Do you live in an ICF (concrete) house? (Williston: new home, construction)

[fargodave]

Hello,

Our family is looking at building a new home in the spring, and we are investigating ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms) construction. So far we really haven't found any negative aspects of this construction method except that the building cost is higher ... but you get that back in energy efficiency savings.

What we are looking for is the opinions of anyone that's lived in an ICF house for a year or more. What are the pluses and minuses? If you had to start all over, would you do ICF again? Any other feedback?

Thanks!

[Roloff1976]

I have a friend in Williston that built one a couple years ago. He said the positives out way the negatives. The positives are the insulation, noise value. The negative was the cost (at that time)...but they figure that will pay for itself over the years with the amount they save on heating-cooling. The only other downfall was once the house was built, his wife decided she wanted a bigger window in the master bedroom...or possibly a french door...but because it was concrete, the cost to cut the opening bigger would have been expensive. So cosmetic changes to a concrete house could become a negative.

[kosnebbear]

Have you taken a look at building a nice steel building instead. They now have panels that offer you insulation rating of over R-30. It is a lot cheaper than ICF. You can add on at a later date with much less cost. Also you can build it large enough to have a nice size home inside with a basement and have a garage area where you can park four or more vehicles inside out of the weather. You can even add more insulation to increase the "R" rating if you like. They have several different colors to chose from and styles of steel panels. The panels come in any length that you like. Construction of a steel building takes less time as well. Steel also will stand up to about anything that North Dakota or any other state on the high plains weather can throw at it. No you will not hear hail hitting the roof any more than any other roof. Just a thought for you to look at.

[olende]

We have lived in an ICF home for almost 2 years. It is the only way to go. Cheap to heat, cheap to cool and very quiet. If you get the right contractor, ICF construction is competitive with stick-built___ and way more efficient. If you are interestetd, let me know. Come look at our house, see our utility billx and compare our cost of construction.

[wolfeyes]

We live in North Carolina and built our house with PolySteel Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs)..We bought our forms through here..>> Moderator cut: cannot post link to advertisement "polysteel"
It is much better than a regular stick built home! Didn't cost allot to build (the most expensive part of the build is the inside design such as kitchen cabinets, bathroom stuff, flooring, painting,...etc...), It's Very energy efficient, sturdy built and very quiet..We built the house ourselves 8 years ago (even the kids helped)..it is like putting Lego's together. 5 bedrooms 3.5 bath over 4000 sqft..(Basement exterior is 12 and half inches thick..the two upper floors are 10inches thick). Our power bill usually runs 100-120 a month which is much better than our last house which the power bill was usually 180-200 a month. We haven't found anything negative about living in this structure and we would build another..just smaller..lol If your looking to build one of these homes I say go for it, It is well worth the money.

[JP MACK]

I have built dozens of homes throughout Colorado over the past 20 years. I first learned about Icf in 1995, I thought it was the most insane thing I had ever heard of. a few years later I started to research it for a client. What I found was the very best way to build. I later became a distributor and authorized installer for Form-Tec, Light form, Fold Form, Lite Deck, and Insuldeck. I have been Nationally recognized By Lefarge, Have been a guest on radio shows, and spoken at seminars, on energy effecient home building.

I am a firm believer that icf is the single best way to construct a home, because it is more solid, better insulated and safer than any other way I have ever been exposed to. It is more insulated than any conventially framed home and way better than a steel home which regardless of an earlier post had pointed out, foam will not conduct outside temps. ICF will however, conduct ground temps, which if you are building on a basement even in ND, subterraniantemps are about 40* in the middle of winter, thus making your concrete 40*+/- even above grade for about the first 3-4 feet, then gradually dropping as it goes up in height. Thus making your heating system maintain a deifference of 30* versus trying to keep up with the negative temps we experience. That also means that the " R-Value" is equalivent to R-50. R-value, is a pretty loose term though, considering all UL testing is done in controled environments and represents air exchanges at aprox, 70*, for all insulation types. In the real world however heat conduction and air exchange are what it is all about. Have you ever wondered why a hot cup of cofee doesnd feel hot in a foam cup? its because foam is non conductive, and air tight

The U.S. military uses ICF for bunkers because in field tests they found that a 200lb explosive at a short distance ( I can't recall the distance at the moment), did not crack the concrete. The foam absorbed the energy of the blast. compare that to a stick built or steel home. what that means is that if your home were to be in a tornado, you would sustain minimal damage compared to a conventional house. on the subject of disasters...concrete won't burn or melt.


I have attended many seminars, and read many books on effecient building, and green practices. Nothing can out perform foam, wether it be sprayed, SIPS Panels or ICF, especially when coupled with 6 or 8 inches of concrete. as a side note, please do not bother with 4" walls.

I no longer build, and am like everyone else in Western North Dakota, work in the oil fields. I have nothing to gain from these statements, but I hope my experience and knowledge can still be put to good use, if you decide to build with ICF. Trust me you wll never regret it...

By the way, I am planing on building a new home up here. Can you guess how it will be built??

[todd00]

Have you thought about earthbag building? It's just another alternative idea. Some cool ideas and web sites on that. They are suppose to be very energy efficient. Earthbag Building Index

[ElkHunter]

Did anybody notice that this thread is 5 years old?

[todd00]

LOL... No, I never even noticed that. Still it is an interesting subject.

[sholomar]

5 year old threads get bumped on city-data more often than any other forum I've visited. 2 ways to look at it: no big deal, the question is still relevent. Or... have a feature that auto-locks threads after 12 months. Problem solved.