The Igloo Has Arrived

Straight ICF by Reward Walls

These are corner pieces

Standing in the Bedroom Looking West

Master Wing looking SSW

Corner pieces laid out on what will be the front of the house as it zigs and zags in and out.  The dropped area is the courtyard and front entry just beyond it.  Notice the mud on the slab is from the removal of the forms the other day. 

The big Igloo is here.

Tons to report on today, and a lot happened, but it is late and I am tired...  Here are the highlights

ICF guys were there and ICF was on site when I arrived this morning.  Passed the semi on the way out so I was as giddy as a schoolchild when I arrived to find all kinds of activity.

They had to hand carry all the ICF (light), wood for window frames (heavy) and rebar (really heavy) down through the mud, as neither trucks could risk getting into the driveway.

ICF guys worked through the day cutting the window frames (called bucks).  Which is a more complicated process than normal because I have asked them to allow me to "recess" the windows into the ICF 3 inches.  So they are building an 8 inch box, and another box that attaches to fill in the remainder of space during the pour.  After the pour the little box will be removed, and then the windows will be set 3 inches behind the face of the outside wall.  Cool eh...

They also did a lot of layout and even stacked some blocks, but I think what they stacked didn't have any rebar or ties in it yet.  They have red lines all around the perimeter where everything will go...  A large task in itself...  My wife says they look like somebody was playing around in their garage after Christmas with those plastic things Christmas lights come wrapped around, and hooked some up to an old styrofoam cooler.  Perhaps she is right...

We decided the dining window arrangement of 6 windows would not work as independent windows (too close for ICF) and I don't want to add a bunch of wood framing, so I headed to the window place to find out if they could all be "mulled" together and the whole unit set as one...  YES.    So with new rough opening dimensions in hand I headed back to the lot.

Also met with my dirt/bulldozer guy to look at the road.  Ouch, more than I thought to repair (materials), but it has to be done.  He wants to get in tomorrow for his schedule, so I had a huge pile of concrete chunks I wanted to throw into the driveway tracks (costs by the ton to have them hauled as trash, might as well use them for this task).... Hey, I think I did something green...  Actually, about 4000 pounds of green, through the muck.  Kind of stupid for an old man to be lugging around that weight in the mud.

Also hooked up some temporary electrical outlets down by the slab.  Actually just got one partially done.  Had to wire into the temp pole while it was hot, as there is no way to shut the power down inside the box itself.  Something I shouldn't do, but had to be done anyway.  The 10/2 wire I provided was way better than long extension cords, which have quite a voltage drop on that distance (in excess of 200 feet).  Not good for their tools, and it keeps everybody from having to walk through the trees and bushes.  Only got one little baby zap...  Insulated pliers on an insulated wire...  Got me anyway...  I lived.

OH, I had one pressure manifold that was losing about a pound a day.  2 days ago I messed with the manifold trying to find if it was leaking there... Well, today the pressure was still stable at 58 PSI... Good.

OH, almost forgot.  When I got there this morning the concrete guys were back and they had a wacky hydraulic thing that tensioned all the cables.  I was so busy with the ICF stuff that I never got over to talk to them, and they were gone lickety split.  Anyway, they tensioned the post tension cables.  Each cable came out of the slab easily 10 to 12 inches.... Crap.... That is a lot of force...  I guess somebody sometime will come out and cut those off and then mortar over the concrete and dress it up?  I never asked.

OH, stop starting your paragraphs with OH's.  My old English teacher wouldn't like that.  Well, she never liked me anyway, which is why I just called her old.

OK, off to bed.  More electrical work for me tomorrow. 

Dirt guy isn't coming till the following day now.  Good chance of rain that day.  I think the ICF guys will be here all week except Friday.  They have a lot to do.