Shane, Spray foam can be very expensive, there is closed cell and open cell foam. Open cell spray foam is about R3.6 and closed cell is about R7. Of course, the R value doesn't tell the hole story, spray foam is superior at blocking air leaks in to the house. But with spray foam, you will still have the thermal bridging at the studs. Wood is not a very good insulator, about R1 per inch, so your over all R value for the wall is decreased due to using studs. In my area, Nebraska, open cell goes for about $1.90 per sq/ft of 2x6 wall, and closed is about $5.25 per sq/ft of 2x6 wall.
Check with some ICF manufacturers, some have prices right on their website, and some have a contractor locater. One manufacturer, I think it is Poly Steel even has a owner builder program, they help you get financing and all that good stuff. _____ From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandy...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Shane Hecker Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 10:58 PM To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] building question Here's the short version. Energy efficiency. I've heard that a house built in this way can save an average of 50% on electric bills. I want an energy efficient home so that's why I'm looking at icf. I'm also looking at conventional construction with blow in insulation, preferably foam. Everything I've heard though suggests icf as being the way to go. Oh, did I mention icf homes can take 200+ mph winds? I do happen to live in a hurricane zone. Shane Shane ----- Original Message ----- From: Dale Leavens To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 4:21 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] building question I am curious to know why you want to use this sort of construction. The system works well for basement construction where much of the foam is well protected in the ground and you can form a good seal between the top and the floor decking but once you need to mount windows into it and seal a roof structure things begin to get more complicated. Nothing cannot be overcome of course and this is a similar problem with the insulated panel style of construction as well. There is a lot of construction that goes on, you need very good scaffold to carry workmen and pressurized cement hoses, they must be fastidious about filling all of the voids in the foam forms and a lot of work goes into installing all that rebar, wiring the joints, spacing it away from the edges and so on. There needs to be structure for installing windows and doors and it needs to be precise and not move during pouring. finally, how ever you choose to cover the building you are into screwing some sort of strapping into the plastic foam retainers. This is one thing on the inside of a basement wall but something very different on an exterior wall, not impossible of course but additional complication. I imagine it would be difficult to modify such a structure as well, put on an addition or alter a window. The system does allow pretty good insulation though. Again I am curious as to what interests you in that sort of construction. ----- Original Message ----- From: Shane Hecker To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 2:59 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] building question I don't know of anyone in this area who has built a house like this. Shane ----- Original Message ----- From: Lee A. Stone To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 11:16 AM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] building question Shane, do you know of others in your area who have built such a house? Perhaps a call to those who wil mix and deliver your concrete would be a good idea, for instance of how much weight is involved with each wall and might they suggestet a thicker or wider footing and how to tie the walls in with the footings. a well planned project such as this, as you know will come out better. Good luck., oh, I forgot . where are you building this house? Lee On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 09:40:27PM -0500, Shane Hecker wrote: > Has anyone built a concrete house using the insulated concrete forms? If so, > how did it go? Is it what you expected as far as energy savings? Are there > any problems to watch out for? I'm asking because I'm considering building a > house in this way. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks. > > Shane > -- Historical Slumming: The act of visiting locations such as diners, smokestack industrial sites, rural villages -- locations where time appears to have been frozen many years back -- so as to experience relief when one returns back to "the present." -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture" . [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
