yummy mummy

Nice house comp1911.

What's behind, on the second floor where the wall jets out somewhat?

comp1911

I guess you could call it a "great room". Living room and kitchen. We installed the T&G ceiling, cabinets, Bellawood maple floor and the tile. Not to mention the 5.6 million coats of red paint.

yummy mummy

It looks absolutely beautiful.

How high is the ceiling at the peak?

I also have a "great room".
But not as "great" as yours! I don't think.


How large is the room?
I love the ceiling.
Did you do all that yourself?

comp1911

If I recall correctly the peak is around 13'. The room is 26' wide and the long wall is 34".

My dad and I did the ceiling. My wife, mom and inlaws poly'ed the boards prior to installation.

yummy mummy

Looks great!
Enjoy it.

bjr23

I'm not seeing to many manufacturers being recommended. I'm using Quadlock. I'm putting in a full basement with a 27x68 manufactured home It's complicated system with a definite structure as to how the sheet of styrofoam get connected. It has to overlap the joints properly to make the pegs fit the holes and it needs to be overlapped in the 1/2 sheets everyother course. Once you get the system figured out there will the exceptions that will try to get the joints out of sequence. Window and door bucks never seem to come out dead on the joining marks on the styrofoam. This makes for a lot cutting and custom fitting and lead to a lot of waste or short pieces. I'm going 10' high or 10 courses. I'll have a little over1200 sheets used or 120 per course with a lot of custom custom fitting. In 100 degree heat it's a duanting task. I'll have the forms up in abother 2 weeks. I couldn't rent coventional forms so unless I wanted to be packing around a bunch of 1" thick or thicker plywood this was the only this was the only alternative. Yes, I'm satified with it. The local venor are good people and I've eve called the factory in Vancouver CAnada a couple of times. My grown daughters have help me put it so it saves on just being able to do it ourselfs. Pretty good stuff overall. bjr

concretemasonry

An ICF home is not an ICF basement with a stick built, manufactured home or log home on top of it.

A real ICF home, in my opinion, is a real ICF (foam & concrete) structure set on top of a slab, frost wall or basement foundation. The actual foundation is not of real consequence since it is site specific and climate specific. - Not all areas can justify an ICF formed foundation and the details required.

I do not like to get into recommending systems, but Reward has an oustanding site for engineering, destails and construction techniques. Too bad the ICF manufacturers try to push the product for the entire home and will not admit there are places that other construction techniques are much better suited. - this includes foundations and floor systems.

RippySkippy

Outta curosity, what would you recommend as a better foundation? Am I correct to think that you're saying this thinking that the house is on a crawlspace rather than full basement? I went with ICF from the footing to the roof trusses, and given the winter cold in central Iowa, I haven't looked back. If I choose anything else, I'd consider the Superior Walls pre-cast concrete.

I used the blocks by PolySteel this past year on our 2400 ft2 house and 1100 ft2 garage. Each block is 2'x4' and we got along well. The only down side to PolySteel's product is that the corners SUCK with regards to the available space to securely fasten corner supports. I've been told that they are re-designing the corner block. The rest is pretty straight forward...choose your screws wisely (always going into steel struts) and it works well.

comp1911

Good point. A complete ICF home is of course a different animal to what I have posted. I just wanted to post my experince with ICF's.

I agree that Reward has an excellent web site. It made detailing drawing very easy.

concretemasonry

Skippy -

Based on being around basement construction since 1970, I would go for a reinforced block or a poured concrete basement. While an ICF wall is great above ground, it is hard to justify the cost and amount of insulation for a below grade application where the soil moderates the temperatures and there is no infiltration. It is also easier to insulate to the amount needed and to waterproof with poured or block (at least in Minnesota).

I also like to be able to see the surface of concrete that is poured for below grade. It is to easy to have voids, honeycombing, etc because of normal placement methods. Corners and windows also add to the potential. If the wall is exposed, any problems can be easily determined and corrected. With ICF wall you never have this opportunity. I can live with some honeycombing or segregation is an above wall, but not below grade. The exposed foam in the unfinished basement also bothers me.

As an engineer, I am not a fan of any precast or segmented wall system because of stability. The lack of horizontal continuity decreases the strength. Also, these systems really do not develope any real degree of fixtity (engineering term) with the foundation. These segmented walls require substantial horizontal retraint at the top to be stable. Unfortunately, the wood floor shinks and distorts over time. I suspect this is the reason for the radical increase in the number of anchor bolts required in the new codes (as close as 6" in some cases).

While I would like to build an ICF home, I certainly would not put it on a segmental or panel basement wall system.

RippySkippy

Good points, thank you.

WRT to the voids and honeycombing -- I don't know if all blocks allow or recommend vibrating, but I know mine was...each lift. In all the basement pour was vibrated 4 times and the the upper walls 3. When I was making spaces for exterior wall outlets and cutting slots for wire, I didn't find a single void of any sort. Lucky and just didn't hit the right spot? Maybe, I'd like to think not.

And yes the ICF on a segment or panel wall could be bad news...Before the ICF house I was considering a SIP.

I do appreciate what you say though and was just looking to learn a bit more.

Thanks again...