of that already cut out there and laid in place all around the perimeter.

I am noticing more visitors at this stage.  I can't tell you the last ICF house I know of that was built in this area.  You don't normally hear about them because they aren't "mainstream" houses.  Talking to builders before we chose our path, maybe 2/3 of them had even heard of ICF, but none had used it.  That would be the 10 or so builders in town that are typically chosen for these types of projects.  They are used to a different set of challenges, and with the things we chose to depart the "norm" with on our project, I just couldn't justify paying them their fees for what they do when I would have been on site most of the time anyway.   They do make pretty houses, though.

I always want to be clear about how I view these "popular" builders.  I see houses made that basically suck in terms of different particular things, insulation, HVAC, electrical, plumbing... to just get me going.  It is funny to hear stories about "good" builders and "bad" builders.  Normally, the definition of these builders is more based on how they interacted with their clients rather than what was actually built.  Most of their customers have very little idea what the meat of a house is or should be, so you can't only blame the builders for their shortcomings in the areas I mentioned above.  Most of them know exactly how to do a lot of things better, it just isn't in the budget that drives the marketplace.  Although I am a strict advocate of capitalismn, I think that there are some areas here that would be better served by everybody if there was more stringent requirements on the "bones" of residential and commercial construction.   The popular builders get continually driven to make things prettier and not always better. 

One certain exception to this trend, however, has been the expansion of use of foam for insulation systems.  Spray foam in attic and sometimes (hopefully) walls has become much more popular with these upper end builders.  Interestingly, this trend has been driven by consumers rather than the builders themselves, of which most had to be practically begged into it.  Regardless, this change is triggering other positive things to happen as well, and more customers are asking hard questions like properly sizing HVAC systems and better designed pluming systems.  Our local MLS is even listing the "type" of insulation on home listings.... Even though the realators don't have even a slight clue what this means, not to mention the accuracy of the information (wet blown fiberglass or cellulose does not make spray foam).  But it indicates a finger of change.

So, in the end, the best builders may actually be saved by their own clients....rather than the other way around.  It is funny now to hear the sales pitch from the builder to clients on spray foam systems...  A complete 180...  Hmmm

And, I have to get one more cut in on ONE particular builder, who after hearing my explanation of the reasons for GEO over Air Source, asked me the question, "Why would I pay 2500 dollars per ton installed when I could pay 1500 dollars per ton for a traditional unit??"

My answer......   "Because, Sir, you don't pay for a single utility bill after your client moves in"

Rant Over...

OH, for Danny a a few others here in town, if you are reading this...  it doesn't apply to you.  Keep up the good work.