Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs)

[WestKyTeacher]

My wife and I are thinking about building and have been introduced to the idea of using ICFs. I've done a lot of research but was wondering if anyone here has a house made out of ICF or if they know of anyone and what they are saying about them. Any negatives to going with ICF? Things to look out for or know ahead of time?

If you are unfamiliar with ICFs here is at least one link that explains them.

http://hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/98/980712.html

Thanks for your help!

[horst]

Re: Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs)

Ive worked with them a little bit, Im not an expert on them by any means.Theyre great for energy savings, and theyre fairly simple to use.Ive only done basements with them, sounds like youre wanting to do the whole house outta them?

Things to look for are what kinda fasteners they have, your gonna want to finish the inside and outside of the house with something other than the pink foam.Drywall, siding, things like that all need to be attached.Theres a lotta variations on ways to do this so youll wanna think about that when choosing a form.The ones we used all had plastic clips, my buddy just did one that actually had strip in the form on 16 inch centers to fasten to.

Second thing, its a lot harder to change things set in cement.Door and window openings youll wanna give a lotta consideration, because once their poured it becomes very hard to change em down the road.You can always make em smaller but its awfully complicated to make em bigger.Id suggest going with the bigger is better train of thought for doors and windows set in concrete, you can always downsize em later if they need replaced.

Bout all I can think of right off, any other problems generally arise from the contractor and not the forms themselves, outta level, honeycombing, things like that can all be avoided by getting a good contractor.

Good luck

Horst

[superguide]

Re: Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs)

My buddy builds houses with them and they seem to work alright.