Can someone explain the pros and cons to a new construction home made with insulated concrete forms?

Bulletproof?

Not sure of the cons, but when I researched them years ago, if done correctly, they hold up well in earthquakes, high winds, and wildfires. You have to plan well where to run wires, pipes, etc.

A lot of the designs I've seen look like normal houses.

There are a several pros and cons to them. That said, when we build, that will be our next house within the next 3 years. I want to have it with a metal roof, and Hardi-board siding. I want a near zero maintenance place.

The cons are it can be harder to get a loan for it as it is non-traditional from what I have read. Another is you want someone who has experience building them, and there may or may not be someone with this experience in your area. Thirdly, the foam board can offgas in a fire, so you are required to have a heavier drywall, which can add to the cost. Speaking of cost, they can be more expensive then traditional stick built, by 15% or so. Lastly, you will prob need an air exchange system as the houses are extremely tight, ie no air infiltration besides windows.

Pros are it is tight, which can reduce energy costs (it is a double edged sword). Energy is only going to go up. They are stronger and more likely to withstand natural disasters (hurricanes and large snow loads on the roof). Simple/quick to build, as it frames up quickly. And yes, it is bullet proof, as most walls are probably 8" thick on avg.

I can't wait to live in my Igloo cooler. That's kind of what you end up with.

Here's a good video for you: Insulated Concrete Forms Advantages . Good luck!

Here's one serious pro. Vietnamese immigrant built this one which survived the Oakland fire a few years back. The photo tells all.

Look into structural insulated panels as well. Same idea, many of the same advantages and disadvantages.

I built 25 houses with SIP exterior panels and was quite pleased with that. Super energy efficient, termite and fire retardant, earthquake resistant if not earthquake proof and easy to work with.

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Originally posted by JALLEN:
Look into structural insulated panels as well. Same idea, many of the same advantages and disadvantages.

I built 25 houses with SIP exterior panels and was quite pleased with that. Super energy efficient, termite and fire retardant, earthquake resistant if not earthquake proof and easy to work with.

Am I correct SIP exterior panels do not use concrete? At first I thought they were a residential version of the commercial concrete tilt up panels, but it seems they are not.

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Originally posted by deepocean:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Look into structural insulated panels as well. Same idea, many of the same advantages and disadvantages.

I built 25 houses with SIP exterior panels and was quite pleased with that. Super energy efficient, termite and fire retardant, earthquake resistant if not earthquake proof and easy to work with.

Am I correct SIP exterior panels do not use concrete? At first I thought they were a residential version of the commercial concrete tilt up panels, but it seems they are not.

SIPs are a foam OSB sandwich, no concrete. Sometimes the sandwich is other than OSB, I guess.

The houses I built, from a stick built floor plan built nearby, had utility bills about a third of the stick builts of the same design. They were acoustically much quieter. Termites die when they eat the SIPs.

I used ICF extensively in my garage and house construction. The garage is two story, totally ICF, and the basement of the house is ICF with logs on top.

The structure is 6 years old, and I believe the benefits claimed for ICF are true. The garage, for example, has well insulated doors and is considerably warmer/cooler than normal. Fortunately, I can't attest to the strength, but it seems to be everything it's claimed to be.

The only potential negative is that the forms use hard plastic strips in the styrofoam part spaced every eight inches that act as studs. Initially we covered the garage with wood veneer to match the log home, but it warped, cracked, etc. The staples used to attach it didn't seem to hold well.

Fast forward, I'm now in the process of replacing the wood veneer with manufactured stone. The wood has been removed and metal has been screwed to the exterior to hold the stone. We found that the staples used to hold the metal for the foundation would pull right out. The screws seem to be holding the metal tightly to the exterior. We should be putting the stone up next week, so I can't say for sure it worked!

One last word: the contractor was concerned about the ability of the plastic "studs" to endure removing the staples and then being screwed into. I'm certainly no expert, but it does seem that if you remove and replace the interior or exterior enough, you'll wear out the plastic. I don't see any way to replace or repair it as you can with a wood stud.

I have pictures showing the construction if you're interested. I shut down the Photobucket account and haven't gotten up and running with another host yet, so just email me and I'll send you some pictures.

We have built two of the for clients.
Pros:
- Very energy efficient
- Perhaps the strongest house you can build with modern technology

Cons:
-Very labor intensive ( a lot of rebar bending and placement)
-Quite a bit more expensive than conventional construction
- As mentioned above questions about using the plastic strips to attach anything to. We shot a lathe screen into the concrete to hold the stone up on the exterior.
- Since the house doesn't breath you have to pay particular attention to the HVAC system including the use of an ERV

If you are in a tornado or hurricane area I would endorse it otherwise I'm not sure its worth the expense unless you want to have your own castle!

We're currently in the planning stage for and ICF constructed home. Haven't finalized the cost portion yet. We're having trouble finding any reputable contractors with any verifiable experience with ICF construction. Heck...we're just having trouble finding reputable contractors altogether.

We're seriously considering doing it ourselves, and perhaps flying in an experienced ICF builder for the pour. Tooling is the issue now.

I've been wanting to avoid the SIP because of the wood component. The cost and logistics of ICF may end up pushing us back to SIP. I'm more comfortable doing SIP construction myself. Since we'll be doing it in stages, we've considered doing the shop first with ICF before making the final decision on the construction type for the home. Since we're doing this for cash as we go rather than financing...nothing is happening fast.

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If you are in a tornado or hurricane area I would endorse it otherwise I'm not sure its worth the expense unless you want to have your own castle!

I desperately want a castle....

There is becoming a benefit to having a simplistic looking, impenetrable shell which might encourage nefarious types to go elsewhere. I've seen a lot of galvanized siding used (roofing sheets), that idea intrigues me. It can be painted easily and should last 100 years or more if not compromised. It's not difficult to patch if it is.

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Originally posted by smlsig:
Cons:
-Quite a bit more expensive than conventional construction

When you say quite a bit more expensive, how much more %-wise than a comparable wood framed home? I've often heard 15% quoted, but I'm wondering if in practice it can be a lot more.

SMLSIG several of the homes in your gallery, are absolutely stunning.

A friend has one near me. The detail I caught in discussing construction is that the concrete is/needs to be rather fluid to flow into the core. There had to be numerous pours so each one was not deep enough to cause hydraulic pressure and blow out the foam shell.

SCIP (Structural Concrete Insulated...) panels are like SIPs but with Concrete/Shotcrete covering them. Foam sheets, surrounded by welded wire mesh, stacked aside like Lego until assembly, then tensioned together with wire, then coated inside and out with shotcrete. R value is determined by thickness of foam sheets, generally in the 4-12" range. Pretty cool stuff.

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Originally posted by AKSuperDually:
SMLSIG several of the homes in your gallery, are absolutely stunning.

If I hit powerball tonight I'm buying one. I love Smith Mountain Lake.

I have been studying ICF construction for about 2 years. The US Army has built some structures for testing, then fired off an IUD next to the structure. The concrete survived well, only the foam siding blew off.

AKSuperDully, I know someone who has built ICF in Alaska. He explained that they usually use an ICF where some cement is mixed in with the foam. I believe it was 1/6 cement and 5/6 foam. This keeps some ants from burrowing into the foam, which was a problem in an area he worked on.

Also the foam with concrete ICF is very easy to plaster over with various stuccos. Straight foam ICF blocks need a sprayed on intermediate layer before applying stucco. I subscribe to ICF Magazine, it comes out every two months. The mag has lots of good information.

We did some work in a "castle" over in Illinois. It was a several million dollar home built using ICF.

They flew in a guy that built churches out of them to oversee that part of the construction.

There are some nice homes here.

http://www.icfmag.com/builder_...017/2017_awards.html