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.

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.