Insulating Concrete Formers

2006-05-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Here's an interior view showing floor system above and below, arches and litedeck stair

2006-05-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

Pictures of just about every consideration you may find with ICF except curved walls!!
The Rake walls will have litedeck panels on them spanning up to tall wall in the middle of the house....an 8:12 pitch Litedeck roof!
Here's an arch with the templates laying on the floor beyond. I like to use foam templates because the arches then turn out near perfect.

2006-05-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice shot of a cantilever balcony using lite deck.

2006-02-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

This is a closer shot showing the consolidation of concrete mentioned with the following photo. The largest "bughole" is no larger than a nickle at the surface and no deeper than 1/4". These "bugholes" are created by bleedwater or excess water that is forced out of the concrete and "puddles" against the form. Bugholes that are less than 1/4" deep and smaller than a quarter are considered to be of no consequence structurally. In an ICF wall, the appearance of the concrete is not an issue either.

2006-02-16T18:28:00.000-08:00

This shows how well 6" slump, internally vibrated concrete consolidates full height inside the forms. This wall is 12' tall with concrete placed in two passes.

2006-02-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

Here are some more arched openings on the main floor of the house posted earlier. There are about 17 arched openings on the main floor. The reinforcing you see above the walls are for tie-in of the floor and walls above.

2006-02-11T17:41:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of a balcony that does not have supporting columns to the ground

2006-02-11T17:38:00.000-08:00

This is a project that we did not build but were asked to bid at one time. This is an option for balconies that do not have columns supporting to the ground.

2006-02-11T17:37:00.000-08:00

This is a project that we did not build that has balconies that do not have columns to the ground.

A simple concrete mix design, natural materials

2006-01-22T15:02:00.000-08:00

A great concrete mix design that we have used on many occasions in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas...

This mix design works great with a boom pump (L&G Pumping)

1/2" topsize aggregate, 1788#
sand, 1485#
Cement #1, 317#
Fly Ash, 106#
Admix:
Degussa poly 997, 17 oz
Degussa AE 2 oz

Water, 21 gal

On site may add h2o to slump at 5-7"

Remember, mix designs vary by area and source of ingredients, so this should only be used as a guide.

2005-11-23T18:43:00.000-08:00

This is the lower garage level. There will be a garage above with the entry from the opposite side. Notice the walls are spanning from pier to pier to allow for expansion of the soils. The soils here are some of the worst in the nation, commonly rising as much as 36" This is an 8" concrete wall 14'-8" tall all poured at once. The wall to the right with the vertical dowels extending out has already been poured. In all, the walls in the basement level consumed 160 yards of concrete to fill.

Entry level housing

2005-11-23T18:37:00.000-08:00

This is part of the basement level

2005-11-23T18:34:00.000-08:00

This arch opening is on a rake wall that will have a concrete stair cast along the rake. There is a lite deck floor system going in above these walls and there is a lite deck floor system under the walls with ICF beams spanning from pier to pier.

2005-11-23T18:31:00.000-08:00

This is another shot of an arch opening

2005-11-23T17:47:00.000-08:00

This is one way of forming eyebrow and half round arched openings. In this case, we are using Vbuck. The Vbuck is kerf cut to conform with the arch. The arch is formed on the negative side with a solid piece of cut foam and the Vbuck rests on it.

Arch opening forming option

2005-11-23T17:33:00.000-08:00

2005-10-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

The scabs over the windows were put on to aid in keeping the single course of wall over the windows from pulling apart.

2005-10-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

A view of the inside of the gable wall.

2005-10-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

Wall finished showing the stringline running over the exposed edge of webs and weld plates

2005-10-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

Another shot of the gable turning the 45 degree corners.

2005-10-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

Build Block in Hubbard, Texa

Build Block, Hubbard, Texas

2005-10-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

2005-10-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

Although the photo doesn't show it as clearly as if one were here in person, the wall is waving to you as if to say "Bye Bye"

2005-10-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

This shot shows how little some people care about taking pride in one's work. This house sat for nearly two years along a major highway......constantly exhibiting a message to potential ICF customers that "THIS COULD BE YOU NEXT"

2005-02-24T07:55:00.000-08:00

This is something to avoid. The copper (in red and blue) are placed just right for a 4" concrete wall. They will be right in line with the foam but the vent stack should be located in a frame wall in another location. If this is not avoidable, then we would simply cut the stack off at the drain point, cut the ICF foam and reinforce that area for concrete, then after concrete is placed, use an electric chainsaw to remove a wide strip of foam so that the pipe may be set in place of the foam all the way up the wall. This is better than allowing the pipe to fall within the concrete cavity, especially when the wall is only a 4" wall.

2005-02-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

closer shot of plumbing. It could also come up right in line with the outer shell of ICF. We would then cut a notch in the ICF wall to accept the pipe.

2005-02-24T07:39:00.000-08:00

This is a shot of a hand trowelled keyway and reinforcing dowels with a brickledge around the perimeter of a slab. We typically specify a #5 bar dowel 4' in length, set in the slab two feet or not within 3" of the bottom of the grade beam. Note that plumbing is in the brickledge for a hose bib. This is ok in the warmer climate of South Texas. Otherwise we would have the plumber stub the pipe up in line with the interior 2.5" of foam so that they could then use a long frost proof valve and have the dog ear on the face of the inside concrete.

2005-02-10T17:57:00.000-08:00

This shows a finished edge and the one directly in front has a brickledge.

2005-02-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

This was a formtech 12" concrete job. We had a brick ledge on two sides for this one, that is what the lumber deal is on top. The walls were formed up as yours, we set metal decking across red iron bar joists that were 32" on center that they had to add 1x4 to on the bottom for sheetrock...in this case, they probably don't need to finish it, they could just paint the underside of the deck and bar joists. There was a greenblock wall that was along the staircase just as in your plan, we put a regular door buck in under the stair and at the bottom of the stair, we could do the Fema doors there no problem...This is a bit larger than the 22x22, but the slab came in at about 7.5 per sf. In the case of your job, I would suggest to the guy that they pour a slab, stab dowels on 1' centers, hand dig a keyway on the outer side of the dowels, we then come in and put a waterstop in the keyway, form the walls up 9'-4" or so, trowel it off smooth and set two #4 dowels every foot or 18" that will be bent over into the upper slabs. On the side where the brickledge needs to be, we do the same as in the pictures. We set bar joists, metal decking and #4 bar mat, pour the slab 1/2 way across the wall. They then backfill and bend bars into adjoining slab and pour against our slab. Before they frame walls above, they apply peel and stick onto slab, down over brickledge out over foam to lap over our waterproofing. They then must cover the waterproofing below the brick.....second option there is to pour the slab 4" larger than ICF walls, do ICF, waterproof wall and ledge of slab, they stack 4" block up to grade, then continue with brick. Block is set against ICF waterproofing and is backfilled against. This way, brick takes off at grade and no waterproofing concerns.

2005-02-07T15:54:00.000-08:00

Corner, window, corner, window...If you can keep 10-12" of concrete beside each window on either side of the corners, it makes construction easy. If not, then so be it.

2005-02-07T15:40:00.000-08:00

The plan for this set of windows actually had a fireplace in the center, we substituted the windows for the fireplace. These were 4" concrete walls that went up to 25' on a single story home.

2005-02-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

This is a poor resolution shot, but it shows drywall returns to the window. The drywall corners are rounded in this case. The sill is a cultured marble from the tub and shower supplier. They made each sill to fit for 500.00 for the whole house. The taper had to retouch this window, that is why you see the difference in the wall color around the opening.

2005-02-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

One option for finishing the deeper windows is to trim the jamb all the way around. We try to use cultured marble for the sill so that plants that are over watered don't ruin the finish.

2005-02-07T15:33:00.000-08:00

This is what the buck looks like after the pour. We leave the concrete level down so that security wires etc can be run without difficulty.

2005-02-07T14:47:00.000-08:00

This is your average door buck, same as a window except no bottoms. The cross bracing is set so that the treated wood doesn't exceed a length of 3' without cross bracing in both directions. On larger windows, it is better to run two vertical braces and allow the horizontal brace to span in center of the wall, therefore, the vertical braces are set to the outer edges of the buck.

2005-02-07T14:45:00.000-08:00

This is your average treated wood buck. The top member rests on the side members and the side members rest on the bottom 2x4's that are held apart so that concrete can be placed and or vibrated across the bottom. There are galvanized 16d nails on the sides that are driven from the concrete side to correspond with the horizontal joints of the forms (this way the nails don't hit the ties of the forms) and across the top.

2005-02-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

With the discharge pump hose, the hose man can insure clean pours and can direct concrete into tight spots without all the jerking and whipping of a rigid hose.

2005-02-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

This is our favorite boom pump hose setup. What you are looking at is a 5" to 4" to 3" reducer attached right at the boom so it is rigid and not swinging like a pendulum on the end of a rubber hose. We then clamp without the gasket, a piece of 4" water discharge pump hose that is about 10 long to that. The discharge hose is tight to fit on the 3" reducer, so sometimes we warm it up on the exhaust of the pump, then slip it over and clamp it. This hose allows great flexibility to the hose man and also can make a mediocre operator look darned good.

2005-01-23T18:00:00.000-08:00

This is the start of a fairly large Durisol project. Durisol is a cement and wood chip mixture that is molded like a giant concrete block. Every Durisol job we have installed had the rockwool slab in each core...makes for plenty of itching in the hot summer sun.

2005-01-23T17:58:00.000-08:00

This is a barn shaped house with Rastra. VBuck was used for the openings except the saferoom/storeroom outside on the right of the house. This was done in two form and pour operations, first pour was to just above the floor line then the gables done after the floor system was in place. We used a tractor with forks to lift the blocks up to the second floor. We applied Grailcoat to the exterior of this house. With Rastra, we place the concrete VERY fluid, we are basically using a flowable fill type mixture, we capped the lower parts of the gables with 2x and then decided to struggle with the upper with staples.

2005-01-23T17:51:00.000-08:00

This is what the foam and precast system is replacing.

2005-01-23T17:50:00.000-08:00

This is a look at the underside of the system just after it was poured above. What you are seeing is the foam and the precast concrete beams that are shored at about 6' on center in this application.

2005-01-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

Here is a site with the precast members, the foam fillers, conduit and ties all ready to go up on a floor/flat roof application.

2005-01-23T17:47:00.000-08:00

This is an end view of the precast beams. They are only a couple inches thick with what looks like large bolsters for reinforcing. The wire that is above the concrete will tie the beam to the rest of the roof concrete.

2005-01-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

These are forms for casting the concrete beams in. They look like C-purlins but the cross members are hinged.

2005-01-23T17:45:00.000-08:00

These are foam panels that are cut from block foam for use in the site precast floor and roof system. The lip on the edges of the foam sit on the precast concrete beam.

2005-01-23T17:41:00.000-08:00

This is another shot of a rooftop prior to concrete.

2005-01-23T17:39:00.000-08:00

Here is an upper view of a roof as shown earlier prior to placing concrete. The orange tubing is conduit for electrical

2005-01-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

This is your typical country style farm house with a full front porch and a second story that falls within the roofline of the gables.

2005-01-17T15:30:00.000-08:00

This is the start-up of that gable, you see, we try to precut the entire gable on the ground, number the forms and toss them up as we go. If we have a windless day, we can glue the forms together in large sections and hand them up.

2005-01-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

This is an average gable. We like to use the WASS bracing for gables like this because you can set scaffold heights as needed as well as extend turnbuckles as needed also.

2005-01-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

This is the front of one of the units. What you may be able to discern is the number and size of voids...Some were filled but not completely. Also, the fire burned the foam but left the ledger intact and the wood bucks. They suffered heavy charring, but as the arson investigator said "fire is lazy it will burn the easy fuel first" The fire burned the foam clean off of the concrete on both sides. Most of the floor joists are in the foreground....heavily charred. The idea that the walls can be reused didn't last long on this one, they paid a hefty price to knock it all down and take it away.

2005-01-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

Here is a shot of an ICF building that burned...it wasn't complete. If I remember correctly, they were trying to get past the close-in inspection so that they could sheetrock the interior. The exterior had basecoat for an EIFS finish. The guy that owned the white car parked in the wrong place that day! The fire sure exposed a ton of voids in the fire walls...didn't matter though, it was an arson job and fuel had been dispersed in more than one unit.

2005-01-16T17:56:00.000-08:00

Not the average gable, this was all 8" concrete and not seen is the 4' frost wall behind the materials. We put up the walls, framed most of the interior framing, decked the roof and set the heavy as hell windows in about 18 days with a five man crew. This was just over a truckload of forms and slightly remote in Colorado. We poured to the bottom of the windows on the first go round, I think that was about 16' tall, then went to 20 or 22 foot on the second pour to the top of the gable. The back wall was to a lower pitch gable, this one in front I believe was a strange pitch due to the window sizes but was in the neighborhood of a 12:12 The ledger above the garage doors is for a porch or main entry level during the winter months! I think this one was at about 9500 ft. Had to rent a stinger to set the ridge beam.

2005-01-16T17:44:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of a saferoom added as an integral part of the exterior walls of a home. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures showing a commercial application of a saferoom, but we find this to be a smart sell in the commercial world...especially small businesses that are basically building metal buildings and putting a fancy facade on the front....a place to put the computers and records that is clean and safe.....oh yeah, maybe some money too!

2005-01-16T17:29:00.000-08:00

If you are planning on building an ICF home, you ought to plan on at least putting a saferoom into it. We promote building in a secure room....security for firearms, security for valuables, papers and of course the family. If costs are a concern, if you can locate the room where it becomes an integral part of the exterior walls, then the cost to add the room is minimal especially since most of the material and pump will be there anyway. Your main expense is the door.

2005-01-16T16:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a joy of a project. The swimming pool in the foreground is actually sitting on the slab of the basement below and is also of ICF construction. The window in the pool is so that one may view the swimmers from the winecellar.. The turret is about 45' tall.

2005-01-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

This is the same project with the basement level backfilled and the first story walls up, one more story to go...

2005-01-16T16:41:00.001-08:00

Here's another way of building a flat roof...in this case, we were building a floor system on a basement. This lot was "unbuildable" until we put the basement on it. These are plain red iron bar joists with a metal decking and 4" of lightweight concrete.

2005-01-16T16:41:00.000-08:00

Here is the front of the house prior to backfilling the basement the view is from street level.

2005-01-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

This is our mainstay hose for a boom pump. The boom is reduced at the last 90 from 5 to 4 and 4 to 3". We then use 4" discharge hose slipped over the 3" reducer and clamped without the gasket. You may have to warm the hose up on the exhaust of the pump in order to get it to slip over the 3" coupling. We cut this hose at about 12' and trim off the clamped end each time we use it. It will make for an easy placement job since the hose man can direct the concrete perfectly...eliminating any spills etc. This hose also can make a mediocre pump operator look good since the hose man can move it freely unlike the regular tip hoses that the pumps carry.

2005-01-16T08:09:00.000-08:00

Nice thing about ICF is that you can make perfect curves. This was 14" concrete with a ton of reinforcing.

2005-01-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

This is the "downhill side" The creek is about 50' below us at this point

2005-01-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

This is the end of the serpentine retaining wall that is below the curved walls that were posted earlier. At this point, the wall is only about 4' tall but it goes up to a high point of about 14'. In roughly 240', only about 20' of the wall is actually a straight wall.....

2005-01-15T18:42:00.000-08:00

Here is a shot of the simpson ledger connectors. This is an old picture of a treated porch ledger. With the new AQC lumber, Simpson doesn't recommend the ICFLC because of the corrosive nature of the chemicals.

2005-01-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, this shot isn't very clear, but what you see is the layout of the floor joist...in this case the joists are 2x4 trusses laid out on the wall in red ink, the dark rectangles are where the foam was removed and plywood screwed onto the form with a bolt in it so that the concrete would flow out to the surface of the foam and the bolt would be cast to the concrete. The use of the Simpson ICFLC is much quicker and simpler to use than bolts though.

2005-01-15T08:12:00.000-08:00

Here is a fine example of a properly set bolt by a properly trained crew....Actually, the whole mess is just that. If it were set correctly and concrete placed correctly, the concrete would be flush with the side of the foam with the nail in it and the foam would have been removed in an area of roughly the same height as the ledger and as wide as the space between the ties or say 5 to 6 inches.

2005-01-15T08:08:00.000-08:00

This is a side view of the earlier porte cochere shot.

2005-01-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

This is the underside view of the area with the cantilever above. The metal framing is for sheetrock in this room....furdowns for mechanical and electrical as well as additional architectural features.....

2005-01-15T08:06:00.000-08:00

This is a view of part of the rear of the house. Note that the walls above in the upper left side of the photo are cantilevered over the concrete supports below.

2005-01-15T08:04:00.000-08:00

This is a second story area that is larger than the first story.

2005-01-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

This is the underside of the porte cochere

2005-01-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

Here is another concrete roof shot

2005-01-14T10:13:00.000-08:00

Here's the most important job being done by the lowest paid guy.....and we wonder why the basement leak repair industry is flourishing!

2005-01-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

An interior shot of the door.

2005-01-14T06:49:00.000-08:00

another shot of the door.

2005-01-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

here are the pictures of the Secure Room Door

2005-01-14T06:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a better way to build a saferoom....we call these rooms "secure rooms". The door costs roughly 3000 dollars, but we deduct the typical steel frame door with three deadbolts so the add on price is typically less than 2500 bucks. The last one we did in a basement was pretty neat, they put brick on the exterior of the saferoom and an adjoining exterior wall as a finish instead of sheetrock. The room is a saferoom for storms but also doubles as a gun safe, storage for valuables and picture albums etc. The interior was lined with old barn wood to give it a rustic look inside. These doors have a panic lever on the inside so that one couldn't be locked inside. The doors can be ordered with gold painted trim and your name "Jones Bank & Trust" etc. as if the door came from days past. You can also get electronic locks.

2005-01-13T20:04:00.000-08:00

If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. There are two concrete cavity sizes and four radii, all had to be within 1/4" of spec. What you don't see in this picture is the 200+' of serpentine retaining wall that is up to 14' tall that is along the creek .....one step off of the footing and it was 50' down to the creek.

2005-01-13T19:48:00.000-08:00

Concrete roof without intermediate support walls or posts. Note that there are several ridges and valley, all without support underneath.